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    Can I boot with no gpu installed?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015.

  1. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    I sent my gpu in to be worked on and I was wondering if there is a way to boot up on the on board video so I can still use my laptop while the card is gone. If I try to start it now I just get a black screen and a series of beeps. I can't even get to the bios. Thanks
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  2. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    Sounds like the bios is set to PEG? You can try to reset it by removing the CMOS (coin cell) battery and holding down the power button for a couple of seconds. Reassemble and if it works you will get a date/time error that you can skip through. Window should set the date/time so you don't need to go into the bios to set it.

    Good luck.
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
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  3. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks I'll try that
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  4. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    Let me know, good luck :D.
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
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  5. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    Hmm no luck. Still 6 beeps with no post.
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  6. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    That's all I got I'm afraid unless you want to try a blind flash? Search it out and it is very specific to a machine so only follow instructions for it.

    Basically you put a bootable USB with a specially named bios.rom file. Then it's a Vulcan death grip with the battery out (I think, it's so long since I did it!). The machine will start up and then the fans go wild, it beeps up to 30 times and restarts a few times. Has to be the most stressful 'fix' I've ever done. But it worked and my machine was bootable again :D.

    Risk is it never starts again so this is only FYI and not advice :eek:.
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
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  7. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    Yea I think I'll just wait it out if that is my only other choice. Guess I'm laptopless for a couple weeks.
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  8. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah, unless someone knows a better way to reset the bios? Is this an R3?
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
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  9. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    Yea it's an r3 with the a12 bios
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  10. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    Well one things for sure, if you use an earlier version flash it can completely brick with no power at all. Only a MB replacement fixes that one!
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
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  11. DARCODER

    DARCODER Notebook Deity

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    DARCODER, Mar 17, 2015
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    MickyD1234 likes this.
  12. hrtbrker991

    hrtbrker991 Notebook Consultant

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    Mine is the 120hz. So I'm basically screwed. Oh well just gonna have to find somthing g else to.do with my time
     
    hrtbrker991, Mar 17, 2015
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  13. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    I did do that on my 120hz R3 but since you have 120hz it will never boot from the iGPU. It's hardware disabled. You do not need to do any bios changes to use a different NV GPU though...
     
    MickyD1234, Mar 17, 2015
    #13