HELP! beeps after CPU and GPU repaste and M17x won't even post

Hi all,

I just repasted (extremely carefully) my wife's M17x's CPU and GPU (560M). I made sure I was using an antistatic surface and gloves, reconnected fans/heatsinks back up and tried to turn on. At first the keyboard lights came on and 8 beeps would continually cycle. I took out the battery and took out CMOS/motherboard battery and held the power key for 30s. Put it all back in and now keyboard lights come on with 5 continuous beeps.

Is there a way to get it started or have I borked something?

Any help appreciated. The machine is out of warranty.

 

Hi, sounds like just a poor connection hopefully. Try to reseat the GPU and CPU card first. Then you could also try just removing the GPU altogether (as long as you do not have the 120hz 3D model). The original 8 beeps is usually a GPU/Display problem, but maybe you have disturbed a bad connection so it might end up a a full stripdown and rebuild

Check this out: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/620478-r3-wont-boot-5-beeps.html

 

Also, if you removed the CMOS and power drained before working on it, it can be normal to get 5 beeps. Normally, a reboot will sort that out. If not, you could try checking the CMOS battery is properly connected - otherwise, do as Micky said and check everything else is seated correctly. You could try the CMOS first as 5 beeps relates to that:

Alienware Beep Codes Table - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

 

Thanks guys. I reseated the GPU and all seems fine now.

Was frightening to think I may have fried the mobo, but I knew it was unlikely as never happened to me before.

 

Excellent! - glad you got it all sorted out. It's always satisfying to know that you have fixed the issue yourself. Well done.

 

fyi I know this is solved, but I had this issue last week and discovered my lcd assembly cord was plugged into the wrong slot.

 

thanks for sharing your experience as well. I'm glad you got it sorted out easily.