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    M17X R3 5 beeps

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by stulda, Jan 8, 2017.

  1. stulda

    stulda Newbie

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    Hello dear community,

    I started experiencing an issue with my Alienware M17x R3.

    When there is no power (for example, removed AC cable and battery) I'm unable to use the laptop.

    After pressing the power button the screen is black and all I hear is 5 beeps, that repeats all the time with a little pause after each 'set'. Doing some googling it's likely related to RTC Power Fail (CMOS battery failure)
    I bought a new battery and replaced the old one, hoping that would solve the issue and that was unsuccessful.

    I have to hold down the power button for the laptop to shut down. Then I press it again to start, the laptop starts, restart again (you can actually hear a little 'click') and then, finally, it starts booting in to Windows.
    The problem is that the BIOS settings are changed every time, so the time and date is reset, as well as SATA Operation (it's changed to RAID, even though I'm using AHCI).

    I have tried replacing the CMOS battery, power drain and what have you from what I have found googling around, however the issue is still there and it's annoying. I have just format and install new Windows 7 with all the official drivers and that did not help.

    I would appreciate your help to help me resolve this.

    Update:
    Forgot to mention I have A12 BIOS (issued by Dell, just flashed. I used to use A12 modded (so overclocking was possible, etc.)

    Yours
    stulda