M17x R2 5870 CF just died

was playing dayz when the screen turned purple with black lines. Only way I could shut it down was to push and hold the power button. Tried to restart it with just a black screen. Shut it down again. Let it sit for about an hour and tried it again. Now I get 1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps. Scroll and Caps lights flash and Num stays lighted up. From what I can find this means the video cards are stopping the post.

Tried to reseat them and the CF cable but it doesn't change. Same errors.

got 300 days of warranty left so I guess I get to see how dell wants to handle it .

anything else I can try?

 

Did you try actually removing the second card to see if it posts with just the main card in?

 

yes tried it without the CF cable hooked up and tried it without the second card in the system. I also tried the second card in the main slot which worked but then gave me a BSOD and on reboot gave me the beeps again.

talked to dell today and they are sending me 2 5870m's and a motherboard.

 

How long have you had this machine? How old is it?

 

I bought it certified refurbished from dell in may. Not sure what the original purchase date was

 

Ask them to send a technician over to your home.

 

I didn't want one. I perfer to do it myself. Last time I played phone tag with the guy for 2 days and then the time window he gave me wouldn't work and ended up having to take the day off of work so he could replace the monitor.

 

Wow they still have 5870 cards!

 

they have refurbished cards. I asked if the parts are new or used and the Dell Tech stated that they would be refurbished parts.

 

Refurb or not, doesn't really matter. The parts carry a 90 day warranty or the remainder of your warranty period, whichever is longer.

 

I don't really care as long as it gets my system back up and running. Its killing me not being able to play anything right now. Got just over 300 days of warranty left and once its up I will probably switch out to a 680m or 7970m if I don't get a itch and do it sooner. For what I play the most now (dayZ) the 5870's work just fine but when Arma3 comes out I might need to upgrade.

 

I hope you are wrong as I was told I would get a brand new 5870 card on the 17.08. They told me that they would have to order a new one as they where out of stock here in Northern Europe so a new one was ordered... So sick of waiting for this card. So much for NBD service... I have waited for like 8 days now. Also I find it sad to see that many as me in the same situation having machines that breaks so easy.

What has this world come to?

 

If it wasnt for the beeps I would say maybe it was just your LCD going bad, but if you are swapping cards and getting so many random results, then that is a mobo problem, a ram problem, or both. Also, try to see if you can boot up using only a VGA cable to another monitor (that helps eliminate the LCD). And get us an error code from the blue screen if you happen to have another one. Good luck!

 

its not a LCD as the bios isn't even posting. Found a Document that explains what the flashing and solid lights mean. Solid Num with Flashing scroll and caps means the video graphics cards are not letting the system boot. Most likely failures are video cards or motherboard.

Dwarf I will have my stuff on Tuesday since I couldn't talk to them till Saturday so its NBD for me but he did tell me refurbished. I would probably be willing to wait a bit longer if I knew the parts would be new.

 

Yaa if the cards are new that would be great but how do I know that it is new? Should I try to smell to see if it has the "just left the factory" smell? Anyway I hope everything works out for you.

 

no idea how to check. Mine are supposedly coming with heat sinks attached. I take that as it worked in another system and the removed them and put them in a bag. If yours are cards only then I would look for thermal paste or some signs of wear. IE the gold contacts at the end of the card. Thermal pad stuff on the memory.

 

If you ask a company if the replacement is a new or a refurb they will state refurb by default or policy to save themselves. However if they do not have any refurbs but they do have new units they will send new ones in that case so you may end up getting one or more new units even though they said refurb. For Dell the packaging will actually have "refurbished" on the packaging. I just got a refurb ram stick and that's how they had it marked.

 

This is the Alienware Beep code table, 3 beeps would be motherboard related check it out

Alienware Beep Code Table

 

well got the parts yesterday and installed them but didn't have much time to play on it afterwards. Tried playing games today and got all sorts of BSOD so I tried to reinstall windows and it would freeze up or BSOD. Tried to load a image and it would freeze or BSOD. Started running Diagnostics and it would freeze up on the memory part before the diags even really started.

Swapped memory and that didn't do anything. Swapped hd's and that didn't do anything.

Took out the memory stick in the top slot and all seems well now so I guess I got a bad motherboard. So I guess I get to call them back tomorrow and get another Motherboard.

on a bright note seems like both graphics cards are working great.

 

Glad you were able to track it down! Hope it works soon

 

I think I do. it hasn't locked up yet and was able to load 7 pro the first time and really quick. I haven't tried to move the one stick in the system up to the top slot yet or try the one stick I have out of the system in the bottom slot yet.

 

motherboard number 2 on its way. Along with a new cpu heat sink and memory.

 

now I am getting a bit upset. Got motherboard number 2 installed and it has the exact same problem as the first one they sent. Not seeing the memory in slot 1. It will see it in slot 0 but not slot 1.

Of course now they want me to send it in to depot which I can't really afford to do because I need the system for work. Even with it only working with one memory stick at least I can still use it but I can't go 5 to 7 business days without it.

I am really considering putting the original motherboard back in the system. The reason they sent it was due to a no boot with flashing caps and scroll which could mean video cards or motherboard. I have the new cards in but I never tried it with the original motherboard

 

ok here is something weird. Hwinfo64 see's both memory sticks. I even mixed matched them to make sure it was actually seeing both slots.

4gb samsung. (stock memory)
4gb Kingston. (memory upgrade)

also if I put in one of my 8gb sticks of patriot it sees that plus one of the others but the bios only see's one stick even when they are both 4gb sticks

 

Let me just recap what you are seeing:
1. If any RAM is in memory slot 1, it doesnt boot. If memory is only in slot 0, it does boot. There are no issues if you only use mem slot 0.
2. Replacing the motherboard did not solve the issue.
3. I currently do not know if your cards are still in crossfire or not.
4. Do not know what BIOS version you are using.

Is this correct? How did you use HWInfo to confirm the mem slot 1 status if you couldnt get into windows. Could you recap a bit?

 

ya let me backup. I am in crossfire again with new cards and heatsinks. replacement board 1(A10) after being put in the system had weird BSOD's and or would just shut off after 5 or 10 mins. Did a lot of things but tried to reload software thinking something was screwing up the new motherboard. Started reloading software and got BSOD at 1%. Tried again and got BSOD on loading windows files (first screen you see once you boot to the cd).

Rebooted into diagnostics. System locked up during the first 10 secs of it running diagnostics. Took out the memory and put in my 2x4gb set. Same thing happened with lock ups in diagnostics and while trying to reload windows. Pulled out the memory in slot 1 and everything passed diags and windows loaded without errors.

Once windows was done I put all my stuff back on and was able to game again and surf the net. Never got another BSOD.

Got motherboard number 2 A10. Put it in the system put in the memory got the exact same problem. It would only see 1 stick in the bios but hwinfo would see them but the bios and windows would not. Started troubleshooting with 1 stick. put it in slot 1 bios would see it and system would boot. Put it in slot 0 wouldn't post. Shack and repeat this with all 4 sticks (2 samsung) (2 kingston) with exact same results.

called tech support and they want me to send it into the depot for repair. So being upset I decided I got nothing to lose so I put in my original motherboard that they wanted replaced along with the 2 video cards.

So old motherboard back into the system put in my memory and boom got all memory back. Only problem now is I messed up my power button ribbon cable

 

So just so I understand, the laptop works fine with the replacement motherboard if you just have the one RAM stick in, correct?

Your signature shows that you're running 16GB of RAM, so...how does THAT work?

 

you are correct. It WAS working only with one ram stick in.. Motherboard number 1 would fail diags and BSOD in 5 to 10 mins with both sticks in (either 2 x 4gb or 2 x 8gb sticks)

Motherboard number 2 worked fine with both but the bios and the system would only show half. (again with either 2 x4gb or 2 x 8gb)

put my original motherboard back in because I figured it was just the video cards that failed and not the motherboard but with the lights and beeps it could of been either. So I put in the new motherboard since they sent it.

so as of right now my system is back up and running 100% and see's 8gb when I have 2 x 4gb (samsung or kingston) or 16gb when I have my 2 x 8gb in. Moral of the story is both replacement motherboards where bad.

imglidinhere. R2 will work with 2 8gb sticks. the bios will show 0 gb of memory in both slots but windows will show and use all 16gb

 

That is some story brooks! Congrats on getting it fixed!

 

LOL just wish it was fictional.

 

well I figured out what the real problem was. Everything was working great so I decided to put my 920xm back in and when it rebooted I only had half my memory again. Tried all my memory sets again and the same thing. Bios only showed half the memory. Hwinfo64 and alienautopsy both showed both memory sticks as being in the system but the bios and windows only showed half. Put my 720 back in and rebooted bios and windows show all my memory again.

So its something wrong with my 920xm that is causing the problem and not the motherboard.

confirmed. Put motherboard number 2 in with 920xm. Half the memory. Put i7 720 in all memory is back. so it is for sure my 920xm that is causing the problem some how.

Anyone have a idea why my processor would or could do this?

 

Good question, and good find! Wow! Never really hear of that before.

Only thing I can speculate is that the on-board memory manager in the CPU is fried. It just happens to be defective in such a way that only one channel is affected. Sorry to hear about your loss, but glad you solved it.

 

ya that was my guess but I know nothing about whats in the processor and what it does besides make thing run. LOL

other weird issue now is that if I boot the system when its plugged in with the battery in it boots but the screen doesn't display anything. turn it off and remove the screen comes on and everything is fine. Put the battery back in and everything is fine till the next reboot