M17x R2 stuck at alien logo head

Today morning, I switched on the computer and it seemed to be stuck at the alien logo head. I couldn't get into the Bios. If I pressed the F2 key it would beep and do nothing. This lasted for probably 10-15 tries. I left the computer alone for a bit (15-20 min) and then tried it again and it still did the same for the first time. However, the second time it worked like a charm. It did something quick (unfortunately, i couldn't see what it did) after the alien logo head screen , rebooted and now it works again .

I am out of the country on work (will be back at the end of this month) and just afraid to switch the computer off since most of my work is done on it. Would there be any issues if i switch off sleep and hibernation? Any suggestions on what might be the issue? I know for sure when I am traveling I will have to keep it in my back pack (twice a day for 15 min) and there will be heat issues. Would that cause harm to the system ?

My system
Intel i7-720QM
ATI 5800 Xfire
Crucial M4 SSD.

 

its either ur hard disk crash or motherboard blow up or something in the motherboard fried(might be the ram) do u still have ur warranty?

 

Well, I do have warranty for another two years or so. As soon as I am back home, I will contact Dell and ask them to take a look.

Right now, everything seems to run fine. I backed up my hard drive also and that did not show any I/O errors. I will play a few games and see if that does cause anything.

I was just wondering if I should be brave enough to shut down the system and restart or keep the system on permanently until I get back.

 

Run a few tests before calling in Dell.

Test the memory and the HDD and then stress test the GPU's and CPU.

If nothing comes up I would leave it until the issue happens again. It is going to be very hard for Dell to provide support if you cannot replicate the problem and they will probably just start replacing things gung ho which isn't the best solution...

 

^^ Good point, Douse!

KOTORroks, alternatively you can press the F12 (repeatedly) key upon boot and choose Diagnostics. This will run a few basic test on your hardware.

Your issue could have also been caused by a USB device such as ipod, mouse with NAND, usb key etc..

 

Also a good point Katalin!

I have had issues where a USB device has stopped my machine from passing the POST screen.

 

Thank you Douse & Katalin.

I rebooted the system and it works (whew). I used the diagnostics and I do get a error on the CPU (Error Code: 2000-0123). I cant tell which one of the cores though. Researching it online tells me it is bad socket error but on the RAM. However, the test always fails on the 8 CPU cores. I believe the CPU/RAM got unseated or damaged.

Is there a CPU/RAM test program I can download?

Should I refrain from shutting it down?

 

What you can try, if you want, is to reseat the RAM modules and the processor.

Before reseating the CPU, grab a tube of thermal paste as it will need to be changed before replacing the heatsink.

 

I am in a remote part of China currently and have no access to thermal paste.

So if one of the cores of the CPU is a problem, will the others help/compensate or would it become more severe in the near future. Its been almost 6 hours (fingers crossed)since I had the issue and the system is running fine (albeit the diagnostic test I mentioned earlier).

 

More likely to be RAM in my opinion. I have never seen a CPU lose its seating because it is held in with the heatsink.

RAM is easy to re-seat, try that first.

Also, if the CPU was not seated correctly you would be getting random crashes and I would imagine the computer would be fairly unusable!