My beast finally decides to throw in the towel!

So as some of you may know, I have a pretty upgraded laptop and the hardware has been kind to me with good bench scores. I have been pretty lucky. I have always been proud of my laptop.

This evening, during a game of BF3, the laptop shuts down. Strange. Restart, fine, play BF3 again, shut down. This time the dreaded 8 beeps no post. So I reset the bios by pulling out the battery, nothing, change bios battery, nothing, blind flashed, nothing and blind flashed without GPU, nothing. Rewired the screen, reseated GPU, everything one can think of...nothing. Guess I'm calling Dell for a replacement GPU but not hopeful I can get it sorted before New Year maybe get me a pre-release GTX 680

In the mean time, gonna leave it out overnight with all batteries out etc and see if that helps. Posting this in the forums wondering is anyone has an epiphany and some soothing words. Was working on my K/D ratio as well

 

...Another one bites the dust...

And another one gone, and another one gone...

 

oh sorry to hear that widezu, fastest single gpu system in the world collapsed however knowing you makes me feel like you will be fine in no time good luck with the laptop man! in the meantime I am thinking of buying patriot wildfire thanks to you (really good price for the next 2 days)

 

@GeoCake Ouch lol

 

Oh man, I am so sorry to hear this. Condolences, bro.

The 8 beeps is definitely a GPU problem. My previous M18x did that with the 6990M CF less than 3 weeks into ownership, with similar issues leading up to their premature dead. I think the overheating and thermal shutdown problem that plagued the M18x for a couple of months claimed them.

I know it does not do anything whatsoever for your situation, but here is what I found when I Googled for "Alienware 8 Beeps" when my old system started doing that. It's interesting that it applies to GTX 580M on the M18x.

Alienware M18x: 8 Beeps when system POSTS

I hope you can get this taken care of quickly.

 

Yeah I hope so too but that Dell article is a load of bovine balderdash. How can one execute the bios flash by clicking the exe if they can't boot the system Dell = Idiots.

Anyways wish mine broke down a few months later when the nvidia 6xx series comes out because I would have pushed for a GPU upgrade

 

Well, if you remove the GPU and run on the HD 3000 IGP, you can flash the M18x A05 BIOS. I tried it and it was a waste of time. It fixed nothing. I used the M18x with no discreet video cards installed (running off the IGP) for about a month waiting for parts that never became available. I received the current system as a replacement, as neither 6990M or 580M MXM modules were available for replacement at the time.

Did you pull the 580M out so you can run on the IGP, or just using another system for now?

After running on the HD 3000 for so long, it gave me a new level of respect for its capabilities. Not impressive by M17x/M18x performance standards, but for an IGP it's actually pretty decent. I was able to play Left4Dead 2, MW2 and a few other games on lower settings. And, the 4.5-5 hour battery life was sort of fun to play with when discreet graphics were not available.

 

2 words = 3D display. Can't run off the IGP because it is disabled as it cannot drive a 120hz monitor. Annoying. And I'm on my iPhone at the moment.

 

GRRRRR. Got to be maddening. Sorry.

 

Sorry Widezu, that really sucks!

Here's to hoping that you're replacement dies when the 6xx series are available

 

Click

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Sorry to hear that. Can't say Im suprised

 

haha thats awesome.



sorry about your GPU. But hey, thats what warranties are for! It was overclocked right? Maybe next time you'll take it down a notch, overclocked can only live for so long.

 

Agreed, it sucks, but the candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long.

 

sorry man. nothing more infuriating than expensive pieces of tech not working for a reason that can't be identified.

 

sry to hear that ! it makes me remember of my "geforce 6800m ultra go" on xps gen2 (die of overheating)

did u monitor the temperature at that time ? i wonder if it's because of the heat or it's just drop dread because of the intense overclock.

 

Too funny

 

liquid cooling must be implemented into laptops!!!! right away!!!!

 

Oh god my speakers should not have been maxed out when I pressed the button.

Sorry to hear your 580M crapped out, wonder if Alienware would ship out a GPU as an FRU..

 

not filling me with confidence with my 580

 

is it possible to remove the 2x 580's and connect it with a VGA cable to a non 3D monitor????

 

sucks, fingers crossed you get a new one asap.

btw, have you tried to enable the igp and connect and external monitor to vga/hdmi/displayport?

would be nice to know if/how they´re connected to the mb/gpu.

 

Tried that as my iGPU is disabled, it doesn't work Called Dell they said 8 beeps is a LCD problem so we shall see.

So a tech is coming with a new LCD (second replacement) and a new 580m with heatsink things are looking up!

 

you can´t enable your igp via (modded) bios ?!

its my understanding that the igp on 3d-systems is just disabled via bios and the lcd is connected via the 2nd onboard display-adapter...

 

No the iGPU doesnt output via eDP and eDP is the only way the 120hz screen can be plugged. It's a paradox

 

I want to know the secret to this button so I could link it too lol

 

Back from the dead need to find my old vbios rom. Setup the bios again and run a few benches. Hopefully this card is equally as good if not better than the last

 

AHAHAHAH i'll rep you as soon as i can... i had the volume high loud on the Company laptop on our site office when i've clicked the link.... i'm still refraining my self from laughing out loud

@Wide, sorry to hear about your lost... (this sounds way too serious ) i hope you can get it fixed asap

 

lol,

Just go to my post and click "quote" I think, that will give you the html code. Should, if not PM me and I'll send it to you.

 

Or just click on the link shown in the bottom edge of the button to go to Myinstants! Instant button generator and database

That 8 beeps is what my M18x did when the 6990M GPUs quit working... had nothing to do with the display.

widezu69 - so did they send a LCD and GPU? Glad you're back in business.

 

Oh, no, Widezu. Just saw this thread about your beast. Sorry for your bad fortune, but glad to hear that AW stepped up and that recovery is underway. Rotten timing.

 

Well just got new GPU today and new heatsink. Everything seems fine. Repasted with ICD and voltmodded too. Not run any benches so far but looks like a good sample.

 

so the new goal is 21k

 

tisk tisk...see what happens when you overvolt?

Glad to see that its all good again

 

Hmm seems this card isn't as strong as the old one. A few graphical crashes with BF3. Dunno we'll see.

 

So are you going to try to get a new one? Sucks you aren't having as good of performance

My R3 is coming tomorrow with 580m and is there a way I can tell right away if the card is strong or not? It's a new system but I did get a hell of a deal on it so I'm slightly skeptical haha.

 

Was all the benchmark ep-ing worth it? I guess I just don't get it; was the card not performing well enough? Not trying to take anything away from you, what you got out of the single 580m was incredible. On the other hand, I don't see being without my laptop for any period of time worth it.

Just my opinion; hope all goes well with your new card!

 

Well I'm a bencher and number crunching was worth it just for proving what a system can do. I had warranty so I had peace of mind. I'd of course be more careful if I hadn't any warranty left.

The new card is still good. Seems to be getting better now, just needed to be broken in a bit.

 

It's been said that if she can't take a lickin' and keep on tickin', then you can't trust her anyway, although Widezu69 does push the envelope.

 

Push the envelope? I have even begun to touch it yet. Anyways got a new backplate coming soon which covers all the memory chips. See if it makes any difference.

BTW I'm looking at some new Phobya 7W/mK thermal pads. Anyone have experiences with these? They claim to be compressible to half height so I'm guessing 1mm ones should be fine.

 

I look forward to hearing if the new HS helps at all.

Have fun w/ the new card.