Not Loading Bios

Dear members and Proffisionals

i know this is common topic but i didnt find any of other topics answers for my problem .


i've been playing games for 3 hours ,, then i shutted the m17x R2 that i recieved from Dell on august 2010 . since then it never loaded the bios again .


Iam not overclocker . all i have done since i recieved the laptop from dell is updating my graphics card drivers to 10.7


now , tried every thing . i resetted the cmos . updated my bios to A07 , removed rams and made sure every thing is secure and still not loading the bios .

When i Removed the left card from laptop side which i believe its the secandry card ,, suddenly the bios started to load and laptop acted perfect . when i fix the secand card back it wont load bios again .

i left cards in and removed the crossfire wire connection to make sure that the wire is fine ,, still didnt load up .


i recieved my m17x with A05 loaded in . ,, its top end system
Solid state in raid 0
920 processor
8mb ram
xf 5870
the Cards are labeled as A00


your advice is much appriciated


im new here but i know all the pros like Joker and brian who i will be cheerful if someone stepped by and try to solve my problem . which i guess many around faced it befor me



Thanks again

 

its not loading the BIOS - ok, so what happens? You depress the power button and see nothing? Keyboard lights up but no picture at all? No error beeps? No CAPS/SHIFT/NUM LOCK leds flashing?


If so,

Check your GPU cable. Also check your display cable. Make sure both are attached properly.

Not sure why you would have removed the GPUs in the first place. In any event, try my suggestion and check the cables.

 

Fairlane,

My guess is that you may have a defective 'slave' card. If you can remove the slave and boot, it's possible it is just defective.

- Denver

 

batboy ,

when both cards are fitted . i get blank secreen , keyboards lights , but not loading bios . , no error beeps , no flashing signs every thing is perfect it just doesnt load bios with both cards fitted in

every thing is seated perfectly and i didnt remove the card immediatly i checked every single thing befor this step specially cables .


Denver ,
I wish if its defective slave and limited to this and not a motherboard problem hehe , but i have seen ppl almost getting the same problem but they stated that A02 bios will make it work again ,,, im confused but ill get new slave card

 

Weigh Anchor!! Do them Power Drains, ye landlubber!

Power Drain - turn off the system, unplug the power cord, remove the battery, press and hold the power button for 30 sec. See if it helps.

Ahoy Mateys!

 

i tested the power drain method many times ,, with no luck

my laptop is facing this problem for 10 days and i feel down ,, but its fine hopefully we it will be solved soon

 

No error beeps or LED error code flashes? If no, its time for you to contact support. Best of luck - let us know how it works out.

 

no Bat there is no error beeps or led error code flashes

 

The left card is the master card, and the right card is the slave card looking from top, after removing the keyboard. If the laptop only shows a blank screen and/or the scroll and num icons are blinking in stereo, then you have a bricked card from what it looks like and it needs to be replaced by support. Good Luck.

 

Have ye tried reseating all them cards and cables?

 

Dear Grimfan ,

Am refering to the card that is below the Num pad
and there is no blinking scrol blinking ,, i know wat ur refering to but there is no blinking ,, ,, is the vga card below the num pad is the slave or master?


Aikimox i did try ,, but i didnt reseat the cable on the card which is below the num pad side cos its hard to reach

 

That's ok, I'd also check and reseat the RAM, screen cable and reset the BIOS (unlpug the CMOS battery for 30 sec).
And call Dell, if nothing helps.

 

i did all these ,, sadly nothing help .. the only thing that let that machine works flawlessly is removing the slave graphic card .

 

Call them and get the secondary card replaced. Not much you can do here, IMO.

 

iam overseas now ,, oh heeeeeeeeeeeelp! hehe

 

Yup, the right one is the slave one, might be the crossfire cable not correctly seated... Did you dettache the Heat Sink to check for the connector underneath it, don't think it's possible to check it without taking it off. If nothing helps, call the support, should be the least work

 

i will dettache gently the heat sink and re attached the cable < ill try it out now will update

 

nothing happened and it was secure attached

 

As it was working at one time before, i think your slave card is more or less toast, call for replacement, nothing more to check into for the moment imo. Sorry for the bad news.

 

thank you for the effort guys so you dont even recommend i flash to A02 since it might be a problem with the A05 > i've seen couple of ppl solved their problem with their xf 5870 through going back to A02 bios version

 

Nope, as it was working previously with A05, you were playing games and stuff with it, the card is probably fried, if you did a bad vbios flash, the card is bricked.

As i got my M17x-R2 in july and i also had it come with A05, i also tried to download A02 once, but could not even flash or start the flashing process for the Bios (just wanted to test if i could revert back to an older revision),

so no need to discomfort you any longer, messing around with hardware or software and get the support you deserve along your purchase. You would need a replacement slave gpu anyway, if you had the problem from the other people (which is hardware releated and concerned service stock only anway afaik)

 

Grimfan , iam much appriciated for your update

one more question (i apologize)
since iam overseas as dell wont support me while am overseas specially in area where there is no dell dealer around . where i can purchase a slave card from online ?

 

I had similar problem. The best thing I can think of is run the built in diagnostic if you can and write down the error code for DELL when you call them. Don't tell DELL you test-removed the video card. End user are not allowed to open that far into the system.
Report the problem and see what they've got to say. Until the part can be fixed, you can just remove that card and use your computer with just the primary video card.

 

Thank you for your input ,, good to know that my friend .


but guys if iam willing to buy slave 5870 , where can i find them ?

 

uhm, www.dell.com or www.ebay.com if available at all, but i dunno. Why would you buy something anyway if you have a warranty, blows me.

 

Try this.

1. Download BIOS version A02 from Dell - you can do this by going to the A08 download page of dell, click "more download options", then click "M17x R2 A08 release notes.pdf" and then clicking on "Other Versions".

Dell - Support

2. Create a bootable CD bios installer. Instructions for this are on the download page of the link above under "Installation Instructions"

3. Watch this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j20wn96uac0 to learn how to tear apart your m17x.

4. Remove the right graphics card by disconnecting the blue cable that connects the two card then by pulling the right graphics card from the motherboard.

5. The computer should boot properly with graphics card 1 card. Remember to connect the power button panel and the keyboard back in the m17x before you try to boot.

6. press F12 when booting.

7. insert bootable BIOS installer A02

8. boot from CD and install A02

9. put the graphics card back

10. put ur computer back together, it should boot properly by now.

You can test if this solution would work if you plug in your HDMI to an external display and while booting the BIOS splash alienware wallpaper will be displayed on the external display.

After this work call dell for a replacement as they told me that they are aware of this issue with 920xm in xfire. They replaced mine with 940xm and everything is working fine now. Take advantage of your warranty, you paid for it.

 

Do you have any info on this issue? Was this something we had a thread going about? Something only seen with the 920s??

Sounds to me that if this is something several are seeing we should as Brian to look into it. I don't recall anyone posting this before.

 

Hi BatBoy,

From reading several articles here, my guess is that in order for the bios to boot properly, the xfire should be configured right. I also heard that some vbios were configured as both masters and that BIOS A05 and above does not play well with this configuration. Put the two together and all you have to do is flash back to the old bios. This is temporary fix, just so that you can have a usable machine while you wait for the replacement. A02 does not support virtualization so that alone entitles you for a replacement.

Dell screwed up big time on the m17x with 920xm + xfire and they know it. They gave me a 940xm to shut me up. hahahaha

 

I am so curious to know how it is that the 940XM solved your issues. Not being sarcastic, truly curious. Why do you say it was a screw up with that combo? (errr I have that combo so any elaboration beyond what you posted would be great)
I know about the A00 designation for both master and slave gpus + the issues caused by this. The whole fix you posted is fascinating. Did you mean for the crossfire connector to stay disconnected after you have A02? If so then you have basically turned this into a single gpu system until they fix it. Or if you connect crossfire then this is a workaround to have them work together until replacement? Thx for the info.

 

After downgrading the bios to A02, make sure that you put the computer back to the way it was this means connecting the xfire cable back as well.

Regarding the issue I had, my first m17x r2 had that issues where the graphics card would just fail giving error ati graphics driver failed, windows has successfully restarted your graphics card. This issue use to happen to me at least 2 a day. Rang up dell, they sent me a new motherboard and graphics card. The replacement motherboard and graphics card had A04 bios and when i upgraded my bios wont boot. just a blank screen. i tried hooking the hdmi to an external display, it was displaying the splash screen for the bios but was unresponsive. did the instructions i wrote above and gave dell a call told them i want a new replacement and not a patch work, I didnt pay all that money for a patch me up laptop. when i got my replacement, i checked out the spec in the bios and it says 940xm 2.13Ghz. Cant complain. Haven't had any issues with the new one. The old one is also still with me as dell hasn't arrange shipping yet. Who knows, maybe their just feeling generous?

 

If only.... Don't worry they'll send you a label or charge you for the new one.

 

yeh eheheheh if only dell were so generous LOL.

Dell policy usually is they will either give you a call or it is up to you to email or call them once your issue has been resolved or you have recieved your new replacement part/system. They normally give you a 14 day or 2 week grace period. After that which allows them to charge you for not returning their system or getting in contact with them about it. There will be no warning of this after the 2 week grace period.

Personally I wouldn't try to mess or con dell seeing as they are already providing really good service with replacement parts and systems. Other companies wouldn't be throwing new systems as frequently as dell do. They try to keep the customers happy most of the time.

Cheers.

 

they said that they will give me a call but i sent them an email through the support website just to be sure that i dont get charged for it. thanks for the advice guys