[M18xR1] No POST, no video, 1 beep

Hello guys. I have really serious problem with my laptop, I hope you can help me to identify the issue.

Today morning it didn't want to turn on but after restart it finally booted. I started getting weird nvlddmkm related driver crashes in games so I decided to check vRam and normal ram. vRam test unfortunately can only check up to 4096 of 8192 but it was enough to prove it's working IMHO because crashes in games were occurring with only about 2-3 gb vRam allocated. I checked first and second card in two tests. I also ran furmark and also checked the normal ram. All was fine. Crashes were more and more frequent however.

I ran the system diagnostics in bios and it didn't find any issues.

I decided to try if it's one of the gpu cards so I went to the very demanding game with SLI on. I got the crash so I set SLI to single gpu and reran the game. It crashed again. I decided to restart the pc and I couldn't boot any longer. When I push the power button laptop tries to boot and it stays on black screen for about 10 seconds. Then theres a single beep and LCD backlight turns on. No more beeps or continuous beeping. Just one short beep after 10 secs.

I cleared CMOS already, didn't fix it.

I checked the beep code guide on Dell site. 1 beep says "Motherboard, bios, rom corruption" but I'm not sure if this is really the issue. Anyone have Alienware m18x beep code list? I couldn't find it. Maybe @Mr. Fox ?

Last month I got similar issue but with no beeps and bootloop. It turned out to be faulty RAM after diagnostics and after removing one module it was working fine to this day.

I hope we can identify the issue together. I really love my Alienware

 

@ Raidriar

To clearfy so that raidriar can help better, can you post the specs of the notebook. Are we talking about your GTX 880M SLI setup?

 

Thanks for reply.

Yes, it's laptop from my signature.

I7-2920xm ES listed as "Intel cpu 0"
GTX 880M x2 with 780m clocks
I took out 1 ram module so now I have 12 GB. It's elpida ram that came with system.
Bios is unlocked.

 

I've had a one beep board once and was never able to repair it......so your guess is as good as mine. I replaced my m18x r1 board with M18x r2 board.

But basic test procedure: remove both graphics cards, power drain, boot only with CPU/intel GPU and one stick of RAM (alternate sticks) to see if it can POST.

Given your symptoms, your 880Ms are likely toast. Furmark is bad software and is a power virus that likes to burn components out.

 

I'll try.

I know furmark is a bad software. That's why I ran it only for 3 minutes to check If it will crash under maximum usage and it didn't so I removed it and pc was still working even after restart. Crashes were also before even running it. Temperature was only about 73 C so it's not that. Clocks are also low as they're from 780m

So @Raidriar replacing the motherboard fixed single beep for you?

 

single beep is really a non-specific error, could be anything. The fact you are having video driver crashes and below stock clocks means more likely your primary video card is dead. like i said, pull both cards out, turn on and see if post. you don't need to put the whole computer back for this. I typically test for post with just motherboard, lcd plugged in, keyboard and the power board plugged in, power via ac adapter.

of course before you start buying new parts, you can send me your gtx 880m to test to see if they are faulty, or if your motherboard is faulty. if gtx 880M is ok, then my advice is to buy M18x r2 motherboard and swap CPU + GPU back in. I have spare secondary/daughterboard and sata caddy/cable if you like to purchase, you will only need to source primary board.

 

It turned out to be primary GTX 880M but it's very weird. I got no artifacts and no crashes under maximum usage, only when it dipped down to 40%-50%. I swapped the cards and it's working for now. PC boots when bios is in IGFX mode with bad card in slot so I don't think it's a short.

Sorry for a little, uh rush. Thanks for your tips.I know what should I test and how, I did it before with my 6990M but I panicked. I can't afford new one so Im thinking about sending this one to repair. I've got specialized company in country. I think I'll ask how much could it cost first. Thanks for the help.

 

did you try with 1 stick of RAM at a time yet ?

 

it was a VGA issue ? Oh never mind then