XPS 17 L701x Emitting 3 Short Beeps

I spilled some wine on my laptop causing the current problem.

Dried it off as best I could but when I switch the laptop on it emits 3 constant short beeps. The keyboard wasn't functioning properly so stripped it down again, cleaned it up and reconnected it.

As of now keyboard appears to be working properly and boots into windows and otherwise seems fine.

However, from a cold start the 3 beeps start and refuse to go away unless I reboot the system. After a reboot there is no beeping!

I'm inclined to think it is a keyboard error but would welcome some further advice.

Thanks.

 

to ensure the keyboard is the problem, turn off the laptop, remove keyboard, and startup using USB keyboard. From dell's website:

Documentation

3 short beeps means a motherboard fault, so you might have shorted your MB. Have you removed your laptop's palmrest to assure that you haven't spilled wine anywhere beyond that?

 

According to the link you posted 3 beeps indicate faulty SIMM.

It boots fine into windows and (ATM) behaves as it should apart from the beeping from a cold start.

Windows sees all the memory and I ran a full diagnostic from the Dell website, finding no faults.

I removed memory, hard drive, palm rest assembly and keyboard and cleaned it up. There wasn't much liquid present so hopefully no extensive damage done to MB.

I've ordered a replacement keyboard so will find it soon enough whether that solves it.

Thanks for the reply.

 

NP buddy, and good luck! Sorry i freaked you out for a minute lol, it was a long day and I just came home (was a bit tired) so I was disoriented from the 5-6 pages of research looking for you. Like I said though, if you're able to, hook up a USB keyboard, and disconnect your XPS L702x keyboard, boot it up from a cold start and you can figure out the culprit right away just from that

 

Oh well the replacement keyboard didn't make the beeps disappear so maybe it is pointing to a motherboard fault, although not terminal just yet.

 

Sorry to hear your problem, lesson learned That's why I dont leave liquids near my laptop, and if it is a liquid it's in a sealed container. My cousin bought a better laptop (when we were 16yrs old or so) and he fell asleep playing games. A whole cup of ice water spilled on his laptop and he slept through it up until it wet his pants (the coldness gave him a quick jolt). Tried to clean it up and asked me for my opinion, nothing you can do

Anywho, I know this is unethical, but maybe you can claim warranty with Dell? OR purchase accidental insurance with dell and then make your claim.

 

Well, it looks like my motherboard is dying a slow death but wanted to rule out cheaper options which double as upgrades!!

Recently system started to suffer from lock ups, BSODs, and unexplained shut downs although it would power off without going through a normal shut down. Although I thought an overheating issue, this would be when system was not stressed; for example it would happen at windows password screen or just browsing the web.

I bought a SSD and did a clean install without any dell bloatware. Seemed better but had 2 lock ups.

Although memory passes memtest86 and microsoft memory diagnostic test I've upgraded memory for 8GB kit. Can bad ram pass memory tests and cause symptoms I have described? Still awaiting delivery of new RAM.

Just bought and awaiting delivery of cooling pad.

If those measures don't correct the problem then replacement motherboard is next.

Any further thoughts?

 

As a side note, my L502x has been having some unexplained shut downs (exactly as you described) as well. Haven't spilled anything on it either. Have not yet tested my memory, will let you know if I find out memory is the issue on my machine.

 

I replaced the motherboard 2 days ago and everything has been fine since.