***EVGA Precision X and Windows 7/8/8.1 and especially 10 bricking systems***

Yep cannot mobo to power on. I traced power but cannot find where its being lost. No leds turn on. I tried disconnecting everything and leaving it over night after pressing the power button while disconnected. Tried it multiple times. Any ideas? Mobo leds do not turn on. I pulled cmos battery and left it for a bit nothing still non responsive.

 

Hi guys, my EDID is corrupt on my Alienware 17 (2014). I'm able to boot just fine if I connect something to the HDMI out but otherwise I get 8 beeps. How can I get an un-corrupted EDID to flash over my corrupted one?

 

See here. Try it first, the guide should be pretty exhaustive. Report back if you run into a snafu or, of course, when you've managed to unbrick it (hopefully the latter ).

Yes, looks like it's not passing the power-on check (several steps involved). Hopefully the bridging action has merely triggered a fuse somewhere, which is their purpose after all. Check the fuse-like components with multimeter set to ohms; infinite resistance = triggered fuse. And tried booting with the lcd removed or replaced with the old one?

ps.
To all;
Anyone tried the magnet trick to trigger ' display lid close'? It's pretty neat to watch .

 

Checking fuses now...... it had a new lcd monitor and new cable..... and I sure wished I had tried the magnet trick before any of this might have saved me a ton of bother..... might not.

 

You are a legend @t456 . I was one of the first to have my screen burnt WITHOUT Precision-X (never even heard of it lol) way back when Mr.Fox first started the (now closed) mega-thread. If only I got your guide sooner before wasting cash on a new LCD

Here's my input. Hope it helps others to not make my same mistakes:

How it began: left AW 17 R1 on overnight and screen never turned on the next morning. Restart. 8 beeps of death. System was running Windows 10 (upgraded from 7). Never even heard of Precision-X let alone try at that time. Latest Nvidia drivers

My number one suspects: NVIDIA drivers and/or Samsung SSD Magician. Had it installed on Win 7 for my 850 mSATA and tweaked here and there. When I claimed the free upgrade everything was carried over. At that time Win 10 was so new Nvidia released a crapload of 'beta' drivers, which I basicallly just ok'ed all via GF Exp. Somehow either or both of those 2 f-ed up my screen 0.0!

My misery: not only did my screen die before I got a chance at reading t456's guide Win 10 or Nvidia (most likely the latter) also screwed up my 880M (on svl7 vbios). How did I know? Bought a new LCD after hopelessly scouring the mega-thread. Plugged in. Still 8 beeps. Almost gave up. Later got my hand (for a 'small' price) on a used 780M. And the beast was back in action!

The AW 17 is now stuck with Win 7. Tempted to erase everything and go full on Linux Mint now to rid myself of the stupid upgrade nags.

Moral of the story:
AW 17 R1 to me was the last good MXM laptop Dell made. I still love it considering how much cash I blew on fixing it. But from then on, goodbye Alienware and your BGA craps.

Buy a Clevo you love. My Batman 750ZM is rocking Win 10, 980M and Prema's BIOS/vBIOS on 4K without a single hiccup. (nope still no PR-X

Save money and buy the next Clevo with Pascal

 

Help me please restore EDID on my m17xr4
Please only a week ago I decided to do something to repair my M17XR4 (bricked more a year ago) and as soon I initiated my web searching I arrived here. I remember I was using a strange software called EVGA and I was on Windows 7 64bit Ultimate when immediately my laptop switched off brutally. Tried to power on but only 8 beeps. Switched off opened it and removed my GTX 675 (never overclocked it). Power on only 8 beeps. I've always used discrete video card with external only DELL U2410 so I've also never used internal m17xr4 LCD. (I used like a desktop). If I remind right I'm on A012 Bios no modded one I've always used only stock firmware.
I've tried yesterday bios reset with FN pressed during power ON, I've removed, laptop battery, bios battery short + and -, reinserted only bios battery and power cord then power on. I received first 5 beeps but not auto restart. Then I power off and second power on I've only 8 beeps.Now it gives only 8 beeps. I've tried to disconnect internal LVDS connector and with GTX 675 and without GTX 675 plus an external HDMI monitor but nothing always 8 beeps. Internal LCD power on and I can see backlight on but no video, the same happens to external HDMI monitor If I try to switch from internal to external only backlight even on HDMI monitor.
If can helps to debug my issue About LED codes errors I've no flashing leds or steady led, I can switch on and off caps lock or block num without any issues they turn on and off If I press them.

I think that my GTX 675 is good and also internal Intel HD maybe screwed EDID. I've an old system backup and I succeeded to extract EDID information directly from registry here it is:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\tony\ControlSet001\Enum\DISPLAY\LGD02DA\4&f0821f&0&UID67568640\Device Parameters]
"EDID"=hex:00,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,30,e4,da,02,00,00,00,00,00,14,01,04,90,26,\
15,78,0a,f1,95,a3,55,52,a1,26,0f,50,54,00,00,00,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,01,\
01,01,01,01,01,01,01,b0,36,80,b0,70,38,21,40,30,20,35,00,7e,d7,10,00,00,18,\
b0,36,80,b0,70,38,21,40,30,20,35,00,7e,d7,10,00,00,18,00,00,00,fe,00,4b,36,\
50,4a,31,80,31,37,33,57,46,31,0a,00,00,00,00,00,00,41,31,9e,00,00,00,00,02,\
01,0a,20,20,00,7a

It's a LGD02DA and EDID it's good.

This is my configuration...

210-40039 : Alienware M17x : Standard Base
619-33525 : Operating System : Italian Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64 BIT)
583-16271 : Keyboard : Internal Italian Qwerty Keyboard
555-14432 : Wireless : Killer Wireless-N 1103
490-13761 : Graphics : 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
451-11606 : Battery : Primary 9-cell 93W/HR LI-ION
450-11559 : Italian 220V AC Adapter Power Cord
429-16501 : Optical Drive : BluRay Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
400-25393 : Hard Drive : 1TB RAID 0 (2x500GB 7,200rpm)
370-20087 : Memory : 8192MB (2x4096) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
340-29245 : Ship Accessory : Southern Europe Docs (EN, SPA, POL, GRE)
340-29314 : Resource DVD : Alienware M17x
340-29317 : Placemats : Placemats (Eng, Gre, Pol, Ara, Rus)
320-12436 : LCD Back Cover : Soft Touch - Stealth Black
319-10774 : Camera : Integrated Skype HD Certified FullHD Camera with dual digital microphones
230-12513 : Display : 17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
338-16740 : Processor : 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
450-16348 : Power Supply : Alienware 240W AC Adapter

Maybe internal LCD edid corrupted?
I've not another LVDS screen to do hotswap there's a way to bypass 8 beeps check? May be a modified m17xr4 bios? There's a way to use an external monitor?
I'm reading something about a magnet can I do something? Please Help me! Thank you in advance!

 

The magnet's just a gimmick or, if in DuncanIdaho7780's shoes, a test to check if the ' display lid close switch' is faulty. It is not applicable to your situation, to be sure.

Sadly, the 8 beep trigger occurs before bios hand-off, so there's no way to boot any os without a valid, internal edid reporting for duty (regarding 'internal'; tried a VGA monitor/projector?). With linux, at least, it's possible to pre-set an edid, overriding any corrupt version, but this doesn't help much if you can't pass POST. Hence your only option is a hot-swapping a working lcd or use the edid bypass mod. Well ... save a modified bios, if there's any ... though if these exist then they likely only have options for oc'ing and the like, not something as insanely quixotic as an edid-check.

Anyway, after the hot-swap you can use the linux tools to fix it. For a stand-in display; most 40-pin lvds panels will do, which means tons and tons of them. So look beyond physical size (within reason), resolution and connector location. Also consider other laptops you can borrow the panel from.

The bypass mod wouldn't need any further steps as it'd work right off the bat, also hard-protecting it from re-occurrences of the same mishap.

 

Thank you so much @ t456.

t456 I forget tell you that my m17xr4 has also an "hdmi in" can I repair with another pc connecting there?
Could you please tell me where I can buy usb eeprom programmer and cable lvds to connect eventually my LGD02DA to repair? (I'm from Italy).

Somewhere in europe where there's no custom trouble..
thanks in advance for helping

Update...
I've hook m17xr4 LCD panel by HDMI IN to my Desktop PC (Asus Strix GTX980), to do this I've used a fresh windows 7 64bit ultimate install on a fresh HARDISK and using Entec monitor Assets on the left panel I've 3 descriptions about DEL1723, maybe automatically generated by software:
1) DEL1723 realtime 0x0071
2) DEL1723 registry-active
3) DEL1723 registry

here they are .bin files

Spoiler: First

Monitor
Model name............... M17xR3
Manufacturer............. Dell
Plug and Play ID......... DEL1723
Serial number............ n/a
Manufacture date......... 2011, ISO week 1
Filter driver............ None
-------------------------
EDID revision............ 1.3
Input signal type........ Digital
Color bit depth.......... Undefined
Display type............. RGB color
Screen size.............. 380 x 220 mm (17,3 in)
Power management......... Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep
Extension blocs.......... 1 (CEA-EXT)
-------------------------
DDC/CI................... n/a

Color characteristics
Default color space...... Non-sRGB
Display gamma............ 2,20
Red chromaticity......... Rx 0,614 - Ry 0,356
Green chromaticity....... Gx 0,325 - Gy 0,604
Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0,156 - By 0,092
White point (default).... Wx 0,313 - Wy 0,329
Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
Horizontal scan range.... 15-83kHz
Vertical scan range...... 49-77Hz
Video bandwidth.......... 160MHz
CVT standard............. Not supported
GTF standard............. Not supported
Additional descriptors... None
Preferred timing......... Yes
Native/preferred timing.. 1920x1080p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1920x1080" 148,500 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
Detailed timing #1....... 1600x900p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1600x900" 108,000 1600 1624 1704 1800 900 901 904 1000 +hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
720 x 400p at 70Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 60Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 72Hz - VESA
640 x 480p at 75Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 56Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 60Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 72Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 75Hz - VESA
832 x 624p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1024 x 768p at 60Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 70Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 75Hz - VESA
1280 x 1024p at 75Hz - VESA
1152 x 870p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1152 x 864p at 75Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 720p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 960p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1440 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1600 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1680 x 1050p at 60Hz - VESA STD

EIA/CEA-861 Information
Revision number.......... 3
IT underscan............. Not supported
Basic audio.............. Supported
YCbCr 4:4:4.............. Supported
YCbCr 4:2:2.............. Supported
Native formats........... 1
Detailed timing #1....... 1920x1080i at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1920x1080" 74,250 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1094 1124 interlace +hsync +vsync
Detailed timing #2....... 1280x720p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1280x720" 74,250 1280 1390 1430 1650 720 725 730 750 +hsync +vsync
Detailed timing #3....... 720x480p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "720x480" 27,020 720 736 798 858 480 489 495 525 -hsync -vsync
Detailed timing #4....... 1440x480i at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1440x480" 27,020 1440 1478 1602 1716 480 488 494 524 interlace -hsync -vsync

CE video identifiers (VICs) - timing/formats supported
1920 x 1080p at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1) [Native]
1920 x 1080i at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
1280 x 720p at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
720 x 480p at 60Hz - EDTV (16:9, 32:27)
720 x 480i at 60Hz - Doublescan (16:9, 32:27)
1920 x 1080p at 50Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
1920 x 1080i at 50Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
1280 x 720p at 50Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
720 x 576p at 50Hz - EDTV (16:9, 64:45)
NB: NTSC refresh rate = (Hz*1000)/1001

CE audio data (formats supported)
LPCM 2-channel, 16/20/24 bit depths at 32/44/48 kHz

CE speaker allocation data
Channel configuration.... 2.0
Front left/right......... Yes
Front LFE................ No
Front center............. No
Rear left/right.......... No
Rear center.............. No
Front left/right center.. No
Rear left/right center... No
Rear LFE................. No

CE vendor specific data (VSDB)
IEEE registration number. 0x000C03
CEC physical address..... 1.0.0.0
Maximum TMDS clock....... 165MHz

Report information
Date generated........... 09/06/2016
Software revision........ 2.90.0.1002
Data source.............. File
Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1

Raw data
00,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,00,10,AC,23,17,01,01,01,01,01,15,01,03,80,26,16,78,EA,56,25,9D,5B,53,9A,28,
17,50,54,AF,EF,80,71,4F,81,C0,81,40,95,00,A9,C0,B3,00,01,01,01,01,02,3A,80,18,71,38,2D,40,58,2C,
45,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,30,2A,40,C8,60,84,64,30,18,50,13,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,00,00,00,FD,00,31,
4D,0F,53,10,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FC,00,4D,31,37,78,52,33,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,01,BE,
02,03,1C,71,49,90,05,04,03,07,1F,14,13,12,23,09,07,07,83,01,00,00,65,03,0C,00,10,00,01,1D,80,18,
71,1C,16,20,58,2C,25,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,9E,01,1D,00,72,51,D0,1E,20,6E,28,55,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,
8E,0A,D0,8A,20,E0,2D,10,10,3E,96,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,18,8E,0A,A0,14,51,F0,16,00,26,7C,43,00,7E,D7,
10,00,00,98,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,51

Spoiler: Second

Monitor
Model name............... M17xR3
Manufacturer............. Dell
Plug and Play ID......... DEL1723
Serial number............ n/a
Manufacture date......... 2011, ISO week 1
Filter driver............ None
-------------------------
EDID revision............ 1.3
Input signal type........ Digital
Color bit depth.......... Undefined
Display type............. RGB color
Screen size.............. 380 x 220 mm (17,3 in)
Power management......... Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep
Extension blocs.......... 1 (Unknown type)
-------------------------
DDC/CI................... n/a

Color characteristics
Default color space...... Non-sRGB
Display gamma............ 2,20
Red chromaticity......... Rx 0,614 - Ry 0,356
Green chromaticity....... Gx 0,325 - Gy 0,604
Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0,156 - By 0,092
White point (default).... Wx 0,313 - Wy 0,329
Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
Horizontal scan range.... 15-83kHz
Vertical scan range...... 49-77Hz
Video bandwidth.......... 160MHz
CVT standard............. Not supported
GTF standard............. Not supported
Additional descriptors... None
Preferred timing......... Yes
Native/preferred timing.. 1920x1080p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1920x1080" 148,500 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
Detailed timing #1....... 1600x900p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1600x900" 108,000 1600 1624 1704 1800 900 901 904 1000 +hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
720 x 400p at 70Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 60Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 72Hz - VESA
640 x 480p at 75Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 56Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 60Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 72Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 75Hz - VESA
832 x 624p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1024 x 768p at 60Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 70Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 75Hz - VESA
1280 x 1024p at 75Hz - VESA
1152 x 870p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1152 x 864p at 75Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 720p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 960p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1440 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1600 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1680 x 1050p at 60Hz - VESA STD

Report information
Date generated........... 09/06/2016
Software revision........ 2.90.0.1002
Data source.............. File
Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1

Raw data
00,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,00,10,AC,23,17,01,01,01,01,01,15,01,03,80,26,16,78,EA,56,25,9D,5B,53,9A,28,
17,50,54,AF,EF,80,71,4F,81,C0,81,40,95,00,A9,C0,B3,00,01,01,01,01,02,3A,80,18,71,38,2D,40,58,2C,
45,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,30,2A,40,C8,60,84,64,30,18,50,13,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,00,00,00,FD,00,31,
4D,0F,53,10,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FC,00,4D,31,37,78,52,33,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,01,BE

Spoiler: Third

Monitor
Model name............... M17xR3
Manufacturer............. Dell
Plug and Play ID......... DEL1723
Serial number............ n/a
Manufacture date......... 2011, ISO week 1
Filter driver............ None
-------------------------
EDID revision............ 1.3
Input signal type........ Digital
Color bit depth.......... Undefined
Display type............. RGB color
Screen size.............. 380 x 220 mm (17,3 in)
Power management......... Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep
Extension blocs.......... 1 (Unknown type)
-------------------------
DDC/CI................... n/a

Color characteristics
Default color space...... Non-sRGB
Display gamma............ 2,20
Red chromaticity......... Rx 0,614 - Ry 0,356
Green chromaticity....... Gx 0,325 - Gy 0,604
Blue chromaticity........ Bx 0,156 - By 0,092
White point (default).... Wx 0,313 - Wy 0,329
Additional descriptors... None

Timing characteristics
Horizontal scan range.... 15-83kHz
Vertical scan range...... 49-77Hz
Video bandwidth.......... 160MHz
CVT standard............. Not supported
GTF standard............. Not supported
Additional descriptors... None
Preferred timing......... Yes
Native/preferred timing.. 1920x1080p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1920x1080" 148,500 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
Detailed timing #1....... 1600x900p at 60Hz (16:9)
Modeline............... "1600x900" 108,000 1600 1624 1704 1800 900 901 904 1000 +hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
720 x 400p at 70Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 60Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480p at 72Hz - VESA
640 x 480p at 75Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 56Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 60Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 72Hz - VESA
800 x 600p at 75Hz - VESA
832 x 624p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1024 x 768p at 60Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 70Hz - VESA
1024 x 768p at 75Hz - VESA
1280 x 1024p at 75Hz - VESA
1152 x 870p at 75Hz - Apple Mac II
1152 x 864p at 75Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 720p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1280 x 960p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1440 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1600 x 900p at 60Hz - VESA STD
1680 x 1050p at 60Hz - VESA STD

Report information
Date generated........... 09/06/2016
Software revision........ 2.90.0.1002
Data source.............. File
Operating system......... 6.1.7601.2.Service Pack 1

Raw data
00,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,FF,00,10,AC,23,17,01,01,01,01,01,15,01,03,80,26,16,78,EA,56,25,9D,5B,53,9A,28,
17,50,54,AF,EF,80,71,4F,81,C0,81,40,95,00,A9,C0,B3,00,01,01,01,01,02,3A,80,18,71,38,2D,40,58,2C,
45,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,30,2A,40,C8,60,84,64,30,18,50,13,00,7E,D7,10,00,00,1E,00,00,00,FD,00,31,
4D,0F,53,10,00,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,00,00,00,FC,00,4D,31,37,78,52,33,0A,20,20,20,20,20,20,01,BE

I don't know how to proceed because lubuntu on my desktop boot but I don't see anything on my first screen DELL U2410 connected on display port so I cannot use Linux. EDID on web parser are ok but they are generated by Entec or red directly from m17xr4 HDMI IN port?

I'm asking because if I'm right I need anyway to start from linux to read actual EDID DATAS and write correct one? What to do now?

UPDATE...

I've done another install on a second clean hardisk Kali Linux full with i2c-tools....
and following your guide I've done modprobe of i2c-dev and i2c-i801 my Asus Hero VIII motherboard have your same i2c controller.
Then... I've done the scan with i2cdump -r 0-127 9 0x50 (on 9 bus)
I've found this:

00 ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 10 ac 23 17 01 01 01 01
01 15 01 03 80 26 16 78 ea 56 25 9d 5b 53 9a 28
17 50 54 af ef 80 71 4f 81 c0 81 40 95 00 a9 c0
b3 00 01 01 01 01 02 3a 80 18 71 38 2d 40 58 2c
45 00 7e d7 10 00 00 1e 30 2a 40 c8 60 84 64 30
18 50 13 00 7e d7 10 00 00 1e 00 00 00 fd 00 31
4d 0f 53 10 00 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 fc
00 4d 31 37 78 52 33 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 01 be

while same bus but i2cdump -r 0-255 9 0x50

00 ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 10 ac 23 17 01 01 01 01
01 15 01 03 80 26 16 78 ea 56 25 9d 5b 53 9a 28
17 50 54 af ef 80 71 4f 81 c0 81 40 95 00 a9 c0
b3 00 01 01 01 01 02 3a 80 18 71 38 2d 40 58 2c
45 00 7e d7 10 00 00 1e 30 2a 40 c8 60 84 64 30
18 50 13 00 7e d7 10 00 00 1e 00 00 00 fd 00 31
4d 0f 53 10 00 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 fc
00 4d 31 37 78 52 33 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 01 be
02 03 1c 71 49 90 05 04 03 07 1f 14 13 12 23 09
07 07 83 01 00 00 65 03 0c 00 10 00 01 1d 80 18
71 1c 16 20 58 2c 25 00 7e d7 10 00 00 9e 01 1d
00 72 51 d0 1e 20 6e 28 55 00 7e d7 10 00 00 1e
8e 0a d0 8a 20 e0 2d 10 10 3e 96 00 7e d7 10 00
00 18 8e 0a a0 14 51 f0 16 00 26 7c 43 00 7e d7
10 00 00 98 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 51

Parse says OK but why I cannot see anything also connected with to my desktop?
My laptop is a M17XR4 they mounted a LCD for M17XR3 as EDID says... strange but sure compatible but my native registry Windows Installation talk about LGD02DA very strange.

 

The DEL1723 and all other outputs are from your desktop monitor. Hopefully the HMDI-in option can actually pass through the edid (depends on the specific HMDI implementation) ... At any rate, you'll have to check the other buses and see if the LG is present on one of them. Of course, you also need to have the laptop powered for this to work, beeping or otherwise. This may be tricky if it auto-shutdowns after X seconds, so ... does it?

For the cable + adapter look for something like this LVDS-generic cable. It's very cheap and allows you to re-direct the edid pins to a usb programmer. For these particular items to work set the programmer to '3.3V' and hook up the pins like so:

Code:

#  pin LVDS  --> pin programmer
-------------------------------
4  EDID VDC  --> VCC
6  EDID CLK  --> CLK
7  EDID DATA --> SDA
16 GND       --> GND

Find out which LVDS pin is which by stripping the black cloth on the lcd side and trailing the 5 split-off wires back to their source.

 

No my m17xr4 never shutdown It keeps making 8 beeps, why do you think DEL1723 it's from my desktop monitor? I've Desktop DELLU2410 connected to GTX980 by DisplayPort and m17xr4 LCD connected by GTX980 HDMI to HDMI-IN look at this screenshot:

DELF017 ----> DELL U2410



While this

DEL1723 ----> M17XR4 Laptop LCD (Strange because in LAPTOP registry I've LG)




Please tell me if this usb programmer is the same the first one you have linked don't ship to Italy

 

Yes, same device.

The DEL1723 can't be the internal display because it is wildly different from a laptop display, sporting features you'd expect in desktop monitors. And, as you've mentioned, the LGD02DA was present before. Since it's not the U2410 either, that means it's a dummy display used for the HMDI-in option (same as with KVMs), also explaining the weird 'M17xR3' model name.

With HDMI-in ruled out, that leaves programmer or hot-swap.

 

Thanks a lots for your help t456. I've an old laptop somewhere I remind HP Pavilion DV8000 do you think that's compatible with Alienware M17Xr4? Can I use eventually a cable adapter?
Anyway I'm buying cable and programmer that you suggested.

 

Unfortunately, this model uses a CCFL and has a 30-pin connector, so it won't do.

The 'no backlight' isn't a problem for the hot-swap, but finding a 30->40 pin adapter is; you'd need the opposite of this example. It requires a wide (1mm pitch) 30-pin male + smaller (0.5mm pitch) 40-pin female combination and am not sure these even exist; demand for retrofitting older displays on modern systems can't be very high. Well ... except from people susceptive to backlight/pwm flicker, that is.

 

@t456 Hi my friend! I've red in this forum something like this "UEFI without Legacy/CSM support may be able to boot from HDMI or mini-DP" (in case of 8 beeps) it's possible to cook a m17xr4 firmware with this option just set up and try a blind flash?
So I can recover LCD EDID booting directly from my laptop with external monitor working?

(anyway i've bought cable and usb programming waiting for them)

 

Theoretically it'll work, but there's no way to flash that bios if you can't get past POST (without a programmer, that is ...). Unless ... does the 'M17R4.hd' recovery method work prior to a successful boot? If so, then you could ask another R4 user to set bios to ' UEFI, no CSM' and use that export for the recovery method, assuming it'll overwrite nvram as well (don't forget SLIC modules then).

At any rate; far too many ' if's, so think of it as a fall-back option if cable+programmer doesn't pan out.

edit: meant UEFI, for once ...

 

I was able to blind flash the M18xR2 with the bricked screen because the process begins earlier in the POST sequence before the BIOS/EC checks for a valid EDID. But, it does nothing to correct the EDID corruption. The default on the M17xR4 should be legacy BIOS, but the problem is once it starts the 8-beep thing there is no way to switch to UEFI without Legacy/CSM. I found that if I opened and closed the display swiftly several times before the 8-beeps start the backlight would come on and I could see the NVIDIA HWDIAG boot info on the screen and everything worked until things progress to the point that the BIOS/EC, or whatever Dellienware has going on with their firmware, tries to handshake with the corrupted EDID and then is where the nasty 8-beep thing starts.

 

So @Mr. Fox could you help me flash a m17xr4 firmware with blind way to bypass 8 beeps and use an external hdmi monitor to flash internal LCD Panel using my m17xr4? Damned dellware and their stupid internal lcd check they built hdmi out, dp out, vga out and I cannot do anything with them. I cannot remember If I'm on A012 or A013 official firmware (bricked a year ago It suddenly stopped working with a click then shutdown) anyway I've never used a modded one.
I would try something with UEFI as default and Legacy/CSM disabled if it's possible.

 

Hi t456 a friend of mine can borrow me a DV3-2150el can be compatible? If I'm right it's 3,3volt it can burn out? Sorry for so many question but I'm noob about LCD... It will be easy hotswap LVDS LCD side without doing some damage to borrowed panel? Thanks in advance for your answer.

 

I do not know of a way to bypass it as long as a display with corrupted EDID is attached. I don't think you can. You will have to flash it with a programmer from another machine, or buy/borrow a display that is good, boot into Linux and hotswap the bad display to flash it in Linux.

 

It shouldn't suffer in the least, provided you don't insert the cable slanted.

Couldn't find which panel this Pavilion uses (and there may also be multiple options), so check which lcd it is with MonInfo.

 

Hello t456 and all of you guys,

At December/2015 I wrote a post about my experience with this problem of lcd brick described here. (The original post is in Page 19, but I copied here to allow read it directly if you want).

In my case I reached the solution following the master guide created by t456 (a huge excelent job), but even fixing the problem and bringing the lcd panel back to life, I never isolated the specific cause that triggered the problem. The only thing I know is that I used for a terrible coincidence i) the latest NVidia drivers at that date (Dec/2015); ii) The new version of Evga PrecisionX (at Dec/15); iii) The latest version of Msi Afterburner (at Dec/2015) and iv) tried the upgrade to Windows 10.

Sure, knowing what I know now, I would never used all of this together (and I wrote about this in original post) but in that time I thought there is no problem just to try different softwares... but one or more of this 4 things triggered the lcd brick problem.

Do not isolate the specific cause became to be a problem that I would like to investigate now, to know what is safe to use and what is not.

One month ago I decided to try the new Nvidia drivers. Everything were fine, so I believe is safe now to use the new releases.

My question is, since that date, more than 6 months passed now, is still danger to try to upgrade to Windows 10, or try the new Precision X, or try the new Msi Afterburner)? We know what specificly cause the lcd brick?


------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
original post from december/2015
-page 19 of this topic

Hello folks.

I'm registered here just to include my experience and solution for lcd problem described all over this topic.

This week I was another victim of the lcd brick problem. But I made the correction without any hardware replacement, thanks to instructions from Prema (and t456 at most part).

I have a Clevo P377SM-A, with a i74810MQ + a SLI of GTX870m. I'm using it since 18 months withoutany important issues. But in the last days I tried a deadly sequence of software upgrades: Theinstallation of Windows 10, plus, almost in the same time, for a coincidence, the new version ofEVGA Precision X (5.3.10) and, too, tried the newversion of MSI Afterburner (4.2). I tried too the new version od NVIDIA Driver (361.43).

As you can see I made exactly the installation of the specific pieces of software that trigger the problem of lcd firmware corruption. :-( Well, I never could expect this kind of problem just to try a world wide new SO, or a new driver published from a world leader manufacturer of GPUs! But after complete the sequence of installations my lcd panel went to the same problem described here: no backlight, no boot (and a permanent boot cicle without POST). Without an external monitor connected my notebook stopped to complete the POST and boot properly.

The original software configuration I always used in this equipment was Windows 8.1 + EVGA Precision X version 3.04 (yes, a very a old version) used only to monitor GPU temps. After upgrade to Windows 10 and install the new NVidia drivers and/or Precision X / MSI Afterburner, the lcd died.

I did my research to web and I'm very glad because I found this post from Prema: https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...ecision-x-help/&do=findComment&comment=129487

I followed (with great care) all the steps. The first step was create a bootbable Pendrive with Linux using a .img file published by Prema (and made by t456 who put all together and wrote the guide). After this, I followed all steps described in a Instruction file included in .img package, plus some pictures also included in that Linux .img file) and my LCD is now working again! Thanks t456 and Prema (these mans are Legends). The .img file he did is amazing, very complete and saved my notebook from RMA to lcd replacement.

Ps.: The only thing different from instructions from t456 guide and Prema I found here during the execution of recovery procedures was the result of command "sudo ./edid-rw 1 | edid-decode" in Linux. It never returned the informations from my LCD EDID... At the first moments I even could find the exact specific model of my lcd panel. But I found it, and found the correct address and the correct I2C bus number of the notebook LCD using the command i2cdetect (I found the lcd in the bus #1). The use of i2cdetect is described in the firsts steps ofInstructions.txt file. With this command I found the model of my lcd: N173HGE-L11. Nice, but even with the correct bus number, the command "sudo ./edid-rw 1 | edid-decode" did NOT retrieved the informations from the lcd EDID. I decided so to try to write the new (and corrected) .bin firmware file to bus number #1, even this way, because I was sure that the bus number was #1. And it worked.
So, the only one point in the procedure that I found different during the recovery process was this one (do not reach the informations from lcd EDID when using the command sudo ./edid-rw 1 | edid-decode. But found using i2cdetect and the write process to the correct bus number worked well.

So i'm very glad to found in Prema's post, AND THANK YOU PREMA and t456. You gave me a great gift with the .img file with all informations available together in just one place (even with the original firmware to write it again to lcd eprom). t456 did a amazing high level work finding a solution to this terrible bug from Microsoft and/or Nvidia and/or EVGA.

Thanks Premaand, t456 all community.

Now I will stay at Windows 8.1, stay in old version of Nvidia drivers, and continue to use the version 3.04 of Precision X. I can stay in this configuration for while, with my computer working as usual, and keep following the news about this terrible issue before try to upgrade SO and/or Nvidia drivers..

RODBORA

Last edited: Dec 27, 2015
-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Precision X is the culprit. More likely, if combined with WinGoofs 10.

 

@RODBORA - Windows 10, unless they dramatically change how it is designed, will never be safe. If not a bricked LCD, personal security risks with keystroke logging, behavioral monitoring and tracking, personal data theft, your agreement that they can [mis]interpret and share that data with whomever, and in whatever manner they deem expedient, and the helter-skelter application of unfit forced updates that can create system instability and reduce performance, are all legitimate concerns for this piece of Micro$lop malware.

Specific to the LCD, if you avoid using any version of EVGA Precision X newer than the older versions based on MSI Afterburner you should be fine. No guarantees, of course, as a rare few have encountered LCD EDID corruption without the help of Precision X.

I have been using EVGA Precison X v4.21 without incident. It is based on MSI Afterburner, only better with fully unlocked voltage controls. It predates Windows 10. A hyperlink is included in case you want to use it. You can download it from my Google Drive. It works fine for 980 and older GPUs. Not sure if it will also work with Pascal or not.

 

@Mr. Fox - that version has the best design too

 

Ok @Mr.Fox,

I will cross the fingers and try this version of Precision X.

About the Windows 10 security back doors and weakness, you are right. But I really believe that this issues always exists in this OS. Maybe greater now than never at Win10, but security was never a strong aspect of Microsoft softwares... well, I will keep at Win 8.1 64 still for a loooooong time...

Thanks for reply!

 

Sorry double post very strange maybe something with the server

 

Today it's a great day!!!!!!!!! )

You are the grandmaster here @t456 I've finally repaired my Alienware M17xr4 it had corrupted EDID.
I must also credit my wife.... she was so kindly to help me while soldering infact universal cable bought by me on alixepress was lacking support for 6 and 7 pins. I was very angry when using a tester pin to pin from LVDS 40pin to 30pin connector I was not able to find them simply because they weren't there So I stripped down completly 40pin connector as you can see:



So I wasn't lost but very angry and decided to strip down everything cutting everything so I started desoldering everything and soldered only 4 wires as described by our legend @t456



So I've obtained this little jewel for a total of 12 dollars.
After verified connection with a tester I've attached this special cable with programmer based on ch341 on my m17xr4 LCD Panel



I was not able to succeed in using the programmer under linux maybe lacking drivers or little program to read and write so after 30 minutes on the web I was able to install it on windows 7 64 bit and read the eeprom (it was corrupted on 5 bytes); then I've blank it and flashed first LGD20DA 0.2 version (it was byte byte like mine) but it not worked always 8 beeps of death then blank again and programmed with LGD02DA 1.0 version it worked!!!!! I'm rolling like a baby but I'm 41 years old without any skill on soldering

 

Nice job! What programmer and software did you use for Windows 7 flashing? +Rep

 

Sure my friend I've bought this from aliexpress here it is:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...M-TV-5V-free-shipping/1407271_2042053716.html

or ebay :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-to-I2C-...7ddd124:g:~NsAAOSwrklVMm2Z&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true


About the software I've downloaded everything from here it's perfectly compatible:

https://tosiek.pl/ch341-eeprom-and-spi-flash-programmer/

Something for you now What can i use to check my cpu temp and gpu temp safely way? I've also repasted my cpu and my gtx 675 gpu.
P.S.
I'm on windows 7 64 bit enterprise (no winzoz 10)

 

Very nice. I'll have to look at that cute little programmer closer. I've got a big sucker that works great, but something like that would be nice for the little jobs.

I recommend using HWiNFO64. That's what I use and there is nothing better. I recommend using the portable version. Nothing to install in the registry, survives OS reinstalls if stored on a separate data drive, and works flawlessly in shared folder/multi-boot environments.

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

 

I know I'm little offtopic but please an expert that could tell me if my temps are ok now after repaste, I'm asking here because I perfectly remember that before EDID brick notebook shutted down immediately hearing a strong click it was the cpu temp sensor I think. Another question now I'm on A05 BIOS when notebook was bricked thinking about a motherboard corrupted bios I did a blind flash with stock A05, I must stay with it or it's better goes to last one

Here it is CPU Temp idle:



Here it is GPU Temp idle:



Thanks again in advance

 

Seems a little bit high, tbh. On idle (stock Settings?) it should be around the middle thirties, lower forties. What TIM did u use and what amount did you use to cover the dies?

 

How about max temp on load?

 

thanks @CaerCadarn @Papusan I've used this one https://www.amazon.it/Prolimatech-PK-3-1g-1-5g/dp/B008M5108Q Prolimatech PK-3 I've done a thin horizontal line on CPU and on GPU, CPU is a I7-3840 QM and GPU 675M. I'm indoor with 28°C in the room, notebook is on table and I'm not using a notebook fan cooler for now.

 

I've never had good results with that or many of the most popular thermal pastes. I refuse to use anything for my CPUs except for liquid metal TIM, and I do so as often as possible. When it is not possible and I am forced to settle for something less due to a poorly heat sink fit, my first choice is IC Diamond, second choice is Kryonaut and third is Gelid GC Extreme. IC Diamond is a bit more effective and by far the most durable of those three. But, I won't even consider anything except for these any more. Everything else has been a waste of my money and resulted in a need for a redo... which means it wasted not only my money, but also my precious time.

 

Don't fiddle with another paste than ^^^. Liquid metal is my preferred paste. Learn to use it and you will see a nice decrease in temp. You can also mod a U3 cooler with 12v fans. Several threads about this in the forum.

 

@flyingsaucer75 use at least IC Diamond (better CLU) and I would strongly recommend to hook up the rig a bit which allows a better air flow and cooling.

 

How about mitigating the security risks and information theft with tools that have been updated and improved by IT guys and programmers specifically to address these issues?
http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/destroy_windows_10_spying.html
http://www.winprivacy.de/download/
https://wiiare.in/windows-10-privacy-fixer/
http://pastebin.com/K8Ww4j8z

Of course, I understand the whole stealprivacyfor$****OS issue, I just figure 1 year after release, we should be able to use it and protect our privacy with good tools.

 

@Mr. Fox Now that the "free" Win10 upgrade is over is it safe for me to turn on my AW17 now? I left it in the dust waiting for 29th July to come since it's still on WIn 7.

 

Micro$oft can't force on you Win 10 now. But still be careful with updates from the Redmond Morons. You never know if they start a new campaign

 

For an existing Windows 10 installation, those are indispensable utilities, and I have used most of them. Now I do it the easier way, as noted in the post below.

There were ways to get around the force-fed Windows 10 download before now. There are third-party utilities available to kill that and disabling Windows Update for W7 and W8.X also blocks it since no updates are applied. The latter is how I deal with the nonsense. Micro$loth can't break my computers because they're not allowed to have access to them... they're even locked out of my Windows 10 installations.

I used this method to mod my Windows 10 ISO and removed everything "special" about the new cancer OS and disabled Windows Update before allowing the machine to connect to the internet for the first time. Using this method, I don't even need the third party utilities to fix the mess after the installation. The mess isn't present... completely AWOL. No Windows 10 crApps, no Windows Store, no Cortana, no Skype, no biometrics, no "Hello" webcam spy cam cancer (facial recognition), no telemetry, and no automatic Windows Updates. It's Windows 10 on my terms.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/66640-How-to-Make-a-Windows-10-quot-Super-LTSB-quot-ISO

 

made my day

 

Installed 368.25 desktop mod on windows 8.1 yesterday to play DOOM, everything works flawlessly.

 

So I'm just wondering... Does this happen anymore with the latest NVIDIA drivers and Windows 10 updates? If so, is this still more an EVGA Precision X issue than a Windows 10 issue?

 

I believe the problem is Precision X more than anything else, especially if an LVDS notebook is involved.

 

So is it 100% safe to install Windows 10 as long as you don´t install EVGA Precision? I don´t use it, I have used MSI afterburner for the last 6 years or so, is Afterburner safe?

Anyway it seems like the ones of us that have LVDS screens have got the shortest stick, can´t upgrade to IPS as they use eDP, problems with this EVGA precision thing and now it may be that we can´t upgrade to Pascal, not exactly good news

 

I don't know that anything is 100% safe. All I can tell you is my Alienware M18xR2 EDID got bricked at least once every day and when I removed Precision X all of my issues immediately stopped. I hadn't switched versions of Precision X and my Alienware 18 EDID got bricked without Precision X. Other than a few random exceptions, it appears that almost all Alienware and Clevo notebooks that ended up with corrupted displays were using EVGA Precision X and had the LCD panels connected to an LVDS port.

Yes, you can use MSI Afterburner. It's fine for mild overclocking functionality. You cannot do anything fancy because Afterburner does not support MXM voltage control. It can be tweaked to allow it, but it is limited +100 voltage offset. I am not aware of any examples of Afterburner causing problems. The older versions of EVGA Precision X were built on Afterburner and they are safe as well.

 

Not necessarily so; there are several IPS-type and VA-type panels (similar technology) with LVDS interface to choose from. One of those is the LTM184HL01 (pnp id SDC4C48) used in some of the M18x's, XPS 18's and, most interestingly, is still being deployed in the GT80S 6QF Titan SLI *.

It's not a technical incompatibility, but just that IPS-type panels only became more commonly available when LVDS was already pretty much phased out in production runs, so the relatively few LVDS+IPS-like panels were avant-gardists destined mostly for premium laptops and medical applications.

Pascal is indeed quite a challenge, but DP 1.2 ≈ eDP 1.2, so you could sacrifice the external DP to drive an internal eDP panel. That is a seriously-finicky-soldering-skills-required type of mod, but it is do-able;

1. Desolder the dp connector, splice and partially cut the edp cable at the motherboard-side and solder each of the 10 or 16 individual wires we need to the mb's solder pads where the dp connector used to be **.
2. The backlight power and pwm control wires will have to remain with the old LVDS connector since DP expects the monitor to provide its own power, unlike most non-ccfl laptop displays (which use the display cable for data and bl power).
3. Depending on the laptop, the four edid pins from the lvds connector may or may not have to hooked to a dummy edid eeprom in order for the system to boot. Don't think that's necessary for it in order to provide power to the backlight pins, though, at least not in any system I've tested.

The result is something like a hybrid, dual-screen setup. The system will think there are two displays and drive them both; backlight and brightness control from the lvds connector and data via the external dp. This is perfectly fine since backlight and lcd (termed 'cell' on Panelook) are separate devices, with ccfl types this was simply more apparent than with led backlighted panels.

As mentioned, a potential issue is that the bios won't know that the primary display is now dp and that it may not like to have the internal screen missing. This can be solved with a dummy edid eeprom. The only potential deal-breaker is that during bios-time there may not yet be an image on an external DP screen/monitor, so this should be tested priorly. A non-pascal card is fine for that.

Spoiler: *

Funny thing is, this is one of the known bricked panels affected by the debacle in this thread, it runs nvidia cards and is an SLI, so no Optimus. Peculiar is that all of its predecessors used the same screen and general design, but it doesn't look like any of them are affected by the bricking debacle. So ... MSI must've done something different than the other brands. Could be they made the eeproms read-only, but that'd mean they ordered them customized like that from Samsung. It's possible; Dell, Lenovo and Apple do this too, for example. This theory can be verified by attempting to flash a custom edid on a GT80 and if that indeed fails to pass then 18.4" AW users could buy MSI replacement panels to safeguard their systems.

Spoiler: **

Of course, you could also split-off a dp cable and solder the wires to the edp cable, but that'd leave a cable dangling from the laptop permanently. That'd be a tad inconvenient, but it'd be fine for testing purposes since it's a lot easier to reverse the process.

 

For that we can just let the BIOS report the DP port to vBIOS as being the primary internal screen.
Overall an eDP to LVDS bridge maybe the cleanest solution, many boards from the recent years should already use them as Intel dropped native LVDS quiet a while ago.

 

Just a thought but to all those who had bricked displays - did you have the fast startup feature enabled?