P170HM 1 beep after 660m install.

So I just received the Dell 660m I ordered, and guess what?

It doesn't work.

I don't know if it's the card or not, but I put it in, and the system gives me a blank screen with no fans spinning whatsoever. No POST no nothing. Hard drive makes clicking noises for about 3 seconds then The caps lock light blinks off as soon as I turn it on. Just 1 beep out of the bottom speaker and a blank screen. I have tried resetting the CMOS several times, and I have tried new ram, different slots and nothing. I had to put my old 130m in, and I had quite some trouble getting the system to work again. Had to reset the CMOS 5 times in order for it to boot.

@Prema says a Dell 660m works. I find this a bit hard to believe. I mean, the guy is a genius, but I've always heard that any Dell card will not work, and the fact that my one isn't working raises the question.

What could the problem be? Is the card bad, or is the VBIOS of the card incompatible?

 

Dell AMD cards do not work, Dell NVIDIA cards work. If it would be the wrong vBIOS the system would hang at post but it would post...heck it even posts with Dell AMD cards but shuts down later on...
Sound more like the card itself is DOA...
Are you sure you are on BIOS 10 and EC9 and that it is not a MXM card without vBIOS chip?

 

Yeah I am. The card does have a VBIOS chip as it works in my m15x.

I also tested the card in my m15x and I was getting random intervals of artifacting that occurred every 5 minutes, or when the laptop was tapped. I suspect the card's VRAM is shot, so I'll be sending it back. Could also explain the 1 beep from the Clevo as 1 beep is supposed to mean faulty memory from either the system's RAM or the GPU's RAM.

Even so, my P170HM after this 660m install is no longer working properly I put the 130m back in, and it's just not working as well as it was 7 hours ago.

It keeps shutting itself off despite the temps being icy cold due to the low TDP of the 130m. Before I put the 660m into it, it was working perfectly. I have no idea what's wrong with it, and I am truly sad to see that it might be dead. Placing that 660m into it was a bad idea as I fear that it might be dying because of it.

Occasionally it will boot without a blank screen and get past the splash screen, but then it turns itself off in windows within 6 minutes. It also sometimes fails to power up at all. You press the power switch, and then immediately it turns itself off.

Is this a sign of the system board failing?

 

If the card is bad it can damage the board...but just take it out and clean the cards contacts once, maybe the other card was just dirty and left something in the slot.

 

The laptop seems to shutoff instantaneously if I tap or shake it. If either of this is done, it fails to power on until I wait about a minute.

Anyways yeah, I've made sure the contacts are clean and stuff. The 130m was working perfectly previously, and works perfectly in my m15x so it couldn't be the issue. I'm starting to suspect that the 660m has damaged the motherboard. Considering how rare these motherboards are, I may have to sell this in the NBR marketplace to someone who needs a P170 for parts.