Strange problem with Alienware M14X

Hello to all!

I just found this fantastic forum, congratulations for the excellent work! :thumbsup:

2 years ago I bought an Alienware M14X laptop. It working perfectly for 12 months (mostly for gaming) and then... dead. 7 beeps and black screen, no boot, etc (a usual problem which means cpu or motherboard failure).

I know that the usual is to send it for motherboard replacement but I didn't (I heard that it takes time for this and it is not sure to work perfectly after the replacement, so I decided just to buy another laptop). .

All this time the laptop inactive in my office. Two months before, I tried again to switch it on and, yes it worked without any problem!!! It just worked without had to do anything all this time. The date and hour were reseted (1/1/2009 when i opened it). After that, the laptop was working fine for 20 days (heavy gaming use) and then I had an unexpected shut down (accidentally I removed the plug while working without battery). When I tried to opened again, the 7 beeps death appeared again. I tried holding the start button for 45-60 sec but nothing. So, I left it again inactive. After 25-30 days inactive (yesterday) I tried again to open it. And it works fine once again without needed to do anything else!!! The date was reseted again (1/1/2009). And today (what a shame) I did the same mistake to unplug the power and the 7 beeps dead screen problem appeared again.

I'm not experienced programmer at all, but my conlusion is that it is not possible to have a pemanent problem with the hardware. It works fine when it works... But it can't work everytime it has an unexpected shut down and if then I don't leave it inactive for a couple of weeks. Strange! I have to mention that every time I tried to push the start button for the 45-60 sec and I removed the last 2 times the cmos battery without result. No change to its "behaviour".

I'm searching the web all the morning about this and how I can resolve it without changing the motherboard and I can't find a similar case.

What is your opinion about this "story"? Any suggestions-questions which could help me to solve the problem? Thank you in advance!

(Sorry if my English are bad, i'm German)

 

Could be any number of things the 7 beep error code essentially means that the system cannot communicate with the CPU. This can be an issue at the chipset level (on the motherboard), the CPU power circuitry on the motherboard or the CPU itself. Probably the cheapest option is to (assuming this is a first gen m14x) buy a cheap CPU for the socket such as the Pentium B950 and see if your problems go away. There may be an intermittent fault with the CPU which manifests itself after power loss and resets after it has been left for a while, the same could apply to the chipset or power circuitry on the motherboard - one of the switching MOSFETS may be stuck in the closed position and not sending power to the CPU when required.
Unfortunately the only easy fix is to try swapping the CPU - problems with the motherboard chipset or power circuitry are specialist jobs which require specialist knowledge and tools to trace and repair. You will be stuck replacing the motherboard if swapping the CPU doesn't help.

 

Thank you for your response. Maybe a full replacement of the motherboard is the best solution in this case. If I dont find any other solution I will start with cpu replacement.

I'm still wondering why sometimes the m14x works perfectly and sometimes not. This gives me hope that the problem is not permanent. Is it possible for a laptop to work perfectly for weeks, while it has already cpu or motherboard failure? That's why this case is a mystery for me.

In addition I have to tell that today checked the CMOS battery (just to be sure that it is not a CMOS issue) and works perfectly.

 

Definitely try a cheap CPU first - the B950 can be bought for around €5. Motherboard would be the next thing if that isn't fixing your issue though unfortunately!
If it turns out to be the CPU you can drop in any Sandy Bridge CPU - i3, i5, i7 just make sure the model starts with 2.

 

It's possible indeed. Random issues like this one are the toughest ones because there's no specific way to replicate them. A motherboard replacement should do the trick. You could also try reseating the processor.