M18x 7 beeps

So, I purchased incynr8's laptop for parts, but I figured I would try my hand at his 7 beep issue. I have tried reseating the CPU and all the cables, as well as reflowing the board with liquid flux. Pulled CMOS battery, still 7 beeps. I don't know if it is the CPU, or the motherboard itself. I'm thinking of purchasing a cheapo pentium b940 to use as a test CPU. Blind flashing does not work, as my usual blind flash USB drive is not being read on the eSATA port.

Do you guys things CPU or motherboard?

On that note, anybody have a spare R1 or R2 board? I'm thinking of going with R1 board since it has a better audio chip to use for OSx86 development. The recon 3di I could never get working...

 

7 beeps I believe indicates CPU.

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19451762

 

It could be the CPU, but that is so rare that it is unlikely. I bet it's the motherboard. Don't have a spare Sandy or Ivy laptop CPU you could slap into the mobo and check it out?

You know, I've been battling the Recon3Di thing since the beginning, now on my third motherboard with the same issue, but suddenly I haven't had so much as a hiccup since installing this driver back in June. Finally, it's fixed! It's a miracle, LOL.

 

I do not have one (nor do I wish to risk my 3920XM), but I can get a cheap sandy bridge pentium for 7$.

I'm glad to hear your 3di has been fixed. The only reason this driver update exists is because Alienware went back to this chipset for sound in the AW13/15/17R2. They like to flip flop between them and IDT/Realtek (which was on the AW14/17R1/18)

 

Yeah, it's cheap and as common as anything could ever possibly be, but I've never had any issue with IDT/Realtek audio not working right on any computer. It's one of those "if ain't broke, don't fix it" things and there's no point in even trying to use something else IMHO. Audiophiles are never going to be satisfied with it and buy something else anyway, so anything extra fancy in terms of integrated audio is just a waste.

 

Not to mention it is an extreme pain in the A$$ to code for in Mac OS. IDT/realtek is much easier to patch but oh well.

I guess I will be looking for a new board, because I speculate that is the culprit. If anybody has a spare 100% functional R1 board, that would be great!

 

Do you have the other R1 parts that will be needed to downgrade? It's going to take a daughterboard and SATA interposer cable as well, because those parts do not interchange.

If you've got a nicely binned 4960X CPU that will validate at 4.8GHz just laying around that I can put in my Clevo I might be persuaded to consider a straight across trade for a fully functional M18xR1 that has no GPUs (running on 2920XM's Intel HD Graphics).

 

Yes 7 beeps is CPU , as I tried it out earlier , rebooting without CPU.

 

I haven't played the desktop game a day in my life. The only desktop I ever had was a Pentium II with ATI rage graphics. Been on laptops ever since

I haven't played the desktop game a day in my life. The only desktop I ever had was a Pentium II with ATI rage graphics. Been on laptops ever since

I am well aware. However, 7 beeps has also been attributed to northbridge/chipset failure as well where the CPU is unable to communicate with the rest of the system.

EDIT....weird glitch happened here.

 

And, it has been attributed to motherboard failure also. It depends on what is wrong. Just like the 8 beeps can be triggered by any part of the display system (GPU, LVDS cable or LCD panel, or wrong BIOS settings that are incompatible with the vBIOS). The beep codes only tell you what direction to look, not what needs to be fixed.

Beep codes are like automotive ECM codes. While they do indicate a problem relating to a specific area, they are often useless for diagnostics to pinpoint a specific part to replace and you end up resorting to trial and error/process of elimination. Starting with the cheapest part (that used $7 CPU, for example,) makes the most sense.

 

Tried the sandy bridge pentium chip, 7 beeps as well. The 3720QM is probably fine, the system board is borked. Should I replace the motherboard, or part her out? It has a good 3720QM, daughterboard, 100W nvidia heatsinks for left and right, keyboard, numpad, palmrest, media buttons, hdd caddy.

 

Probably time to part it out and buy a new 980M SLI Clevo with an Extreme mobile or Panther with desktop CPU. Parts are getting too hard to find for the M18xR1/R2 and with the Maxwell compatibility issue, not worth it IMHO. If I have any more issues like this one I am going to part out my M18xR1 and M18xR2 and sell all of my spare parts for both machines.

 

I will not be upgrading, not for a long time. I will drive this M18x till it dies (till the 7970Ms die out). It does what I need it to, and I purchased a LCD out of pocket to replace the failed one and baked the 7970M for success.

If anybody needs M18xR2 parts, PM me! I have a lot of goodies for sale.