The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M18x R2 - Turned Off, Won't Turn On, MB Beeps

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by spiritbuu, May 18, 2019.

  1. spiritbuu

    spiritbuu Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    19
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hey guys,

    Wondering if my refurbished Dell motherboard has given up after 4 years.

    Laptop turned off one day while watching video.

    Won't turn on at all, tried all the discharge and battery tricks.

    Tore down the laptop and I can hear a buzz/beeping noise but no joy.

    I took a video of it, see below.

    Should I try removing RAM, GPU, CPU one at a time and see what's at fault?

    Anyway to troubleshoot the motherboard with a multi-meter?

    If motherboard is dead, I'll just junk the whole thing because dropping another 600 bucks on it is crazy...last Dell related anything I'll be buying.

    Shame because I built this thing piece by piece...
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/building-a-new-m18x-r2-from-scratch.750967/

    Appreciate your help guys!


     
    spiritbuu, May 18, 2019
    #1
  2. M18x-oldie

    M18x-oldie Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    385
    Likes Received:
    129
    Trophy Points:
    56
    How often does it beep when trying to power on?
     
    M18x-oldie, May 18, 2019
    #2
  3. spiritbuu

    spiritbuu Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    19
    Trophy Points:
    16
    It continues beeping until I pull the power cord out.

    You can hear the duration of beeps in the video.
     
    spiritbuu, May 18, 2019
    #3
  4. Rengsey R. H. Jr.

    Rengsey R. H. Jr. I Never Slept

    Reputations:
    1,084
    Messages:
    2,771
    Likes Received:
    1,020
    Trophy Points:
    181
    thats not a beep. sound like a buzz lol. I have never heard this.
     
    Rengsey R. H. Jr., May 18, 2019
    #4
  5. M18x-oldie

    M18x-oldie Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    385
    Likes Received:
    129
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Yeah me too, that's why i'd asked. The period looks similar to the "1 beep error code".
     
    M18x-oldie, May 18, 2019
    #5
  6. ssj92

    ssj92 Neutron Star

    Reputations:
    2,446
    Messages:
    4,446
    Likes Received:
    5,690
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Try removing GPUs.

    There's motherboard repair services on eBay for like $150. Or try making a WTB thread here.

    Yeah me either and I owned like 6 M18x series lol.
     
    ssj92, May 19, 2019
    #6
    M18x-oldie and Rengsey R. H. Jr. like this.
  7. spiritbuu

    spiritbuu Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    19
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Ok...tore it down to just the MB and plugged it in, still same buzz so that tells me its the MB.

    The buzz is coming from under the CPU metal plate on the underside of MB.

    Anyone with electronics knowledge know if a Capacitor or transistor makes this kind of noise?
     
    spiritbuu, May 19, 2019
    #7
  8. ll_r1d0_ll

    ll_r1d0_ll Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    340
    Likes Received:
    51
    Trophy Points:
    41
    if the sound is coming under the CPU METAL PLATE then it seems like one of the INDUCTOR(COIL) is having issue .. not sure but i guess .. you need a multimeter and set it continuity/Diode mode and check all the coils near the CPU PLATE one by one
     
    ll_r1d0_ll, May 26, 2019
    #8
  9. spiritbuu

    spiritbuu Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    19
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I did my best to measure the coils but couldn't see any abnormalities, readings were consistent, granted I'm no expert :(

    I reached out to a service on ebay in NY regarding repair if I send them just the motherboard.

    I'll also put an ad in the WTB section.

    :)
     
    spiritbuu, Jun 16, 2019
    #9