Before I throw this away......

[simon h]

M18x r2.

32gb 1866mhz ram. 2x 512gb ssd raid . 1tb hdd for raid image backup , gtx970. Intel 3740m cpu

Sg mode hd4000 integrated handling Windows and the gtx for the odd game like elite dangerous.

All running fine

 

I recently noticed a bit of stuttering in Windows on a few videos and graphics etc. And had a look at hd4000 performance .

I altered in bios the integrated allocated memory and raised it to 512mb, and raised the reserved value to 1024mb saved and exit.

Laptop restarted and powered back on......then just powered off. 

 

No matter what I do I can't get it back to post or bios now.

 

Power drain and cmos reset and function power on Is not working . 

Took all ram out and restarted and got the bleeps ... Motherboard working there that's ok. Put ram back no bleeps no post

Took the cpu out and restart and got the expected 7 bleeps ok. Cpu back in and no bleeps no post

Bought a brand new unused 3820m cpu . Opened up and looks a1 mint condition was happy.

Reset bios again to make sure, powered on no cpu 7 bleeps. Expected 

Installed new cpu powers on and switches off no post like before no change.

 

Can anyone figure out what  happened here for my sanity ?

 

[i.bakar]

2 hours ago, simon h said:

M18x r2.

32gb 1600 ram. 2x 512gb ssd raid . 1tb hdd for raid image backup , gtx970. Intel 3740m cpu

Sg mode hd4000 integrated handling Windows and the gtx for the odd game like elite dangerous.

All running fine

 

I recently noticed a bit of stuttering in Windows on a few videos and graphics etc. And had a look at hd4000 performance .

I altered in bios the integrated allocated memory and raised it to 512mb, and raised the reserved value to 1024mb saved and exit.

Laptop restarted and powered back on......then just powered off. 

 

No matter what I do I can't get it back to post or bios now.

 

Power drain and cmos reset and function power on Is not working . 

Took all ram out and restarted and got the bleeps ... Motherboard working there that's ok. Put ram back no bleeps no post

Took the cpu out and restart and got the expected 7 bleeps ok. Cpu back in and no bleeps no post

Bought a brand new unused 3820m cpu . Opened up and looks a1 mint condition was happy.

Reset bios again to make sure, powered on no cpu 7 bleeps. Expected 

Installed new cpu powers on and switches off no post like before no change.

 

Can anyone figure out what  happened here for my sanity ?

 

i'm not sure if that will help but if i were you i would try this 

1- remove all the ram ( like u said ) but only insert one of them that you already tested in another laptop so u r sure that its working and see what happens,

2- do cmos reset ( like you did ) but leave the battery out for a full hour ( just to make sure there is no power leftover in the system ) YES SOMETIMES IT TAKES THAT LONG FOR THE MOTHERBOARD TO FULLY DRAIN . im talking from experience.

3- do a bios recovery  (press and hold CTRL and ESC ) follow this link from dell  How to Recover the BIOS on a Dell Computer or Tablet | Dell Bahamas

 

i hope you solve your issue and keep us updated.  

[simon h]

Food for thought. I still have my 12gb of ram (2x2gb and 2x4gb) that I took out when I upgraded to 32gb of 1866mhz  6 months ago. I know it's good ram as I upgraded through choice. 

 

Just looked and

Actually I upgraded from PC3L 12800s part number HMT351S6EFR8A and that's 1600mhz ram

To 4x8gb DDR3L 1866 CL 11 204 definitely 1866mhz my old ram is in one of the cases the new ram came in.

[simon h]

Just looked and according to the list the M18x R2 doesn't support bios recovery 

[i.bakar]

26 minutes ago, simon h said:

Food for thought. I still have my 12gb of ram (2x2gb and 2x4gb) that I took out when I upgraded to 32gb of 1866mhz  6 months ago. I know it's good ram as I upgraded through choice. 

 

Just looked and

Actually I upgraded from PC3L 12800s part number HMT351S6EFR8A and that's 1600mhz ram

To 4x8gb DDR3L 1866 CL 11 204 definitely 1866mhz my old ram is in one of the cases the new ram came in.

- you can try ur old ram and see (only one slot ) 

- also when you said you removed all the rams . did you waited until the peeps finish then while the laptop restart you enter one ram ? if u didnt try that , then DO SO and see what happen . this is the way i used to reset my alienware 18 

[simon h]

Just so confusing.

 

Removed all ram and restarted, no bleeps this time just powered off 

Power drained and added 1 dimm just powers off.

 

Now here is the weird bit, no keyboard or ram attached and while off I reconnect the power lead, I never put the battery pack back in don't see the point this all runs from psu . Pressed and held the power on button and let go around 8 secs and the power comes on and stays on. The fans are running and the gtx gpu is very warm to the touch, but alas no display the alienware light on the. Bottom of the screen is on but no screen, on the off chance I connected my external screen via HDMI but no luck there 

 

[simon h]

I'm thinking the bios is corrupt as any ram i plug in it powers off, if I leave the ram out it powers up and stays on now but remains with a blank screen, fans running and gpu gets warm all with no keyboard connected or top cover or either battery

 

 

[Azther]

only thing i can think of that might fix ur issue is to unplug both the laptop battery and cmos battery, but get a flat head screwdriver to bridge the 2 pins on the cmos battery connector to make sure everything is drained completely. After that try holding fn while powering on and it should boot into diagnostics mode, from there you should be able to enter bios and everything will be back to default values

[jaybee83]

subbed out of interest and tech curiosity. hope this turns out well, would be a shame for such a nice machine to go out.

[aldarxt]

Maybe try cleaning the contacts on the ram and for that matter the GPU and go over all the plugs and wires. After all these years the electrical contacts can build up some residue we cant see. Just the air we breath is dirty. And I have heard some even complain about micro dust

[i.bakar]

10 hours ago, simon h said:

Just so confusing.

 

Removed all ram and restarted, no bleeps this time just powered off 

Power drained and added 1 dimm just powers off.

 

Now here is the weird bit, no keyboard or ram attached and while off I reconnect the power lead, I never put the battery pack back in don't see the point this all runs from psu . Pressed and held the power on button and let go around 8 secs and the power comes on and stays on. The fans are running and the gtx gpu is very warm to the touch, but alas no display the alienware light on the. Bottom of the screen is on but no screen, on the off chance I connected my external screen via HDMI but no luck there 

 

ok let me walk you through the steps 

1- disassample your laptop to reach the back rams 

2- remove all rams from the motherboard

3- connect any cable that is needed to start the laptop to be able to start or assemble your laptop again ( whatever is comfortable to you ) . ( all other componant is connected including processor, gpu/s , hard drive and screen ) 

4- now hold one of the ram modules in your hand close to the any of the ram slots so you can insert it in the correct timing 

5- now start your laptop ( laptop should start to give the peeps for the ram indicating the ram is  missing ) COUNT THEM CORRECTLY because they will repeat this count 3 or four times. after the laptop do that it will restart it's self to do the same thing all over again 

6- now its time to insert the ram .... REMEMBER BECAUSE ITS VERY IMPORTANT TO DO THIS CORRECTLY ... you should insert the ram after the laptop finish the 3 or 4 sequences and before the laptop start. this is how to reset your bios 

NOW HOW YOU CAN TELL WHEN THE LAPTOP FINISH THE SEQUENCE AND RESTRATR ?! 

here is how .... when the laptop is running, the fans will be on and lights will be on too .. once it restarts , the fans will stop and the lights will turn off ( ONCE THE LIGHTS ARE OFF NOW INSERT THE RAM BEFORE THE LAPTIOP TERNS ON AGAIN ) its a 2 seconds window  so be careful . 

helpful tip :  you can wait for the computer to do many sequences as you want beefore inserting the ram so you can feel the 2 second window gap between turning off and turning back on ... 

7- once you insert the ram , the peeping should not accure anymore and laptop will reset your bios 

after that it should work... 

let me know if u need more clarification...  

[i.bakar]

10 hours ago, simon h said:

Just so confusing.

 

Removed all ram and restarted, no bleeps this time just powered off 

Power drained and added 1 dimm just powers off.

 

Now here is the weird bit, no keyboard or ram attached and while off I reconnect the power lead, I never put the battery pack back in don't see the point this all runs from psu . Pressed and held the power on button and let go around 8 secs and the power comes on and stays on. The fans are running and the gtx gpu is very warm to the touch, but alas no display the alienware light on the. Bottom of the screen is on but no screen, on the off chance I connected my external screen via HDMI but no luck there 

 

oh i didnt read this correctly the first time .. ok as far as understand this is a good sign which means every thing is ok except your bios !

so to clarify , when u removed all the rams and started the laptop, did u wait to see if it restarted or shutdown ? because if it restarts then this is your 2 second window that i was talking about before . maybe your m18x r2 doesnt peep for the missing ram like my alienware 18 !

 

just found this video ... is this the same what happening with you ? 

 

[simon h]

Yes when it's all together, but I think my lights are on for a few seconds longer than that before powering off 

 

[Maxware79]

So you did the CMOS pin bridge to reset the BIOS?

 

If this didn't work then the chances are you've bricked the motherboard. You could try a BIOS recovery flash. I've never attempted it on the M18x R2 but I've done it successfully on the M17x R4 a few times and they are very similar machines. I had the process saved on the Alienowners forum but that's been down for a few days (no idea why). The original guide on how to do it was on NBR so it should be in the archive here. 

 

Have you booted without the dedicated GPU installed? The 900M series usually need UEFI mode to boot in PEG mode so if you've reset the BIOS then it's possible it reverted back to Legacy so you'll get a black screen during boot. 

 

[Maxware79]

So the process to blind flash the M17x R4 was the following. Attempt this at your own risk, as a last resort. 

The only difference should be what you call the hdr file. Based on the M17x R4 being M17R4, the M18x R2 should be M18R2 but I can't confirm that. 

 

- Go to Dell and download the BIOS version you want.

- Right click on the downloaded file and extract the files with WinRAR

- Once extracted, find a file named something like QBR00EC.fd

- Rename it to M17R4.hdr  (I'm assuming that with the M18x R2 you would rename it M18R2.hdr

- Use RUFUS to format a bootable USB drive

- Put the hdr file on the USB

- Unplug the adapter and battery from the laptop

- insert the USB into the eSata port (not standard USB)

- Hold the END key while inserting the power adapter

- This should initialise the flash. Release the END key

- It will Beep like crazy for a fair while. Walk away until you don't hear it beeping anymore.

- Cross your fingers and attempt to turn it on, hopefully it works. You will probably get a 5 beep CMOS error the first time. 

[simon h]

Ok thanks I'll take a look tomorrow and see what I can do, I put the gpu back in, no bother removing its broken down as Is.

 

Btw, how the hell changing the two values has done all this ?

 

[Maxware79]

I've never messed with those settings so I'm not sure what happened to you. Usually a CMOS reset by bridging the connector pins would fix most BIOS errors.

 

Don't do the flash method unless you really have to. I have no idea if it will work and it could do more damage. 

[simon h]

Well this is boned anyway. With Just cpu and keyboard only connected the laptop powers on and stays on at a black screen with maybe some fan activity, no post or chance for bios but it is on (doesn't beep anymore or I can't hear it anymore). The moment I put any ram into it, 1600mhz or 1866mhz into a top slot the laptop powers on but then powers off in a second. 

[simon h]

If all this doesn't work I suppose it's the bin or another motherboard. I don't suppose there are people in here with spares ?

[Maxware79]

I have some spares but I'm in Australia so it makes things more difficult.

 

You've definitely tried the CMOS connector pin trick? It really sounds like it could just be a BIOS issue so doing those steps right should clear it. 

[simon h]

Yes several times with the bios, doesn't make any difference 

[Maxware79]

Ahh that sucks. I'd love to get my hands on it and give it a good test.

 

 

[simon h]

Uk to Australia isn't far .....

[Maxware79]

Well one of my best mates is heading back here to visit his dad in October. I'll get him to throw it in his bag....

[simon h]

i have just realized I still have the usb stick with the unlocked bios on that I used previously. I can perhaps use this and attempt to flash directly to the unlocked bios again? Is that a bad idea or does it have to be a standard bios, one from Dell ?

The contents below. Is that looking what you would expect in order to flash via esata ?