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April 6th, 2025 23:42
18 R1, won’t boot with discrete graphics after bios refresh
I have an Alienware 18 R1 that has been my daily driver since late 2015. I know that’s a fossil, but I hate to put down Ol’ Stellar over a blown raidiator, so I’m gonna ask for help here even if objectively it might not be worth the time and effort to fix it.
I opened it up, using an antistatic bracelet and being very careful not to lose any parts or screws. It had been an embarrassingly long time since I had cleaned her out too, so it took most of the day, and more of my patience. I took the opportunity to install a 2.5” 1TB SSD and upgrade from 16gb to 32gb of, I was erroneously assured was ddr3l RAM, however it was actually 1.5v ddr3. I finally got it put back together, went to turn it on, and just beeps. I troubleshoot that for about 2 hours, finally deciding that something must be wrong, so just went back to the Samsung ram to start, and still beeps. Apparently the laptop requires a cmos reset and bios refresh to restart, which I thought would be it. But after that, no matter what I do, it won’t boot with the nvidia cards on. I have no idea why it would be a problem, I never even moved them. Would anyone happen to know what I’m missing here?
DELL-Jesse L
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April 7th, 2025 06:46
What is the beep code sequence that it is emitting? This will help in diagnosing the issue.
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mattyb3
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April 9th, 2025 23:39
I have some experience with these old laptops but it will help if you let me know what the beep code sequence is. This will help pinpoint the possible cause. It will beep a certain amount of times in a row stop briefly and then start up again. If it just seems to beep once at a time then that is a 1-beep error and usually means BIOS corruption. A 5 beep code will be the CMOS battery and other sequences mean other things.
You can't use 1.5v memory in these systems or you will get the RAM error beep code (2 or 4 beeps) so you have to make sure all of the RAM is DDR3L.
So I am assuming it can boot up using the intel graphics just not the Nvidia cards? If you get a 6 beep error with the cards then it's possible one of them has decided to fail on you. You can try only using one at a time in the Master MXM slot.
More information would be helpful though.
FeeFiFauxFox
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April 10th, 2025 09:30
@mattyb3 would the master slot be the left or right side slot? Also, if the side does matter, how would I go about switching sides? I believe they are both the "A" format cards, so you should be able to swap them, but will I need replacement phase change pad or thermal paste? I appreciate you taking the time to help inform me, it's been like searching for a needle in an ocean of other needles trying to troubleshoot this fossil 😞
mattyb3
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April 14th, 2025 00:01
Hello, sorry I haven't been online much over the past few days. Are you able to let me know what the beep code sequence is?
You can usually transfer the pads over from the old GPU, unless they completely fall apart. You will need some good quality thermal paste though.
I can't remember which one was the master slot, I'd have to go searching through some old forums. It may not matter on the 18 but it definitely did on the older M18x R1/R2.
FeeFiFauxFox
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April 14th, 2025 02:46
It gave me 5, 7, and 8 beeps at different points, but i can't reproduce that now, as it actually boots. However, I have more info. The pcie slot test fails with a dw48 code. Is that saying that the RAM, or at least the dimm slot is the problem?
FeeFiFauxFox
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April 14th, 2025 02:47
And if that is the issue, is it possible to load the 2 empty dimms with the RAM and it work?
mattyb3
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April 14th, 2025 03:37
PCIE slot failure is probably one of the GPU slots. I haven't seen it happen very often at all but it could be the reason for your 8 beep error. The 8 beep error is for an LCD error but you will sometimes get this with a GPU failure.
The 7 beep code is CPU error and you really don't want this one coming up. I was getting this error recently on an 18 I have when the CMOS battery was failing. Changed the battery over and the 7 beep went away. You may have the same issue.