M17x R3 restoration - New Mobo and GPU issuez

[Hairlesspony]

Hey all! I’m trying to bring back my kid’s Alienware so he and his dad can game long distance. It lasted 3 years before bricking. Dad took it to a PC shop who said mobo was fried and so it sat on my shelf for a few years.

I got a refurbished mobo, put it in, fresh sad, got it up and running save the external gpu and a bad keyboard. I ordered a new nvidia 580m. It arrived and the thing wouldn’t post anymore. Gave me 5 beeps. Take the gpu out, boots like a boss. I’ve read the 580m’s can be DOA, but the old gpu installed, it would boot and just not recognize the board.

So now I’m thinking it’s the mobo. Despite being tested working... I think it’s gpu slot is bad. Thoughts? Suggestions? I’m willing to use seances and voodoo dolls if it’s been known to work.

Thanks guys!

 

[MattyB]

Hello. A 5 beep code is the CMOS battery. Hopefully it’s just this and will be an easy fix. I’m not sure why it is booting fine without the GPU though so that’s a little strange. Did the new mobo come with the CMOS battery? It’s a small disc like battery which plugs into the mobo.

 

[MattyB]

Could be the BIOS for the mobo is out of date. Have a look here. https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/2579-solved-5-beeps-on-startup-after-tweaking-some-options-on-unlocked-a11-bios/

 

[Hairlesspony]

Could be the BIOS for the mobo is out of date. Have a look here. https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/2579-solved-5-beeps-on-startup-after-tweaking-some-options-on-unlocked-a11-bios/

I tried this with both versions of the bios. Original and updated. .

I’m beginning to think more that the New Mobo had a bad gpu slot. I wish I installed it in the warranty period.