About to give up on M17x R2....Won't power on!

Ok so I ran into a problem where the M17x R2 will not power on. So I started small to solve the problem.

First I bought a new power adapter for it

2nd, I bought a new power bar

3rd I bought a new video card cause I was thinking maybe one of them was bad.

4th I replaced the entire motherboard

Once I put the new motherboard and have triple checked that everything is connected right and I get nothing. No signs of even wanting to boot, no fans spinning, just silience. Is there something I could be missing here?

If the RAM was bad would it still power on? That's the only other thing I can think of. Or could the CMOS battery cause this issue as well?

There's nothing worse then replacing a motherboard and not having it work. Any help would be great before I just decide to dump the entire system.

 

That's a strange one. All I can think of is removing everything you can, video card(s), memory, HD's, even the display, and see if it powers up. It will beep like mad if it fires up but you have a starting point. All I'm thinking is some component that has 'travelled' is pulling the whole thing down

 

Well its not the RAM as I just replaced it...ill try the other video card and keep my fingers crossed its not the CPU

 

A dud CPU shouldn't stop power altogether but I don't know enough about it. On desktops I have built it's a lot easier to pull apart - but at least it's possible on these machines

It should power up with almost nothing other than the light strip connected but a replacement GPU is an expensive way to go with the risk it's not the problem

Hope you find it.

 

Do you guys know if this computer has a seperate power supply or is it integrated on the motherboard? I don't recall sseeing a seperate one.

 

It doesn't. There will be some VR's on the MB but the power brick takes care of stepping the voltage down.

 

Did you replace the LED board or the power button? beside the motherboard, If either is faulty, it will do the same as your experiencing.

Faulty CPU/GPU/RAM/HDD/Bluetooth/IO Board/ODD/Mpcie cards will still let the laptop turn on, might stop it from booting but will atleast let the fans spin and few lights will come on.

PS: This is my experience with generally all of the computers.

 

That was the first thing i wanted to say, try to replace the alien (or just check the ribbons) on the power switch.
Mine is partialy busted (HD led/eyes don't work)

 

Just a small sidenote, make sure the keyboard is plugged in. It won't show any signs of life without the keyboard plugged in to the main board.

 

I replaced the entire hinge cover, which includes both boards. The ribbon seems fine as I've swapped that out too.

 

It could be the LCD, in my case, the only change i do, is changing LCD (1440x900 2xCCFL) with a (1920x1200 LED) and the laptop shows no signs of life.
Reverting back to CCFL screen, and it works fine again.

 

Anything is worth a try right now

 

Just try unplug the video cable, and see if it boots then.

 

Ok so I made progress, I swapped out the other video card and now viola I get power. Buttttt not so fast, now the keyboard lights up the alienware on the bottom of the screen comes on. The fans run for a few seconds then I hear a chirp, and the system reboots itself. I will continue to loop/cycle like that until I press the power button again. Any ideas???

 

also I'm taking it CMOS battery must store the alien FX or am I wrong? after a motherboard change my color scheme is exactly as it was when the computer was working. Now that being said is it possible that the CMOS battery also has the old motherboard BIOS settings on it and that this motherboard is not flashed with the same BIOS? If that's the case is there a way to remove the data from the old setup, or is Alien FX stored somewhere else?

 

It's on the MB, called NVR (non-volatile Ram) which is powered by the CMOS battery when the power is off. It can't travel with the battery

 

so the keyboard itself must have the color scheme flashed to it directly?

 

I know there is a bios for the alienFX since there were problems a long time ago when people installed an earlier version after a re-install. This downgraded the AlienFX bios and caused.. I think it was dead motherboards, can't remember. The Command Center installs it I believe. The question of how to flash it has already been asked but no response.

As soon as windows loads the software takes over with the preset or custom keyboard settings, unless it does write it to the bios - possible

 

That is what's confusing me. I figured after a fresh motherboard replacement I would be left with the stock keyboard color of blue. Instead I have the same multi color scheme I had with the old board. hmmmm.....very weird....now if only I could get a boot screen to show up I'd be happy lol

 

Strange, maybe it works some other way but I can't figure it?? Could read in some hidden file at boot? We'd need an expert on the m17x MB for that answer.

Have you tried with no video cards in it?

 

Is that even possible?

 

Yes, it should start up in the iGPU, you haven't had a chance to mess with the BIOS settings yet so the default should make it work.

 

Worth a shot, only concern is once i disassemble it again it won't turn on again but hey it's not working now lol I'll give that a whirl tomorrow if I get a chance.

 

Good luck. If you disoc most stuff you should at least get a series of beeps. You can reconnect 1 at a time depending on the number of beeps, 8 = video or display. A long process but you are not going to make it worse at this point.

You shouldn't need to completely reassemble each time but I haven't tried it and your R2 is very different from the MB I have.

Edit: Have you seen this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...upgrading-led-screen-m17x-r2.html#post9131098 ?

 

I had this problem with the wife's R3. As soon as I took out the GPU, it booted right up,...

That said, yes, a faulty CPU can easily stop the system from booting...

 

Ill try that, but what definitely has to be plugged in to ensure a boot? Just the CPU? Or do stupid things like optical drives and the led screen have to be plugged in?

 

In theory you don't even need the CPU. Only the power strip with the lights and button, and fans, should allow it to get to POST where it will fail. I've started up desktop MB's like this for testing but laptops may be different. Your not going to damage anything though.

What your aiming for is it to start up and beep an error code. Then start plugging stuff back.

 

Just plug in CPU/ram/led strip and see if it posts. Then add LCD and then in and then palm rest. Once everything till here is working then add gpu and rest of the stuff one by one.

I know it's tedious but this is the best way to diagnose, go one step at a time and u will know what is stopping the laptop from post.

 

I'm in the process of doing that, I have everything in except the screen, and so far everything has worked. It went to POST and even booted up once a GPU was put in. I'm having an issue with the power ribbon though which is preventing me from going further. I have to wiggle it, bend it and play with it while hitting the power button to get it to turn on. Kind of a pain. But I can not for the life of me find a replacement online.

Do you guys know where I could find one?

 

Nvm I was able to find one....its going to take a few weeks to get it though. Oh well.

 

At least is sounds like you have found the problem . Either that lead or the display?

 

The problem appears to be he ribbon, with everything plugged n I was able to boot, installed windows and operate it as normal....except neither of he 2 touch pads I have are recognized by the computer. Its always something I guess. I swapped out the ribbon for the touchpad but now it wont turn on agaln, but I'm pretty sure that power ribbon is shot.

 

That sounds like you've got it . That was a trial...

 

Its definitely a relief, I just hope the touchpad issue doesn't end up being a problem. I installed the drivers and still didn't work....hopefully the ribbon swap out worked, but I wont know til I replace the power ribbon which is unfortunately coming from China so it will take awhile.

 

I wish you all the luck. Even if for some strange reason the touchpad is bad (would be serious bad luck!) at least it will be usuable with an external mouse .

 

Lmao after disassembling and reassembling this computer 600 times I had the ribbon cable for the touchpad in backwards. Bonehead move of the week. The light doesn't turn on the touchpad and I get no lights on the power bar, but I'm using the good touchpad ribbon as a temporary power ribbon. I think once I swap out both ribbons it should be back to normal. Thanks for the help. If I encounter any other issues it will be worthy of a new thread. Main problem is solved! This thread can die now.