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    Alienhead HD led's no longer working

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by unphoto, Mar 6, 2013.

  1. unphoto

    unphoto Notebook Evangelist

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    Not so long ago i swapped out my 4870m x2 for a GTX 680m.
    I just recently noticed that the eye's (HDD led's) of the AlienHead don't work anymore ever since i flashed the GTX 680m with a volt modded bios.
    The charger (Current) indicator works fine but the leds don't work.

    I took the assembly appart and can't find anything wrong with it.
    Could it be that i messed up a ribbon cable? ( it did work when i installed the 680m so it had to have happend after the bios flash....i did have allot of boot issue at first (no power/no fans/no bios)
    after a weird combination of PSU/cable and battery swapping it finally booted.

    I don't really mind, but the function is there, so i want it to work :)


    p.s.
    I still have an issue that every reboot it does not boot to BIOS but lights and fan do spin.
    When i turn it off and back on it boots normally.
    When i shutdown from Windows and then boot (so manual reboot so to say) the BIOS booting problem does not present itself.

    p.p.s.
    The "easiest" thing to do is to Flash the bios back to it's original bios but i don't really want to do that because i am the type of person that would luck out when i flash the 680m back to it's original bios, that it won't boot :), so i am not trying that one
     
    unphoto, Mar 6, 2013
    #1
  2. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Sounds like there is something more going on than the Alien Eye leds not working. But I digress. The ribbon cable can most definitely have gone bad. Get ahold of Alienware. A replacement ribbon cable thru them was $18.
     
    radji, Mar 6, 2013
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  3. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Either a ribbon cable broke or the fact that the 680m demands more power is making that part of the PC not getting power. We don't officially support that upgrade so some issues might arise.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Mar 6, 2013
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  4. unphoto

    unphoto Notebook Evangelist

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    Well if it is a power thing then i am gonna have field day when my 920XM gets released from customs!!

    p.s.
    We are talking about the ribbon that sticks out from the MOBO right? or are we talking about the ribbon cable that is set under the panel itself?
     
    unphoto, Mar 6, 2013
    #4
  5. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Could be either of them. The price I stated is for the motherboard to control center cover ribbon cable. If replacing that doesn't work, then you would need to buy a new power button assembly at Parts People (I don't think Alienware just sells the Alienhead power button).
     
    radji, Mar 6, 2013
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  6. unphoto

    unphoto Notebook Evangelist

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    Or i could leave it as is :)
     
    unphoto, Mar 6, 2013
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  7. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    radji, Mar 6, 2013
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  8. unphoto

    unphoto Notebook Evangelist

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    Haha, thanks Radji, you knew is was lazy right!
     
    unphoto, Mar 7, 2013
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  9. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Lazy is as lazy does. :D
     
    radji, Mar 8, 2013
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  10. catboy

    catboy Newbie

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    Unphoto - what was your final answer on this failure? Curious minds want to know, and yes I'm somewhat nosy.

    TIA
     
    catboy, Oct 16, 2013
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  11. unphoto

    unphoto Notebook Evangelist

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    It was the cable AND the panel that where the problem.
    Also the 680m does something that keeps the HDD leds to change colour like it's in battery mode and charging wich is not the case.
     
    unphoto, Oct 17, 2013
    #11