Alienware 17 3D problem

Hey guys,

I really hope someone can help... I'm at my wits end with this. I had an engineer out today to replace the monitor lid and Palm rest due to some cosmetic damage. It was an absolute disaster!

He was sent a new monitor lid which was fine but the palm rest was some refurbished bit of crap that didn't work, the power button and track pad didn't work. He decided to remove the power button and track pad from the old palm rest and eventually got it working. Great! Except the new one looks even worse than the old one did!?

So after 2 hours he eventually left and now I've discovered that my stereoscopic 3D doesn't work anymore. I've got no idea why and don't even know where to start troubleshooting this.

When I try to run the stereo setup, it doesn't give me the option to use the built in IR emitter. I opened the bezel and have seen that it appears to be plugged in ok but it's just not working.

Anyone got any ideas before I end up going nuts at Dell?

 

That sounds like a nightmare!

First check you have the stereophonic sub menu in the NV Control panel. Then make sure you can select the Alienware 3D-ready panel from the drop down.

Check device manager and check for the Nvidia 3D USB emitter under USB devices.

Let me know and we can go from there

 

Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly

Well, I had a look at the NV panel and the display isn't listed as anything specific. It's just 'Laptop Monitor' and the emitter isn't listed under the USB devices

It is running at 1080p 120hz but that's more or less it.

 

No drop down, only the laptop monitor?

Maybe the usb emitter is not plugged in, it's inside the panel assembly and has a connector.

Try a reinstall of the NV driver as a last resort as sometimes it gets messed up. If the USB does not show after this then it's not connected or broken. Time for a scream at the fool that messed it up in the first place. Always ask to talk to a supervisor.

 

When you say not plugged in, is that going to be behind the screen inside the panel assembly? I did open the panel and check to see if the cable was plugged into the chip which is was.

I also reinstalled the Nvidia drivers from the dell website to be sure.

 

I've never had mine open but I believe the emitter has it's own cable. I saw a lot of people having a problem locating the cable and emitter. Have a look through the 120hz upgrade sticky thread for some clues as to what you are looking for. If it's all on one cable connection it might be that you need to reseat them, disturbing them may be the cause?

You might end up with that guy back so take pictures before in case he butchers it any more!

 

You can download the manual for your AW17 and read it.

 

Great, thanks for that guys...

Quick update,

The guy came back and replaced the plam rest AGAIN and attempted to fix the IR emitter. He discovered that one of the pins which connects the IR cable to the motherboard has been bent AND a small chip had 'fallen' off the motherboard lol... ffs... so now that means I need a replacement motherboard!? Awesome quality build AW! pfft! Either that or the engineer is a gentle as a brick to the face

 

Some of those 'engineers' are just cowboys playing at it. I've even seen one where they screwed through the top casing by using the wrong screws underneath! 'Fallen off'? Yeah, and the tooth fairy had something to do with it .

I got lucky with my engineer and he had mine in pieces in minutes, others need watching closely! If you see them looking around for the screw points then they probably have never worked on one!

Good luck