Alienware M17x R2 no power, no lights, no sound, no boot? Battery not charging either??

Hey guys,
So I just picked up an Alienware M17x R2 laptop that doesn't work, and I'm trying to get it back up and running again. I believe it has an i5-540m, 4GB DDR3, and some sort of discrete graphics. The problem is quite simply that it doesn't seem to get any sort of power at all, either to or from the battery or from the charger. I have no lights, nothing spinning, blank screen, and no sounds coming whatsoever. Also, I'm only using a single 2GB stick of DDR3 that I'm 99% sure is good for testing, and using the button on the motherboard as the power switch, not the Alienware logo).

I have tried reseating everything, testing the charger with a multimeter (the charger puts out 19.5+ volts and the blue ring is always on), trying a new charger, with/without a battery, and another motherboard that I was told is good. When I use the other motherboard, I only insert the CPU and a stick of ram, no GPU or anything else. It does the same exact thing, no charging, no lights, no power. Whenever the power and battery is plugged into either of these boards, the Alienware logo does not flash and the battery does not seem to charge too.

Any ideas? Could a bad CPU cause this? I'm very much completely stumped, especailly after having tried another board. Help!!

Thanks,
JGAN

 

Motherboard has probably failed of you arnt getting any power! Replace it.

 

I had two motherboards that I tried, and both didn't work. Although I didn't try putting the second one in fully, just the CPU, a stick of ram, and display. Should I try putting the whole thing together?

Could it also be the CPU?

 

Seems like a Mobo failure but could also very well be the CPU. i am not sure what the best course of action is though. Try performing a full assembly first

 

Alright, will do. Concerning the CPU, could that cause the battery not to charge? What about a bad battery? But with a bad battery, I would expect the laptop to at least power up?

 

Like mentioned in many posts in here, check out your mobo sockets for power.

Often they need re-soldering and it happens to many mobos.

I had my mobo replaced and same thing occurred again and i re-soldered the socket myself. .
So, yes, it could be the same issues on both boards.

If you can, check your computer with another battery you know is charged.
Your battery could just be drained totally down from trying.

 

How'd you do that? Those pins are so small :O Did you use a heat gun or something?

 

sounds like you tried a lot of solutions,
did you have the keyboard connected.
because it needs to be attached to post.

 

Have you got another laptop you could test the power brick on . I know from experience that the power brick will work on alot of Dell laptops . I know this because my brother has a dell that wasn't charging so I plugged my Alienware power brick into it and the Dell Laptop recognised the power brick and booted .

 

How do I check the sockets? And unfortunately I can't find another laptop or battery

I don't think I'm even getting to the POST stage; it won't turn on to POST. And on other laptops I have worked on, they turn on without a keyboard.

Yes I have, no luck.

 

The laptop should power up without the battery in place. If you are sure that the power brick is supplying power (Check Voltages), you are looking at a mobo fault i'm afraid because despite everything, I think the fans should at least spin up. I could be wrong though.

 

I suspect honestly the motherboard too, but it seems really unlikely that both motherboards would be dead. Is there any other way to check?

 

Sorry for not seeing this before. Have been travelling.

Look at this video that I have been showing in here before.

I soldered wires to the pins and soldered the other end where i could follow the traces to be sure if it started letting go again.

Discussions also been here and here and if you search in here there has been discussions about this before to.

 

when my cpu died whenever i hit the power button the gpu fans would spin for less than a second. its not noticeable unless you are looking for it. it might help you.

 

Ok, I tried to do a reflow on the jack, but it didn't work. At this point, I think I'm going to cut my losses and just resell it. I appreciate the help from everyone though!

 

I have the same exact issue as you but with M15x. I tried everything. Ordered motherboard, sent it back and got another one with no luck. Replaced memory, tested charger, even replaced the power board panel. Only CPU was not replaced but I would expect the laptop to show me some sign of life even with bad CPU. I am lost. I mean what are the chances of receiving 2 bad motherboards...

 

If the CPU has gone bad you could buy a replacement i7 QM 720 on ebay for about 50 euro or 70 dollars on ebay . I wonder could the chip inside your AC adapter be broken . Alienware have a chip inside the AC adapter to tell it that its an offical power supply .

 

Uh guys even if the cpu is bad the system would still power on. Has anyone thought to check the actual power board and power cable itself and replace it. Its like 20 dollars.

 

no it wont. this is the thread i created when my cpu died. maybe some cpus would work but in my experience it would not show any signs.

 

Even if you try to turn the system with out the cpu installed?

 

i didnt try to boot the system without a cpu. i doubt any computer would boot without a cpu.

 

This problem might actually be caused by the keyboard not beeing connected.

My m17x r2 is more than 3 years old. Never had a problem with it until today. I had to replace the keyboard with a new one, because of liquid spil so I bought a new keyboard, original keyboard for m17x r2 (Swedish version). I plug it in, it works perfectly, except for the fact that when I installed the new keyboard the computer started running through the battery, instead of the cord. Eventually battery power runs out, I can't turn on the computer at all. Removed CMOS battery, tried booting with only battery / only the cord plugged in / with both plugged in. Nothing worked, all black. So what could have caused this? The only explanation is the new keyboard. I plug in the old broken keyboard and the computer boots up just like normal. Everything worked.

So, I'm stuck with using a broken keyboard, or not being able to boot the computer at all.
Anyone have an idea why this is happening?