M17x R1 - Not even POST'ing

Hello, forum!

Just did an regular maintenance on my M17x R1, repasted both my GFX cards, repasted my CPU and removed the thermal pad from the chipset (MCP79) and replaced it with thermal-paste. (Might be the reason? )

So, i assembeled back, the way everything should be, and now i'm not even getting POST when booting. Keyboard lights up, the Alienware-logo on the screen lights up, the media-panel lights up, the touchpad lights up, the alien-head button lights up, the fans spin up, and then it just stops. The screen doesent even light up. And then the alienhead-button for turning the machine off stops working, so i need to unplug both the battery and power-cord to turn it off.

When removing my CPU heatsink, i had to use some force with an hammer, hitting the CPU heatsink screw 30-40 times.. Could this have damaged the machine, causing it to infunction the way it now does?

What could possibly be the issue? Is this the death of my R1?

- Scott.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that do this destroyed something. Why did you need to do this?

Maybe you'll be lucky and find one of the GPU not properly seated in their PCIe slots. Try removing both of them and re-seating them. The behavior you described sounds like a GPU issue.

 

Haha, nah, i did it because i was an stupid- retard before, who destroyed the screws thread, so i had to use an hammer to hit the screwdriver hard enough to make an new track in the screw.


I will dissasemble and reseat them now, ill give you an update asap.
- Scott.

Reseating the cards did not work, i also removed the CMOS for 10 mins.
No changes

Any thoughts?

- Scott.

 

Hmm. Have you checked to make sure you locked down the cpu in the socket?

 

i wonder from u hammering on the screw if it didnt dislodge a pin or something on the mother board god i would hope not though

 

I never really removed the CPU from the socket (the knob that you can twist, right?), so i didnt bother to check the switch / knob. Could it be the problem though, Dr? Ill take it apart tomorrow again (1 am here in Norway) when i get up from bed.


nHorn1983:
Yeah, i really hope that that's not the case.. If it happens to be the case though, then i might aswell start shopping for an R3.. right?


Reseated the cpu now, no difference.

Anyone out there with any more hints or tips from personal experiences, etc.?

Or is this 7.9 kg plate of metal going in the garbage-can, anytime soon?


- Scott.

 

This reminds me of my RROD on my Xbox 360. Powering up for 1 sec then dying. Oh man this is hard.. I assume changing the CMOS battery won't help..? What thermal paste did you use? If you used metal-based thermal paste, i have heard it can cause shorts. Maybe check if it doensn't touch any metal components on the mobo that might cause a short?

I wonder if nothing works.. Maybe you can get your mobo replaced by Dell? (for a cost of course), or at least trade it in for an R3?

 

Thanks for your reply, Alek.

Yeah.. really hard. If someone doesent have an solution on this, i'm probably going to rip the parts that i know is working out of it, and put them up for sale..

It doesent really die, all the lights stay on, but the fans stop and it remains silent. (no "work sound" either).
I am using the Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal grease, but nothing is touching outside the processor die's?

About the replacement - I'm way out of warranty, like two years ago, so replacing it will probably cost me more than buying an R3. Is it possible to get an discount on an new system if you return an old, broken one? (I assume not, just checking to be sure).

When talking about this computer, its kinda wierd that BF3 almost runs better on a Pavilion DV6 with a 6770m than it ran on my M17x..


- Scott.

 

Yeah, BF3 runs bad on my R1 too. FPS drops.

Anyway, as far as i know you can trade in a Dell system for a new one. (You should be able to trade in a broken system too..) Try and phone your nearest Dell Service Center or something. I might be interested in some RAM, let me know if you decide to sell them (The GPUs might be fried..). But i believe it's much better to trade your system in if you can. But double check the repair costs.

I really wish you good luck and i truly hope you get to keep your system because the R1/R2s are much sturdier than R3s.

My bet is the mobo being the culprit. Using a hammer to take off the CPU Heatsink probably put a nail in the coffin for the mobo , either cracking it , breaking a connection , or ripping off a resistor.

I'm sorry for your loss, the only possible repair might be a replacement motherboard. Either Dell or Ebay. I think it should be ~250$.

 

Thanks for the input.
- Well, I'm not going to consider an repair. I'm not spending more cash on this machine, as the performance that it outputs based on the hardware is just horrible, really horrible. Ill let you know if I'm ending up parting out the machine and selling the functioning parts.

Think I'll take your tip about calling and asking if it would be possible to return it and then get some percentages of an R3 (Or is it possible to get an R2, which i really is most looking for, i like the posibillity with having 2 GTX580's?).


I knew that it was an stupid choice to hammer loose that CPU-screw in the first place, but I'm honestly fed up with the machine itself, so i just wanted to see if i could get that screw loose, get those cores repasted and hopefully might crack some more hours of gaming out of it.

Thanks for the input, again!
- Scott.

 

Bro, please tell me you were kidding

 

No problem! It's great to see R1 users around. I really really hope you manage to get a discount off an R2 or R3. I wish you all the best!

 

inzelux, why not get a cheap vanilla R2 and move everything over to it

 

Haha, nah.. We teenagers tend to do the most amazing things. (My second choice was to wait till next day and go buy an dremel, but I was like "nah.. that".)

Cheers. Yeah, its really sad to see that this system probably has to go, its actually an system that i completely feel that has "payed for its use". But hell, i got an good 3 years of gaming aswell as work out of it, what more could you ask for by an laptop, especially if you really use it as an laptop? (I've carried around a lot, and it has never been into service.)


I got an responce by PM from Katalin now, i'm going to try his/her steps, if that doesent help, then I'm most likely contacting Dell


Edit:
Slickdude; Is anyone selling an "vanilla" R2 these days, and how much are they actually costing? And then again, if my 5870's are going to put out the same BAD performance (35 fps in BF3, everything on low 1080p?)in an R2 shell, then its not really worth the migration. If i'm going to blow "more money" now, i might as well actually buy something future-proof, as an Sandy with an GTX580 or something..Or mby not? Thoughts? How long is it till' the Ivy Bridge will be out?

Cheers guys!
- Scott.

 

well, you have valuable pieces in that your m17x like the screen, and 5870's. I've seen R2's cheap on ebay...you will have less issues with a single card for sure compared to dual cards but techinically speaking, xfire 5870's should be faster than a single 6990 IF crossfire was running and scaling well

Are you sure you're not running single 5870? I would have thought that crossfire 5870's would get you better than 35fps on low

 

If you have time, literally take as much time as you can to disasemble and reassemble again. i know you already have, but you will be very surprised how often people forget some ribbon cable and they cant boot it up.

 

I'm deadly sure about it being crossfire. At least, all hardware-monitors say that its running 99% utilization on both cards (jumps a bit, but yeah..). Its something really jacked up with either the cards or the rest of the machine, cuz thats the performance I'm getting. Ive even compared to others R2's, and theyre getting much better outputs. I've flashed left, right, the funny thing is even that the OC gives worse performance in BF3, but boosts the overall 3Dmark score.


Well, is there an "marked" for selling those parts as "parts", or would it be more profitable to fix the machine, sell it as an whole and then move on?

I'm going to do a thorough cleaning of the system with alcohol and reassemble the machine again - Just need to wait for my Maths test to be over (tomorrow).


Thanks again for all the input, all knowledge is really appriciated
- Scott.

 

So, after a thorough cleaning of everything with alcohol, the boot-state has not changed.

No CPU-fan spin, but the GPU's spin up fine.

Think i'm calling this M17x dead, and start to tear it apart to sell the functioning components..


Does anyone know what components / parts in it that would be valuable to sell? (Except the Mobo, CPU)

- Scott.

 

You might just list the whole laptop for parts, say what you think is damaged and you're selling it as-is, and let other people take the risk on whether it works on not. The CPU may even work, but you won't know without a working motherboard.

 

Well, i know that some components work. I've allready tested them in other systems, and for some of the parts that I'm unsure of, i would return the money to the buyer. I would not consider selling parts that I'm really sure of are broken, such as the CPU and the MOBO.


- Scott.