M17x R2 - refuses to power up

Guys and gals, the dreadful day has arrived. My R2 is acting up and I have no idea what it is.

It happened yesterday. I was moving it from the table to my lap, like normal, but this time my knee gently bumps the back left corner. At this moment it blacks out completely, like the GPU overheated. This of course isnt the reason, but the start of something far worse.

I try to start it back up, but the power button does nothing. I drain it of power and hope that it cycles back on, but nothing. Now I'm concerned. I swap out the ram, the hard disk, even the GPU with a new card. The best I can pull off is 30-60 seconds of up time before it, unexplainedly, completely blacks out again. And it has to be discharged for over an hour again before I can get those 60 seconds back.

All my data is backed up and the data is fine, but I'm stumped. I have no idea what cable could be lose, or if something on the motherboard is truly faulty.

So ideas? I would really like a little more time out of my favorite laptop.

 

Sounds like gpu area. Are the fans working ok on the gpu? If visually everything looks ok in this area, then possibly the motherboard may have cracked or was damaged and needs further inspection.
One further possibility could be battery related? Check bios battery and main battery terminals connectors etc
Good luck.

 

Battery connections are ok. Checked ans swapped GPUs, they are fine. Battery connections are good, both CMOS and main battery.

No visible damage to the motherboard. Could be wrong but if there is a micro fracture on the board there isnt hope anyway. And I'm not sticking it in the oven.

What I am hoping for is that someone recognizes this behavior, like the power port may be loose, the dashboard connection sounds lose or damaged, or a specific motherboard connection should be looked at.

Thanks for the well wishes and hope the ideas keep flowing.

 

One possible area could be the monitor cable to mainboard. Maybe this has come loose?

 

Yep, checked that too. Good idea though

 

I would suggest to send it into our repair facility. Seems like a motherboard issue to me.

 

Why all the fuss
It sounds like your ribbon cable to the motherboard died or the button of the power panel or THAT ribbon cable died.

The main and common issue

Topic for the Power Button/power panel ribbon cable

Good luck!

p.s.
You are welcome

 

I have this R1, It looks that is has the same issue, definitivly motherboard for me, it's out of warranty, how much $$$ to expect when you send an Alienware m17x R1 back ?

 

Hi unphoto

Yep, that sounds like something I should check. I hope I can get the right parts to Germany.

p.s. - Thank you

To Luis,

I would be willing to send it in, but from Germany and out of warranty I don't know how I can Dell to actually repair it. Still, thanks for the offer.

 

does your R2 have dual video cards?

if so you can swap them out one at a time to test if it's a gpu issue

EDIT: saw you swapped them already.. oops

 

well, props to unphoto for confirming what I feared. I've taped up the cable to the power strip, and as long as I dont move the laptop it seems to stay powered up. Need to find replacement parts.

 

Very good news all round. Well done guys.
Rsgeiger is it the cable to the power alien head or another?

I made sure not to disattach mine when putting in 7970m. On mine they had glue epoxy at ends so did not want to take this off and left them connected whilst i did installation.

 

Thanks guys.

to clarify, it is the ribbon that connects the stip to the motherboard. The Alienhead light cable is completely in tact.

 

Old thread, but a valid status update.

The power problem is growing more strange. Like I said before, the laptop only stays booted if I dont move it.

In addition, if I leave the laptop unplugged, the battery will now drain even while off. This didnt happen before, at least not as fast as it is now.

Plus, if I boot the laptop with the battery at less that %100, and then let it fully charge, it will turn off. The moment the battery is full the computer shuts down.

Never heard of a problem like this before, and I fear a capacitor or something on the motherboard has been hit by a static shock or something. The ribbon cable mentioned earlier is securely taped at both ends. I still haven't gotten the replacement cable yet.

 

How does it behave if you run it without the main battery, just the AC cable plugged in?

Does the laptop still shutdown if you move it without the AC cable plugged in and just running off the battery?

 

Yep, it still shuts down without the battery. Even while staying still, after a few hours it will power down. Strangest thing I ever saw.

 

It's probably the ST MicroElectronics accelerometer aka the free fall sensor. Did you install the driver for it? If so uninstall it and see you still have the same issue.

 

Good idea katalin, but the driver for the free fall sensor is not installed.