The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M17x R4 No Power

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Eddie12390, Jul 3, 2015.

  1. Eddie12390

    Eddie12390 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    91
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I apologize for the lack of details in this post, typing this from a cellphone. Last night I shut off my M17x R4 as normal when everything was working fine. This morning, I can not get the laptop to power on at all. No fans or lights come on, it's as if the power button isn't doing anything. I've tried pulling the battery and CMOS battery and then holding the power button for thirty seconds but that did not change anything.

    Thanks,
    Eddie
     
  2. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Weird. Last time i had that happen was after a bad BIOS flash, but I don't think you did that. All I can think of is pulll the battery, CMOS, and 7970M and let it sit overnight, and then hook everything back in and see what happens.
     
  3. Eddie12390

    Eddie12390 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    91
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I flashed the BIOS two or three weeks ago but it was working fine after that.

    Is there any kind of sensor to ensure that the bottom cover is properly in place?
     
  4. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    No, there is no sensor for it. But if you've been in there recently...you may have shorted something if all your cables/screws weren't properly in locked down. Only other explanation for this would be a blown capacitor somewhere on the motherboard.
     
  5. Eddie12390

    Eddie12390 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    91
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I last had it open a few days ago to replace the 7970m but it has been closed and working since then. I've visually inspected all of the motherboard that I could (removed the keyboard and bottom cover) and I don't see any swelling or burst capacitors.
     
  6. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    You could try to blind flash the BIOS.
     
  7. Eddie12390

    Eddie12390 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    91
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    The cause of the issue was the 7970m, this is what its board looks like:

    [​IMG]

    I found this when I noticed that there were fairly large singe marks on the heatsink.

    How bad of an idea is putting an 980m in this? Would my low-end CPU be too much of a bottleneck?
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2015