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    M17x-R2 won't power on.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Caustixide, Mar 9, 2011.

  1. Caustixide

    Caustixide Notebook Geek

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    About two days ago, I ordered two 5870's directly from dell to replace the 4870's I had in my laptop. When they arrived, I found that they ordered me the two cards with the secondary heatsinks and crossfire cables instead of one primary heatsink + card and one secondary heatsink + card + cable. I figured it wasnt a big deal, took my primary heatsink from my 4870, put new thermal paste + used old thermal pads from the 4870 (maybe not the best idea), and attached it to one of the 5870 cards.

    This morning, I found that my laptop won't power on. I've tried removing the battery and plugging the AC adapter in, removing the battery and AC adapter and holding the power down for 20 seconds, and just powering on with the battery. None of this worked. I've noticed that the blue ring around the AC adapter goes out when I plug it in my laptop.

    For the past two days, I had left my laptop on, running a bitcoin miner, which uses all of the GPU's resources, causing it to be at 100% performance for the whole day I was at school and during the night time. I don't think this has caused the problem because I used my old 4870's for bitcoin mining, and had no cooling problem at all.

    I searched around, and it seems like my motherboard has short-circuited and it needs to be replaced. Can anyone confirm this? Could the new GPU's I installed cause this? What causes it to short circuit if that is the reason why my laptop won't start up again? I'm not under warranty so I'm trying to figure out a way to get it replaced without having to pay anything.
     
    Caustixide, Mar 9, 2011
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  2. Fatal1ty39

    Fatal1ty39 Notebook Consultant

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    Fatal1ty39, Mar 9, 2011
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  3. Caustixide

    Caustixide Notebook Geek

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    Wouldn't my laptop still turn on though?
     
    Caustixide, Mar 9, 2011
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  4. paul5015

    paul5015 Notebook Guru

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    Hi,

    Is the battery discharged? Perhaps the psu has failed (now unable to run the laptop) and the battery is now flat?

    If you suspect the video card, perhaps try the power cable with the 4870 in place. You wouldn't need to turn it on, just see if the blue power cable light functions normally.

    Let us know how you get on.

    Paul.
     
    paul5015, Mar 9, 2011
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  5. Caustixide

    Caustixide Notebook Geek

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    The battery indicator says I'm at full charge.

    I don't suspect its the video card because the computer won't turn on period. I thought that piece of information would help though.

    EDIT: Called in to Dell, and figured out the problem was my 5870's were defective. They're replacing them. Thanks for your help everyone!
     
    Caustixide, Mar 9, 2011
    #5