My M17x R1 just died

I was playing Wow when my machine just shut off for no reason. Pressing the power button has no effect. I tried to do a power drain with the AC, battery and CMOS disconnected and holding the power button for 2 plus minutes but it didn't work. Plugging the AC, the alien head on the lid and power button will light up for a second or two with the battery in, will stay lit with the battery out until I press the power button.

I'm at a loss of where the problem could be. If it were a power or motherboard problem I don't think the alien heads would light up. If it were a graphics card or hard drive issue, then at least BIOS would come up and beep at me. Could I have fried the CPU? It is a P8700 2.53GHz that I bumped up to 2.8GHz when I got the machine. Haven't looked at the temps in over a year but they were rock solid at a few degrees above stock. When the machine died, the fans were going strong and the temps on the case were no different then they were from when I first got the machine.

I got the machine for free from a contest back in Oct '09 and was using it as a desktop replacement. When the year was up on the warranty, what Dell wanted for another year was as much as it would cost me to build a new desktop with the same or better specs. Looks like that's what I'll have to do but I would really like to get this up and running again.

I will be tearing this thing apart to reseat connections, clean it up and look for any obvious failures. Is there any thing else I could do or look for that could help me pin point the problem?

 

Tearing apart, cleaning and reseating is a great idea. However, with you symptoms I'd be prepared for a fried mobo (power supply) problem. Did I understand that you batt has at least some charge and it won't start up on battery either? If it won't start on the batt...I would think it's the mobo.

 

PS....will it enter BIOS setup?

 

Whether using AC or the battery, pressing the power does nothing. Wish I could get into the BIOS, could use it to help me trouble shoot the problem. The battery should be charged up, every month or two I'd pull the plug and drain the battery while web surfing and charge it back up.

 

This may be a complete shot in the dark...but did you try removing the Battery and just powering on with the AC adapter only??

Frankly I dont see how this could make much of a difference, but what the heck...it only takes a few seconds to try, right?

 

I have tried that already with no luck. I should have some time tonight or tomorrow to tear this thing down. Absent of any obvious damage (blown capacitors or burnt components for example) I have no idea how to test this stuff like I would if it were a desktop.

 

If it won't even go to BIOS I'd diagnose it as a blown mobo...only other thing I can think of is the ribbon cable from the subpanel which contains the power switch. If that (or it's connectors) is loose or disconnected or damaged that might cause your symptoms. Good luck...let us know how it comes out!