Please help! I want my computer back up and running

I have a AREA 51-M M17X. I need the ribbon cable that goes from the power button to the board.
This is the information I got off the cable Youngshun AWM 2896 30V 80C VW-1. I just cant afford to take it to a shop and of
course the warranty is over. For the amount that I paid for the computer it should be still going with no problems, but that hasnt been the
case. Within the 2 year warranty period the cooling fan was replaced twice and the motherboard was replaced. Then right after the warranty
expired I had to take it in because it wouldnt power up and over $100 later it was working great than abou 6-8 months ago had some lost power
again, but this time I took a look at it and noticed that the above mentioned ribbon cable was all screwed up.

I was going to wait and ask my second question but if I get the response to it that I am dreading I may not need to bother in getting the ribbon.

One day I turned on the computer and it started booting up and then it stopped and I get the message "bootmgr is missing", If I get this cable
replaced and it fixes my power issue, is the "bootmgr is missing" fixable. Ive let the computer sit for so long because I was so tired of messing
with.

I bought the computer in September 2009 for almost $3000 (which was my gift to myself when I was finally approved for disability) which is ALOT
of money for a laptop as far as Im concerned but I got it packed with what I was told by many to be the best so then I wouldnt have to
worry about having to get another computer for a while......well I was wrong. Now I dont have the money to pay someone else to fix it and
having 2 kids attending online school I really need to get this thing up and running for the least amount of money possible.

Sorry about the long post ...trying to explain everything the best I can..I fixed cars all my life...computers ...not so much.

Thanks

Kristine

 

Here is the other information about the ribbon cable....The ribbon that I have measures 3 1/4 in long and 1/2 wide 20pin.

 

Check your bios settings. The wrong boot device may be selected. Might have to wipe the HDD if everything in the bios is correct.

The ribbon cable going from the power button to the board has absolutely nothing to do with this. It doesn't seem like you really know what's going on tech wise, so I suggest you don't mess with it and have a friend or family member that does take a look at it.

 

That error comes up if the HD is not accessible or corrupted (or as said not selected in the bios as a boot device). I don't know about your model but you might be able to run the dell hardware diags with an 'F+something' keypress at boot? You could also try to boot it from a windows DVD. See if it 'sees' the HD before aborting the install.

 

You can try getting the components on Ztronic.com

 

Luis, do you know if is it still F12 to access the diags on this model?

 

PSA is a DELL function. I believe it is not available on pre-DELL systems like this one. You could give that a try anyways

 

Missed that bit - thanks.

 

The ribbon cable is stopping it from powering up ......thats why I need the ribbon cable first

 

then go to ztronics and ask for that.