need advice, sell or fix?

Alienware M17x R2 17" Notebook Customized | eBay

This listing is mine, the high lights are:
Its a m17x r2
It has an x920 processor
8 gb ram
radeon hd 4870 graphics

I bought this for $750 planning to replace my m15x
Right now I am seeing if it will sell for $650 (yes a loss to me) but because it is cheaper than fixing the problems. I am toying with the idea of just fixing and that is why I am here asking for advice!

The problems are as listed:
The keyboard does not light (who really cares)
The battery holds a charge and can keep the system alive when the adapter is unplugged but the system is saying battery failed press f1 on bootup
The adapter clicks every few seconds when it is plugged in and the PC is not on
The screen to me is dim- I might just be use to the wled screen of my m15x r2 or maybe one of the two bulbs is not working in the screen I cant tell. Overall it is ok, I just wish it was brighter!

So my current main system is:
m15x r2
740qm
8gbram
gtx 460m

I like how much the m17x can be expanded with 2 hard drives and 2 video cards so my thinking is possibly to:
find a new power adapter, replace the battery even though it isn't mission critical and then possible the screen or live with it dimmer.

The keyboard lighting does not matter, it still functions as a keyboard.
Then possibly upgrading the video card\add a second video card

This all would be maybe $400ish\$600ish more which would still come in way under a new m17x and still be way more powerful than my current m15x vs. taking $100 hit and just selling.

I am undecided what to do! Any feedback would be great!.

 

Sell and use the money towards a nice M18x-r2 or new M18

 

Dude you realize he is nowhere near a M18x-R2, a loaded M18x R2 is 2000+ dollars, even refurb. A base Alienware 17 is okay, but 1600x900 screen is meh.

 

Can you still renew the warranty? I believe one year of enhanced support is $299, maybe Alienware will repair your PC. It could need a new motherboard (power issues). If they can't fix it, they may send you a base Alienware 17 as a replacement.

I don't know how much you'll get with the issues. People tend to want 100% working systems. If Alienware did fix the laptop, it may be worth a few hundred dollars more, especially with warranty.

 

Too many problems, I would sell it. Typically with electronics, 1 problem means there will be more to come. The screen isn't RGB LED, so it's known to dim with time, nothing except a screen replace will fix that. The keyboard can be either a keyboard or motherboard issue, the power supply issue could be the power supply, the motherboard power connector, or both . Battery failed, may be a bios issue (easy fix if it is that).

Anyways, there are too many "ifs" with repairing this. You can use money from this laptop to buy another M17X R2, I highly recommend the R2 over the newer models. They car capable of running dual 7970M's (the new 17's have only single graphics), 16GB ram, the best alienware screen ever (RGB LED 1920x1200), and the i7 920 is still a very capable chip, not far off from the newer i7's... the new i7's focus more on improving power consumption than actual boost in performance.

 

Ok so I looked at this notebook again-
It is dim compared to my M15X but the screen type is older. Clearly I see the "white glow" along the bottom and top of the screen so I think it is all working. What also is throwing me off is the screen auto adjusts on dark backgrounds. It looks like there are many people complaining about that feature but the screen is probably ok.

The keyboard I believe I broke. It was lighting up when I bought the notebook but the first thing I did was open it all up and clean out the dust. As expected, the heat vents were totally clogged between the fan and the heat vent. My M15X had the same issue so I knew what to look for. With the M17X I am sure you know you have to access from the top so that is removing the keyboard to drill down to the graphics card.

I was careful not to break either of the two ribbon cables but I don't know what happened. I tried many times to reseat them after the fact and even installed the latest version of command center but just those 4 zones are out. If I really cared, a replacement is like $25ish on ebay but it is a minor issue.

So really the problems are a battery and (MAYBE) a faulty adapter. I have not searched to see what could be causing the adapter to click but again it only does it when the adapter has power but the notebook is off. EDIT: the adapter clicks every few seconds when it is plugged into the wall if the notebook is plugged into it and off OR if the notebook is not plugged in at all and the adapter is just sitting there. That is why I think it is isolated to the adapter itself.

EDIT:
I also updated the BIOS to A10 but the failed battery is still being reported. If I boot up with no battery installed than there is no warning

 

One more thing to consider.... advice!!!!

What if I pull the 920XM and use it in place of the 740QM in my m15x, this appears to be an oem chip not a ebay QAS
Then I recover some money by parting out the m17x?

I guess I would need to buy a better power adapter for my m15x but the cpu was the only thing I went cheap on when I bought it and even the 920XM un-turbo is faster than the 740QM turbo

 

Hmmm, well if that's the case, then if you really are up to it, put some life back into the laptop. All you really need is a new power adapter, screen, and a GPU upgrade.... 4870 is only DirectX 10 . I personally wouldn't care about the battery, my M17X rarely leaves the outlet. It's a laptop, but it's not something that I would take to class every day (I have done it though ).

RGB LED screen ($115 + $65 shipping): Dell Alienware M17X R2 Wuxga LED LCD Screen Complete TOP LTN170CT08 J2CY8 9PHFF | eBay

240W power adapter goes from $25-$40 on ebay

And a gpu, you can go from AMD 5870M all the way up to 7970M, I believe even 8970M/780. The single cards range from $150-$500 for 5870-7970, I don't know 8970/780 average price. If you crossfire/sli, expect to pay double - I would recommend dual gpu's for older cards like the 5870 or 6000 series. You already have good ram and cpu, so no need to upgrade that. Since you have elaborated on the issues, I personally would just build on it.... but this advice is coming from someone who is going to put a R2 motherboard in my R1 - which is way more expensive than selling my R1 and buying a R2 lol.... but the building process itself is where the fun is

 

ok lets do it.
I decided to take care of the basics before big upgrades.

I cannot get the adapter clicking now! but I did pick up a used batter for $30 and the replacement \ upgrade screen recommended.
I have removed the screen from this notebook before and it is easy enough to do so that should be no problem!

I don't know about the keyboard. After much research I guess there is a chance it is fine and I killed the motherboard controller for it. I don't know if there is any way to tell other than swapping out the keyboard! I opted not to buy a replacement.

When I bought the system it was fully functional. I installed my own SSD and kept the original hard drive as a backup source for drivers and what not. What I booted back up on it today the keyboard was still dead so I don't think it is a driver issue or command center problem :/

Then the only other strange thing, on the original hard drive the boost button works but with the new hard drive it does not. I did a fresh install of course and went through the hours of windows updates. OSD is installed and all the other buttons work. When I go to install turbo boost it says the PC does not meet the minimum requirements and the capacitor button does nothing. Not exactly sure what is going on. The BIOS is set to enable turbo and I read some people saying that you don't need to install or control it anymore with windows 7, that it is automatic but I don't know.

Anyway- power issue and screen getting fixed
Video upgrade next. Now the problem will be everyone on ebay stating "as is" or "parts only" I guess it will be hit or miss getting a working card!

 

Don't get those. Look for a known working one. It's 99% miss.

 

keyboard failed: confirmed.

While I was at it I decided to try to diagnose the failed led lighting for the keyboard. I did research and everyone seems to suggest it is the controller on the mother board but I decided to plug the m17x keyboard into my m15x and it still did not light. My m15x keyboard did light when plugged into the m17x. So I guess I really did pop something with the cable or flex it when I removed it from the m17x.

So really it looks like the only problems may have been an older screen I was not use to and a failed battery.

On a side note it seems that the notebooks will not boot without a keyboard plugged in. The ribbons of the m15x and m17x keyboards are in different locations so to do this test I had to leave the existing keyboard connected and just plug in the LED ribbon on the keyboard I was testing. PIA but was a worth while test in this case.

 

Well, that's really good to know for you, now down the line you wont have to replace the motherboard but only the keyboard if you choose to, which is a major plus

If the battery actually works and only shows a battery failure icon in the task bar, in my opinion it's not worth it to replace... the battery life of the M17X is horrible as it is anyways.

On a side note, here is a 6990 for sale rather cheap for $160 shipped, if you find another one this cheap then that would be a pretty crossfire setup http://forum.notebookreview.com/computer-components/732587-fs-amd-dell-6990m-gpu-used.html

If you want to have a gpu setup that will last you for a good while without worrying about future upgrades, I would recommend 6990 or 7970, NVidia really isn't the way to go with the R2 for some reason. 5870 (my card) is good, but with the new consoles coming out it is nearing it's end, so I really wouldn't recommend it unless you are strapped for money, but if that's the case it's better to just use your 4870 until you save up for a 6000 series.

 

wow this is turning into quite the adventure.
So it all looks good right now. I turns out the stealth button was not working because the OSD installed was a different version. After installing the version that was installed on the original hard drive the capacitor button works.

It turns out it was not the adapter that was clicking, rather it was the power strip itself. It does not click with any other adapter and I am not sure why exactly it is happening but I am not going to worry about it at this point.

So it looks like this is all going to come down to a card. So far this whole project cost:

$750 for notebook
$115 (no tax\shipping) for replacement screen
$21 for keyboard
$30 for battery
$20 for the start button panel (I kind of messed up the hinge area)
__________

$936.00 total

The graphics card will be the only thing left to do. If I do a 2 card deal I will have to get all the supporting hardware:
Heat sinc, fan, bracket, ect because right now the secondary slot just has a plastic place holder in it.

I do not mind staying with one card for the moment but this will take a lot more research on my part. Plug & install would be ideal but the stock options only went to 5870 so I guess that would be the only true option without additional things like BIOS changes, or fan issues.

Thank you for all the help!

 

Sounds like you're on the right track! I would stick with the R2 myself, especially since you likely would have lost money on a sale. I had a near-mint R2 with Xfire 5870, RGB LED, 840QM (but I also included an OEM 920XM that I had purchased), etc. and had a hard time selling it, having to settle for $875 (then took a hit from shipping, eBay and PayPal fees...) back in August after paying $1100 for everything in May. I didn't rush the sale either, I had it listed for a while and ended up having to take the best offer. I paid too much for it to begin with on an extremely rare impulse purchase. I only sold it because I needed USB 3.0. Learned my lesson...

 

Well the replacement screen came in! a few nicks on the screen but you cant tell when it is on. Day and Night difference between the duel ccfl and the rgbled! now the system looks like my m15x that came with the wled!

I also received a replacement used battery. I get the same error message when booting that the battery needs replacing, Maybe it isn't the battery after all but I can live with it as I am always plugged in!

So that is it. With the exception of the battery the system is fully repaired and in some cases better than original!