area 51 m17x-r1 bare bones problems

the parts i put in are, x9000 2.8ghz CPU, 2x 2g ram, 2x 250g HDs, 2x 512mb NVIDIA Geforce GO 8800M GTX with an SLI ribbon, FX keyboard.

Heres the problem, when i power it up the keyboard lights up the fans all work including the CPU fan, but the screen is black. all the parts are new and used to be a bare bones system. i was wondering if it has something to do with the screen. any ideas guys?

 

Plug an external monitor via VGA, see if you get any output.

 

try 1 stick of memory also...

 

First off I'm bueller's son,
and I took this computer and hooked it up to a HD tv via HDMI and it wouldn't work and also there isn't any VGA port. We tried with 1 memory stick and also didn't work. So I figure the screen is fine and its an internal issue. What else could possibly be wrong with it?

 

This was a new bare bones system I bought from Ztronics.

 

I have reseated everything. I switched ram and hard drives around with the same results.

 

I took the HD out of my 5500i-r3 and put it in the 17x. Didn't work. I then took the ram out and put it in. Didn't work . I bought a used area 51 m17x-r1 about 2 years ago and it did the same thing. I gave up thinking the motherboard was bad.It must be something else now that this one is having the same problem. Could it be asleep?

 

Does the 'Alienware' logo light up on the screen?
Is the AC adapter plugged in with a fully charged battery fitted?

 

the battery does not hold a charge but it should still be able to start up with just the power cable and the alienware logo does light up

 

You need a good battery in there.
I've had blank screen problems in the past with this machine when the battery was bad or not installed.

 

you sure that would fix it? i thought it should at least be able to start up without a battery and being plugged into the wall

 

Those Area 51 m17x-r1's are no ordinary laptop, they are very power needy. You need both a good battery AND a high amp AC supply to get them going first time.

 

alright well i hope that fixes it

 

You do not need a battery to start the laptop!

 

That's what I was thinking too... At home, when my laptop is plugged in, the battery's out. Especially that the PSU for that lappy has a 10A rail...

 

YES you definitely DO need a battery in there IF your PSU is somewhat under the power rating of the official PSU unit AND/OR? you are trying to run two video cards in SLi with a 44w CPU, two hard drives and an illuminating keyboard plugged in, as Briggsy420 is trying to do. My old Area-51 m17x always showed a blank screen with the battery out.
There are obviously other causes for blank screens, including bad RAM, faulty LCD cable, Master video card in the Slave slot, bad video card, bad cpu...etc. But you need to start the problem solving with at least a good battery and PSU.

 

A 210 - 240W rated PSU is all you need, no battery required! Trust me.

 

All the parts are new. I have tried 2 CPUs,memory,HD out of a m5500-r3. I think both GPUs where sold as slaves. But they go in the same. I thought the GPU cards where the same on this lapyop,just the slots on the motherboard being different. Witch side is the slave just in case. But shouldn't it go to the onboard GPU first when first booting up?

 

Ah... two slave cards, that's not good. Two Masters are ok, two slaves are not. Respond with their part numbers so we can check. The Master/Primary video card slot is the outer corner slot of the two (if I remember correctly).

 

Difference lies in the vBIOS, get to flash one with a master vBIOS.

 

I dont know anything about vbios.

 

Ideally, you need access to, or, a friend with a working machine before trying the vbios flashing adventure. Not forgetting the correct Master vbios.

You could get a cheap FX 2700m card and a new battery off Ebay, just to get you going if Christmas has eaten your wallet. $170 total?
Or try with just a FX 2700m card to start.

 

I don't recommend this unless you know what you're doing:
Get hold of a master vBIOS and blind flash one of your cards.

 

Bueller, Brigsy, one of these will work just fine in the master slot (with a good battery fitted).
I know, because I've fitted one myself to the same machine.
You can only use one of them, they do not operate in SLi.

Happy 2012 everyone!

 

I have a new battery coming,I bought that FX2700m card. Ok here are the numbers off the 8800 cards. Not sure witch ones are part numbers so I will give them all. 1st card- 10015123-00019 69N02NV20A01-01. second card- NS1Q7AK023-00314 -ND7VG2000-A01P. Where can I get detailed instructions on how to flash a 8800 card vbios. My other laptop is a m18x but that probably wont help. Which GPU slot is the master in the area 51 m17x-r1? I want to thank all of you for your help,I have been pulling my hair out on this build.

 

I don't recognize those numbers. Is there a MOBL-VF17*******SLV or a MOBL-VF17*******MST (SLV=Slave MST=Master), or a MOBL-VMD*********** number on those cards?
Where did you buy them from?

You'll need to get familiar with NVflash for backing up vbios roms and flashing alternate roms to those cards.
The good people at TechPowerUp.com are best placed to help you with this.
When your Area-51 m17x is up and running, you'll need to find a way to backup a copy of your 8800 card vbios.
When you have this file, you are in a good position to find a matching master card vbios (its a bit like online dating )
You can then try asking on the forums for people to send you a copy of their master rom or you can search vBios collections like this one:
techPowerUp! :: Video Bios Collection

I'm 90% certain the Master card slot is in the outer corner of the machine.
You won't cause any damage if you put it in the wrong slot. It'll just blank screen.

 

These numbers are from under the fan side--- ASUS F17 VGA_NB8E_SE BOARD, P/N 08G20D1FAS1I..The other card----ASUS F17 VGA_NB8E_SE BOARD P/N 08G20D1FA21Y..This all looks very complicated.

 

I can't confirm those are two Slave cards, however, those two slightly different numbers are interesting.

When you get your battery, charge it fully (2hrs I think).
When charged, remove power plug from laptop.
Remove the battery.
Install only one 8800M video card in the machine, in the corner video slot. If you already have two in there, remove the inner video card.
Install battery.
Plug in power supply.
Turn it on, wait for 1 minute to see what happens.
Repeat above procedure for the next 8800M card.

This will prove you have, or have not got a working master in those two 8800M cards (assuming everything else is in the machine is in good order, of course ).

 

Thanks for the good info. Im crossing my fingers. The battery should be here any time. The GPU I ordered will be here in 2.5 weeks. I will try the 2 8800s when the battery comes and let you know the results. Thanks

 

5We got that graphics card FX2700m card in the computer and it started up. we pushed F1 and the bios showed up.

the external disk drive we have for it wont work in the USB ports for some reason though.

then all of a sudden it goes back to the black screen and theres nothing now

also no battery yet

 

It's good to see you have signs of life!

What are you doing with the USB drive?
Are you attempting to install the OS from the USB drive?
If yes, the next time you get into the Bios screen, check the USB drive is 'included' in the boot device list.
Also, if you ARE trying to boot from a USB drive; that drive needs to be formatted correctly with a Master Boot Record (MBR).
The new battery, when it arrives, should make matters easier.

 

The USB drive is for installing OS. The smartbay plug dosnt match. The only thing I changed in the Bios was Raid configur. I haven't gotten the Bios back, only the black screen. When I had the Bios last time it didn't show any USB drive in boot device list. But I wont give up now.

 

Unplug your old battery. Do not plug it again.
WAIT for the new battery to arrive.

Meanwhile, make sure your USB drive is correctly setup to operate as a boot disk. WinToFlash is an excellent tool to help you do this, a separate working PC is required though.

If I was in your shoes, I would've avoided setting up RAID until I was comfortable with the procedure and I was happy all is ok with that machine.
Now, you'll 'probably' (I've not set up RAID on this particular laptop before so I'm not certain) need to have RAID drivers prepared and at the ready on an external floppy drive during the Windows install.
If you were installing Windows off a non-Alienware supplied Windows OS DVD, you would definitely need to install eSata drivers during the OS install.
The install would freeze mid-way thru if you didn't.
It WILL help you to have eSata drivers ready, however, since you're taking the USB drive OS install route, you don't need to install eSata drivers until after the completed OS install.
EXPECT Windows to be very slow and choppy when eSata drivers are not installed.

When your new battery arrives, plug it in. Plug in the power cord.
Do not turn laptop on.
Wait for two hours.
Plug the USB drive in the single USB socket located on the RIGHT side of the machine.
Cross your fingers.
Turn on laptop. Go straight into Bios screen.
Turn RAID OFF or reset bios to default settings IF you have no RAID drivers to install.
Look for USB drive. Check it's detected and in the boot list.
Save Bios.

Good luck!

 

We received the battery at 2 and let it charge for 4 hours. Try ed all 3 GPUs in the corner slot and still a black screen.

 

You never replied to my first post.
Did you try?
Are the fans coming on when you power it?

 

Try this:

Unplug battery.
Detach power cord from laptop.
Remove video card/s.
Carefully release the keyboard.
Remove metal plate on the left side, under the keyboard.
Locate motherboard power/reset button. This is a silver micro switch found just under the left rear speaker, under the power switch panel.
It's about 5mm square with a round silver button in the middle. You may need a small flashlight to look around and find it.
When located, use an electrical screw driver to get in there and depress it, (you should be able to feel it lightly click) it doesn't need much pressure.
Keep it depressed for about 30 seconds. This will discharge the motherboard of any stored power.
I recommend you do this hard button power discharge before ANY hardware change.
Install keyboard, the metal plate can stay out until you are up and running.
Plug in FX 2700m card in the corner slot.
Plug in battery.
Plug in power cord.
Cross fingers.
Turn on.

If this does not return any results, then try:
Unplug power cord.
Unplug battery
Do the Power button discharge.
Unplug and replug Bios battery.
Plug in battery.
Plug in power cord.
Turn on.
If screen turns on after this, then hold back setting up RAID.
Do a normal install on one hard disk.

If this does not return any results, then try:
Unplug power cord.
Unplug battery
Do the Power button discharge.
Unplug all RAM sticks then plug in ONE compatible alternative stick of RAM.
Plug in battery.
Plug in power cord.
Turn on.

If this also does not return any results.
Please respond with the exact specification of the RAM memory currently fitted inside the machine.
Plus, provide details of the AC power supply; Volts, Amps and part number.

Slave cards will always show a blank screen when fitted in the primary video card slot.
Use only the FX 2700m card for testing.

 

Another thing, the FX2700 dosnt make contact with the fan.A large gap. I put 2 thermal pads to fill the gap. I will try all this today and post after wards. Thanks

 

It still dosnt work. The memory is 535T-M,2x2GB,DDR3.PC3-10600.1333 Mhz, micron.. The power supply is input-100-240V 4A 50-60Hz output; 19.5V 11.8A... Im thinking maybe the ram is wrong.

 

Yes! the RAM is WAY over spec for that motherboard.
You need to downgrade the memory to some DDR2 PC2-5300 SODIMM like this.

Re: "the FX2700 dosnt make contact with the fan.A large gap"
This sounds odd. Please post pictures if possible.

 

I'm amazed you were able to do anything with the wrong kind of RAM installed! It has got to be DDR2. Or have you changed it in the process?

 

I just put in a DDR2 2GB that works. After a small time once a alarm went off and the screen went black. It came back with a reboot. Now to get it to read the external drive to install XP. Then maybe I can figure out how to flash the 8800 card to a master. Maybe it will read XP from a flash drive if I can figure how to put in on a flash drive. I did go into the bios and Raid was already disabled.

 

Here is a pick of the gap between the GPU card and fan heat sink, About 1/8 inch (with out thermal pads).

 

I modified the 2700 card where the screws go to set closer to the fan. That seams to have helped. I put windows 7 IOS on a new flash drive. When I start up the m17x-r1 an alien head and intel come on the screen. If I don't go into the bios the screen goes black except for a flashing line on the top left of screen waiting for next command.Wen I boot with the flash drive in I get the same screen then it shuts down and reboots over and over. If I can get windows to install maybe I can then flash one 8800 GPU.

 

Did you use Wintoflash to set up the USB drive?
You'll need to keep a close eye on the disk boot order whilst installing the OS.
Repeat hit F1 shortly after turning on the machine or after an auto restart to check this.
You only need the USB drive to be the first boot device in the first phase of OS install. After the OS install does the first restart, do an F1 and check the hard drive is the first boot device.
Exclude drives not required for OS install.

Re: FX 2700m card. Yes, those threaded mounting lugs from the card need removing before the card sits correctly on the heatsink.
I don't see a heatsink retaining bracket in that picture you posted, so I guess you're holding the two together by other means.

 

No. I'm not shure what wintoflash is or how to use it. The 2700 card had a small bracket that was glued on the card. I removed the threaded nuts and re installed it.I will google winto flash and learn more.

 

I did use the Windows 7 USB DVD download tool.

 

I'm not familiar with "Windows 7 USB DVD download tool", so I can't advise.
Wintoflash is a 'wizard' that sets up a USB or Flash drive to become a boot drive using your own Windows OEM Windows CD/DVDS.
The retaining bracket I was reffering to is shown below:

 

I downloaded wintoflash. Installed XP on flash drive from a disk. It starts to load on the m17x-r1 then I gat a blue screen error. I will try again when it cools down. If I get it installed I will then do the same with a windows 7 upgrade cd.

 

Thats the bracket on the 2700 card

 

You'll have more success installing Windows 7 x32 or better still, x64.

If you really want XP you'll have to press F6 to interupt the XP install at the beginning and have 965M Intel Chipset drivers ready on diskettes inside an external floppy disk drive. You may also need further drivers ready on diskettes like eSata. I can't say for sure. XP is not a route I would take or have taken with this machine.