Experiment with m11x R3 motherboard in m11x R2 with pictures

Pictures will be posted soon but vital information is from my experiment with the R3 motherboard on a R2.

- First problem palm assembly on the r3 is slightly different from the r2 where the power button wire connects to the motherboard.

- Second where the power button wire connects to the motherboard its on a different location on the r2 and r3.

- Third daughter board of the r3 does not fit into the r2 chassis correctly, it looks exactly the same but the bottom of the USB ports the r3 has larger usb internals.

- Fourth the bluetooth module located on the keyboard side of the motherboard, I believe the r3 bluetooth module is located underneath of the battery compartment.

Some pictures will be provided soon on around tuesday as I have to take a trip out of town and i thought they were saved to my gmail but guess not. The comp does not turn on however, so have to see what the problem is. Not too sure if the motherboard is dead.

 

Ok just got home during the day to get the pictures taken and marked up.

First picture is of the daughter board difference of the r2 and r3, the bigger usb of the r3 is probably due to the usb 3.0

Second you can see the slight difference in the palm rest assembly over where the palm rest wire connects to the motherboard.

Third picture is shows you the actual r3 motherboard where the palmrest wire connects to the mobo, the blue circle is where the r2 palmrest wire port connects to the mobo.

Fourth picture shows that the r3 daughterboard does not fit fine or at all with the r2 chassis unless with some modifications, even if i cut off that metal blockage part of the thing that is blocking the r3 usb ports the HDD will still be in the way.

Summary, its possible to put a r3 motherboard into a r2 system BUT you will need to replace the daughterboard and the motherboard as the r3 motherboard will NOT TURN ON with the r2 daughterboard.

The r2 palmrest wiring to the motherboard can be changed up a bit so that it can connect to the r3 motherboard.

It would seem as of right now the chassis would either need to be modified or you would need a r3 chassis and a HDD caddy designed for the r3.

I recommend someone just buying a completely new r3 system in general as this is not worth the swap as you need to replace almost the entire system.

Hope this actually solves all questions for the r3 in r2 chassis. I didn't need to pay for these parts as they were loaner parts, but it solves the questions of the r3 mobo in r2.

If anyone can post up pictures of the r3 hdd caddy and how the base for the hdd caddy looks in the m11x r3 it would greatly be appreciated thanks!

 

Nice post for people thinking about trying this! =) well done!

 

Great job man and thanks for the pics.

 

I uploaded one more picture, i actually went about to modify the chassis so it can fit the r3 daughterboard. Have the entire system now up and fully functional.

So pretty much the only only things you need is the r3 motherboard and daughterboard everything else should fit fine with a bit of modifications such as the r2 palm rest and r2 chassis.

 

Orijin:

Im trying to update my r1 to r3, i already know that im going to buy a lot of parts,but im willing to do it. Could you please tell me the number parts for the r3
daughterboard, case assembly and soundboard? Also the palmrest, and i think i need a new keyboard too,so that one too.

I hope you could help me. Id apreciate it a lot.

 

Another question,do you think my screen will fit r3????

 

well people who have had hinge problems are having their screen assemblys replaced with ones from the r3 so i cant imagine why it wouldnt work the other way

 

It will cost way more in the end to do an R1-R2 swap let alone a R3 swap. It's probably cheaper to just sell the computer as is and buy an R3.

 

Well, problem is that i live in Chile, and they stopped selling alienwares..so no way i can get one, but buying from USA directly, this adding 19% over the final price,cuz of taxes..plus shipping and handling...my only way is buying at ebay and DIY. Thats why i need number parts pls.

 

Would anyone happen to know where to order one of the daughter boards? I picked up a m11x r3 i7 mobo for 250 and can only seem to find the daughter boards for 100+. Dell just replaced the screen in my m11x r2 and I figured why not rebuild it into a brand new laptop. (and use the spare parts to make another r2 at some point....)

 

Then you should also be aware that you will need to do a lot of drilling and gap filling since the ports on the left side of an r1 is completely different from a r3 or r2

 

I had an R1 however the motherboard needed replacing so instead of buying another R1 board I got an R2 with i7 640um.
I have purchased a new body and I ordered a new daughterboard is there anything else I would need to make this new build work?

 

sorry2,.but what modification did you do to the palmrest and chassis?

 

you made it work? and can you please tell what you did if it worked? and can you use the old r2 daughter board on the start button? or should i buy new daughter boards. did the mobo have same fittings?