M11x r1 No signs of life

After I swapped the HDD in my M11x r1, the laptop does not boot or shows any signs of power going through it.

I gave it a few lil tap at the edge to get a screw that got dislodged inside when the laptop was opened up.

After I put it back together the laptop will not switch on, even when plugged to charger. The battery is 4LED charged.

I am so gutted. It is out of warranty and recently the screen was replaced.

Is there any cable that might have come loose? I checked the ribbon cables under the keyboard.

There are no lights whatsoever coming on no matter what I tried. Please somebady help!

 

Take the battery out and power supply, hold the power button for 30 secs or so.

If that doesn't work, take out your new HDD and try to turn it on without one (or with the old one).

 

I tried without a hdd and with the old one.

I will give it a go for the power drain.

 

Did you remove anything else when You did your hdd swap?

Very important that I know exactly everything you removed and put back so I can tell you where the problem is.

EDIT: I will be on this forum for the next 8 hours (sitting at work) I usually reply within 5 minutes of your posts.

 

even if you didn't remove other bits some shifting may have taken place. Odd though that you dont even get POST

 

Nothings works, I have stripped the whole laptop now to check the connectors. Everything seems ok. The ribbon cable that connects to the mobo from the power button strip seems okay apart from one copper strip sticking out. I thought straightening it out would solve the problem, but it hasnt.

The only thing extra I did was bang the laptop sideways a few times on the carpet to get a screw out of the laptop. Maybe did something broke inside?

When I turn the leds on the battery on and try pressing the power button, the leds on battery flicker once. This means the power button is working.

I need help! I have done innumerous copper shim mods and regularly apply thermal paste on various laptops but have never come accross such a problem where the laptop refuses to turn on after I have dismantled it.

 

That cable you found with the copper sticking out sounds suspicious to me. Especially if it's a power strip-mobo cable.

Other than that, I'd start checking to make sure you haven't forgotten (or accidentally broken) your fan plugs and stuff.

I wish you had access to a second m11x, so you could test the battery and stuff.

 

The battery is good cos the leds on it come on.On close observation jus now I noticed as I press the power button the leds on either side flash jus for a msec, which can only be observed by looking at the led near the button when it is naked.

 

Yeah, get a new power ribbon wire and that should fix it.

 

You sound confident, how is it the leds flash on for a micro sec everytime the powerr button is pressed?

 

When you are pushing the button, you are putting a little bit of contact, but not enough to power on the system.

Eitherway, its a cheap part and its the first thing we see that could be wrong with the computer.

 

I replaced the power cable with a similar one I found in Dell vostro 13, but had no luck.

I am disheartened with this laptop and will list it on eBay as is.

 

That's a shame to hear you'll be selling it.

I had a faulty ribbon cable and the exact same symptoms; battery light flickering when the power button is depressed. Repairing with the ribbon cable has temporarily fixed the issue for me, so I've got to say I'm with ejohnson on this one.

Would be great if anyone knows where we could source just the ribbon cable.

 

I did swap it over with a ribbon cable which I found in a Dell Vostro 13" laptop. This ribbon cable was from same manufacturer but had silver strips as opposed to copper, but shoudlnt make a difference.

I did read a similar comment in the forum where someone repaired the ribbon cable with flat head screw driver, maybe it was you which gave me hope initially but didnt help in my case.

Also, although the battery hasn't drained completely but I noticed the chips behind the battery connector (ie., under the parmrest) go warm when I keep pressing the power button (or maybe they warm up regardless of me pressing the button).

Do you think I should buy the power strip with connector and see if that makes a difference?

 

Depends how much the power strip w/ connector is. Did you try the power strip from the Vostro, or just the cable? I wonder if that would even make a difference....

 

I sent an email to Alienware informing about the issue and they sent an Engineer next day.

The Engineer replaced the palmrest which comes with new power switch board. But still didnt make a difference. Man, he did leave so many scratches on the back of lid after he was done with it (this lcd lid was 3 weeks old)

He said he is gonna come back with a new mobo and power adaptar next week. Apparantly the mobo fried?!! How the hell did that happen?

 

Probably the "tap" and "bang" or screw making contact. Might even be random failure - but if they are working this under warranty then it doesn't matter.