Repair shops in the UK? :(

Hey guys,

My M15x gave up on me a month ago. It just wont power on. I bought off the ebay thus I didnt had the ownership so I wasnt previliged to any free repairs by Dell. I tried every thing but Dell wont transfer my ownership.

Eventually I got it checked up by someone who diagnosed that out of the four points on MOBO, only 2 are receiving power and other 2 are offline, which means that there is a shortcircuit somewhere in between the mobo but that person wasn't much experienced to look into it any further. Now can anybody guide me what to do?

Anybody having a mobo repair experience in UK?

Where can i find the new mobo and how much would it cost me?

Please help me out, its a mess!

 

Sorry to hear the bad news.

I don't claim to know much about any of this but I'm going to offer this as food for thought until one of the more experienced users can fully answer your question.

I don't know jack about swapping a motherboard but I'm guessing after getting the replacement part the rest is just a straightforward procedure, similar to changing a GPU or something. Just a guess though...

Although a lot of people seem to be pretty concerned about ****ing up a motherboard so maybe there's more to it than meets the eye (like a TRANSFORMER!!!).

 

Have you talked with the seller about transferring ownership? As long as he gives you his details, assuming he's the last owner registered with Dell, there shouldn't be any problem.

Now about your issue, are you sure It's the motherboard preventing you from powering the laptop?

See if the blue leds of the charger light when you plug it in the outlet.
Take the battery out and start with minimal hardware.

I would've helped you if I was in the UK :/

 

Thanks for replying.

I have actually done everything I can for trasferring the ownership but all in vain. The owner says that he wasnt transferred the ownership himself and thus he cant help. I thought of taking this matter ina legal way, but that could be really messy...

 

As far as the blue led is concerned.. it lights up if i do it with graphics card out. otherwise it wont light up. But the repair man says that the fault pertains to the mobo.

 

Does M15x has integrated graphics? and should it power on after we take out the graphics card? I m talking about the latest M15x not the old ripply one.

 

The current M15x does not have integrated graphics the old Area 51 M15x did and it was terrible (nvida droped driver support so no new drivers after 180ish). it is because the M15x does not have sandy bridge CPU's which have built in intergrated graphics. and no you cant put a sandy bridge CPU in before anyone asks

 

So I cant boot my system without graphics card, right?

 

i'm afraid not

 

Anyhelp would be much appreciated

 

Hi guys,

Here's the whole story, and I am talking abt the Latest M15x
A month ago, I was playing Crysis with my 260M Over clocked with in the safe limits. It was getting late at night so I just switched off the laptop and tucked it in its *Black Cloth*. The next day when I came back from work, i tried to power it on. It just wont stir. I noticed the following things;

1. No light any where on the laptop.
2. The adapter Blue ring will fade away as soon as I plug it in
3. I took out the graphic card and then tried to power on, the blue light on the adapter stayed then and the alien logo lighted up. but nothing further happened.

I have no warranty thus i have to go with the unofficial and paid way. tell me what do i have to do? How can i be certain if its the Mobo or the Graphics card?

Which place is the best for repairing alienwares in UK?
Plz Help!

 

The blue ring on the PSU only lights up when the GPU isn't in the system?

Weird, really... it almost seems that something in your GPU got fried and is causing a shortcut which leads the PSU to shutdown.
Do you access to another MXM 3.0 GPU for testing purposes?

 

That's not completely true... the M15x was available with the first gen Core i3 and i5 CPUs as well, and they have an integrated GPU... the problem is that the PM55 chipset can't handle the integrated GPU.
Anyway, the 720qm which the OP has doesn't have an integrated GPU anyway.

 

Have you tried:

- Testing your AC adapter with a multi-meter
- Using a known good 150 watt AW/Dell adapter
- Removing the battery and AC adapter and hold down the power button for 30 seconds 2-3 times

Uhh if the AC adapter light goes out, it usually always means you have a short circuit, more than likely the motherboard.

You could call up AW, but OOW repair rates you might as well pay more for a new refurbished machine in Outlet and resell yours for parts on Ebay.

 

sounds like somethin i did with an old laptop i had. i accidentally left it underneath my pillow and when i came back it wouldnt turn on. turns out i overheated it and fried the mobo. could be what happened to yours. maybe it didnt shut down and it was still on cuz it had to install updates.

just my .02

 

I'd go with svl7's advice first. Try another GPU. It's a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the motherboard. My M15x packed up a few months ago, and I was worried it was the motherboard. I started by swapping everything else out (bar the CPU). Ended up being the GPU. Didn't get any flashing lights whatsoever. My computer did power on - though no boot, no hdd activity, nothing on screen whatsoever. I spoke to my friend who is a laptop tech and he said that sometimes, you don't get any error codes at all - as svl7 suggests, something internally shorted just causes everything to come to a halt.

 

Thanks for replying svl7.. Yes the blue ring will go down as soon as i plug it in the laptop. But after I took out the GPU the light wont go out but my system wont power on either?

Have you ever tried to power on without graphics card? Anything comes up? even a boot screen?

 

I do think it's your graphics card, I never tried turning on my m15x without the graphics card but I know that if your gfx is busted then probably you wouldn't get past POST check
also I had the 260m and it was crap, 6 months after I bought new it started blue screening on me for no reason
maybe consider changing your gfx, and upgrading it at the same time

also
if it's you can check that it is really your graphics card that's busted then you can try this trick
http://www.addictivetips.com/hardware/fix-your-graphics-card-by-baking-in-oven/
I'm not really recommending this however, this is like last thing you should do (remember don't do it if you're not sure or accident prone, I'm not guaranteeing anything).
I sent my gfx to this guy to fix it
http://www.ebay.com/itm/25080601136...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_860wt_1396

 

Try without the GPU before buying anything, you should at least have the fan(s) and maybe the AlienFX SMDs powering on.

 

Thanks for replying Katalin_2003, I have tried without the GPU. The only difference is that the alien logo lights up and the blue ring on adapter doesn't go out..

 

Hello gunner1905, Did u got it repaired? i mean your graphics card? and thanks for the tip

 

yeah I sent my gfx to the guy on ebay and now everything is working great

 

@Svl7 still waiting for ur help

 

If anybody would just helpme figure out that its the graphic card or motherboard? I'll really appreciate the help...

 

Can you not just buy a replacement from Dell Upgrade Centre? Everytime I've called them for a quote lately they've given me prices before asking me anything other than the service tag number. It'll cost you serious buck (5850M £267.68, etc) but it should still be a possibility I think? And changing the MOBO yourself can't be any harder than changing the optical drive by the look of it, which many people have managed nice and smoothly (check out the HDD Caddy replacement thread!).

Edit: Ok think I somehow skipped a whole page of replies, if it's actually your graphics card and not the MOBO then I still reckon calling Dell is worth a shot. Here is the list of GPU's and prices that I was quoted about 7 days ago:

After a long chat on the phone, that's what he sent me!

 

Thanks laxxi...Yeah i tried calling them and they said that they'll charge 94 bucks for just check up and if its the mobo thena further GBP 400 'll be charged and in case of both MOBO and the GPU GBP 615 'll be invoice amount.....


But Here i am just requiring certainity for the GPU so i could buy a 2nd hand GPU.. may be 5870M