Alienware M3450i blank display *replaced motherboard*

Hi,

I'm Matt and my Alienware M3450i would not power up at all when I pressed the power button. Yes, I tried draining the battery, running only on AC power, waiting for it cool off, turning it upside down, and I even took it apart and resettled everything. No dice. So I took it to a PC repair place and they were also puzzled. They said it was probably a motherboard failure.

So I ordered a replacement motherboard off eBay from the Austin Cyber Shop for $45. Yes, the same exact brand M3450i.

It took a long while to get the motherboard installed into the laptop, being as delicate as I could.

I turned it on and it did something different; the power indicator on the power switched turned on signifying that power was being given to the laptop, and the other indicator lights on the front turned on too. Except the hard drive light. Also the screen was completely blank. I think I can make out two very faint fuzzy blue spots on the screen, but that's it.

So I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the screen not being rightly connected or something but I've resettled all of the parts over and over and over with no luck.

Here are some pictures of the action:
(Note they are taken with my phone, not very high res...)
Blank screen...
Power switch light on
Power light and WiFi light on
Back glows just fine...

I hope you guys can help me fix my laptop!

~Matt

 

I once had the same problem with a Dell laptop. It resulted being the screen connection underneath the keyboard. Hope you'll be able to fix it, it's a beautiful system.

 

I figured that may be the case, but I'm pretty sure that I've secured all of the connections between the motherboard and the keyboard.

 

So you are saying the hdd does not work either, yes?
Same with and without external power ?

 

No, I'm sure the HDD works, it is most likely the bad connection between the motherboard and LCD screen. I will resettle all of the connections between the motherboard and the keyboard as HarryTheFish suggested.

But I am not going to be able to until tomorrow. I want to attend a convention that only visits Seattle once a year.

I am still open to suggestions though, please post if you have any input on what you think is wrong, or even better, how to fix it.

~Matt

 

I also think it's the connector if you say the hdd works. It might be that the LCD inverter needs replacing too..

 

I really hope you get it working, Matt. It just sucks when technology plays up.

Good luck with it.