M17 has issues...

Hey ppl,

My M17 has had a problem for a while which seems to be getting worse, When I try to turn it on the fans (GPU ones I think) go at full blast for a few seconds then it turns off. A few seconds later it repeats this (without me trying to turn ot on again).

It usually would succesfully turn on after a couple of resets, or I would just need to hold the power button down until it stops resetting itself and then turn it on again. But right now I doesn't seem to want to turn on.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that if I pull the AC adapter out and take out the battery, when I put the battery in again it will automatically try to turn on (and fail repeating the above).

I'm reluctant to format it (might not be able to now if it doesn't turn on again) as I'm studying at uni and don't want to risk losing anything.

Anyone have any ideas of how to get it on and working again?

Regards,

Cyro

 

you could make a image of the hard drive so if the reformat doesnt work just turn your computer exactly how it was before you did it


O yea sounds like a bad mobo

try pulling out the CMOS battery ..... and then booting ...

your stuck in post and i am just covering bases here

 

It definetely sounds like you got a bad M17. I'd contact AW and get it replaced.

 

Really don't want to send it in to alienware just yet (two months left of the last semester of uni), plus I was planning on sending it in around mid november to get win 7, my dodgy screen replaced (screen has dark areas and a heap of dead pixels, it came like that) and my keyboard replaced (keyboard is bent up a little in the middle, it scratches the screen when it is closed)

I'll try take out the CMOS battery in a little while (dropped one of the screws and cant find it).

Thanks for your ideas.

 

Ok, removing the CMOS battery didn't help, any other ideas?

 

Dont think the ones you specified as problems really are problems. Especially since im "suffering" from the same issues.

Reboot the laptop and you will hear the fans go full blast till windows loading screen appears .

And in some occasions fans go to full speed again for 5 secs without a reason really.

 

Mine does not do that or atleast i have never heard it like your describing . What bios are you running ? Im on the OCZ .28 bios so that might be part of it .

 

Original AW bios (before the update, B10 i think it was). Usually this happens during a restart and not power up since temps are like 30c when you cold start it.

 

The problem is that it doesn't boot, I turn it on, the fans go full blast for a few seconds and then it turns itself off (screen doesn't come on at all), it then stays of for about a second and then turns on and repeats the above.

Also using stock bios whatever that is.

 

Ow! Any bips ? If not probably a motherboard problem.

If this happens all the time you can try troubleshoot the ram and the hdd. Other than that nothing else you can do if its a motherboard issue.

 

no beeps, damn... It was working earlier today... Ill try reseat the ram and hd's and see if that helps.

 

If it happens every time you boot the laptop try booting it with one stick of ram.

 

It didn't used to happen every time I would turn it on, it would eventually start normally. But not any more.

I tried reseating the HD and RAM, tried starting it with a single stick (tried both sticks).

Is there any other way I can get it woorking?

Or if all else fails, anyone think I can get Alienware to install Win 7 on it when I send it in?

 

Windows 7 is going to be released on October 22 i think, so unless you want to format the version they are going to install (which i doubt they will) stick with Vista till then

If its a motherboard issue its not much (if anything) you can really do, you dont have many choices here, sadly.

 

It definetely sounds like a motherboard issue, in which case your only option is to send it in to AW. Either that or you're unlucky enough to have two bad sticks of RAM.

 

Send it back in if it's still under warranty. This problem sounds like the one I've been having with my desktop. I turn it on at the powerpoint, and it turns on by itself, the fans go full blast, and then it turns off and starts again. As it turns out, it's a motherboard problem, and the only way to fix it is to replace the motherboard.

 

Those symptoms with the fan spinning up and the machine powering down sound like it could be CPU related also. I would yank of the Heatsink and remove the CPU then reseat it myself.

 

I think its always best to try every possible fix given that if you send it back in you might lose your M17 for a while.

If it was me I would update the BIOS to the latest version(which is in "my hive") and I would reinstall Vista.(I know you are worried about this but its worth a shot, if it is hardware related you would have to send it back in anyway)
I know it sounds hardware related but the other night I was just carrying out normal tasks and my M17 locked up and I tried a hard reset...when it tried to boot back up the keyboard turned that funny white colour and the screen went blue....I tried a few times and was really worried that my M17 had died. I was on a old version of Windows 7 and I had the latest version (7600 RTM) on a disk....I booted from this disk reinstalled Windows and everything is running perfect now.
Strangely enough it happened just after I tried to install some BETA software from a reputable vendor. I think you have to be careful when using Windows 7 and realise its still BETA and can make your PC behave very strangely if it does not like something you are doing.....try reinstall first and update your BIOS.
If you want the latest Windows 7 build as a freeleach torrent on a private tracker from a very good source then just pm me and I will send you an invite.

good luck pal.

 

Dont see how this problem can be software related On the other hand a bios update wouldnt hurt.

 

Well if its absolutely not a software issue then call Alienware ASAP...the sooner the better.

 

1 question, (sorry if it's noobish) how can I update the BIOS if the laptop won't turn on (and get into the BIOS)?

Also I don't have access to my hive (I'm and Australian customer)

 

Hi cyro,

actually its not a noobish question at all. Its a very good point indeed. I did not realise that your PC would not come on at all.
Are you still under warranty? if so then send it back! I think that is your only option in this scenario.

Its always useful to have access to a second PC in these situations.

You could have downloaded the BIOS on this second PC and burnt it to disk....then use it to boot assuming it can!

I dont undertand the part where you say;

" Also I don't have access to my hive (I'm and Australian customer)" dont you also get a "myhive" in Australia??

 

You don't get access to myhive with the M17x as it is sold thru Dell (no AW acct number).

 

Hang on......I thought the topic is reffering to a M17?? as in the topic title M17 has issues.....forgive me if Im wrong.

 

yeah sleey....he is definitely on about an M17 as you can see in his signature!

sorry to sound sarcastic ....just pointing that out pal.

 

Yea, I never got an AW acct number... unless it's included in the order number, if so it doesn't let me create an account with it (says 'Invalid account number or email/zip code.' even though they are valid)

 

If your machine will not stay on long enough to do anything then the answer is no you cant update the bios and if its powering down randomly i would not even attempt a BIOS update at all.

Still i would yank out the CPU and reseat it personally since on occasions if something is wrong on that end the fans will spin up and then the system will power down before you even see a screen.

 

Someone pls hit me with a noob-hammer....

 

You can download the B13 BIOS here if you want to try that one.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=384955
Provided the link still works.

 

you might try re-installing the video card driver.

restore to an earlier date.

try those two things

 

without being able to boot to windows that might prove problematic...

 

Yes you do have an account number if you bought the M17 from Alienware....you know that black book you get with ID card in.....its the number that says agent account. This is what you do;

to create a MyHive account, go to www.alienware.co.uk, click support, myhive personal support area, new support users.
Write in your either your account number or your e-mail address then select your user name, e-mail and password. You should then have a new MyHive account created.

I would just phone support personally.

 

Tony's right except that I see you're in australia, so if you ordered from AW-Australia you want this link instead:
http://www.alienware.com.au/

 

oh yeah apologies.

DOH!

 

Yea my black book had no ID card in it...