My M9750 is not happy.. kind of a strange problem (help!)

Hey everyone,

I got my M9750 over a year ago, and it has worked well. Recently though it isn't happy. Lately it would shut it self off (which I thought.. ok overheating) and I still think thats what it was. But it would be ok.. let it cool down and it would boot right back up. It was usually when I had it in a not so ventilated place.. my bad!

Last night I had fallen asleep and it was left on. It wasn't doing anything heavy so it was fine. I woke up and it was still good, and then I went to shut if off. Later I turned it on.. nothing. Oh it lights up.. the power button, the HDD light will for a few seconds, Disc tray. etc. But thats it. It isn't the screen because I can tell the hdd isn't loading. No POST or anything. Oddly enough I can eject the disc tray or push caps lock or whatever and it will light up. Now this similar thing happened the other day.. except after a few tried it did boot. That isn't the case today so far.

Well here is what I have done/tried. I reseated the RAM.. nothing. I took the RAM out and put the original modules back in.. nothing. I cleaned out the fans and what not, Nothing. I redid the thermal paste on the CPU with some the lovely Arctic Silver 5... nothing. I unplugged the Cmos battery for a few minutes (that is all Alienwares site said to do... left it off till I redid battery).. nothing. I switched hard drives around just for a try.. nothing of course.

I'm kind of stuck with what could be the issue. Funny thing is.. it will turn on by itself. If I connect the power adapter or put the battery in.. it just turns on. If I turn it off by holding the power button down.. it turns off and turns right back on! Strange little creature!

No warranty now, so I'm planning on attempting to fix it myself. I'm just kind of loss on what the issue could be! I don't believe it to be completely dead. Anyone have any ideas? ANY help appreciated!

Thanks,

 

I would try booting with a minimum of parts. Disconnect the harddisk, dvd drive and even the wifi. Maybe try only a single stick of ram. Try each ram stick in each slot. If nothing works then I would say its the mainboard.

 

Reseat your video cards and lcd cable, if that doesn't help, your video card is fried.

If you are in Canada, get the M17. If you are in US, then you have alot of choices.

 

Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your system. We would like you to connect an external monitor to see if there is video, based on what you have described, it sounds like video related. Let us know with the outcome.

Feel free to send me a PM.

Thank you.

 

I appreciate the quick replies, guys!! Which is good because all my school info is on there lol. Ugh.

Alright, I forgot to mention earlier that I connected an external monitor with same results. I also did not put any arctic silver on the video cards.. as I'm still searching for a screw driver to handle that

I'm used to tearing desktops apart, but this is my first laptop sooooo.. trying to find everything is a different experience! Where is the lcd cable located, and the wifi stuff? So.. I'm going to guess that it isn't good to switch the video cards? Since this is SLi.. and they are parent/daughter, they probably need to be in the positions they are? I know the primary is the daughter which is located in the middle roughly.. and the parent is off to the side.

 

Let me also throw out this:

The laptop has been great to me. It does have this nagging issue since the first day I got it. It has this issue that doesn't happen often, but lets say the adapter is plugged in and the adapter icon light comes on. Well when I would push the power button, the icon light would go out and the laptop would be completely shut off.. no lights.. and pushing power did nothing.

This doesn't happen a lot. And it was just a bit of fussing with it to get it to power up. I doubt its related to the current issue, but figured I would say. Imagine the day I got it.. sooo happy. I turn it on and it doesn't power up at all lol. Scare!

 

I occassionally get this issue and I believe it's a safety feature. If the power button is pressed twice in a short period of time, the entire system becomes unresponsive and doesn't power on at all. The blue display lights don't turn on at all. You have to unplug the AC cord then reseat the battery and only then can you power the system back on.

Regarding your main issue, if anything, Purchase a SATA/USB cable, pull out your hard drives then unload your important information off the hard drive to another computer. Then send your system back in for repair even if it does cost some money since you're out of warranty. This system is very fickle about getting the ventilation it needs even if it's not doing much. Hell, my system IDLES at 70C and that's with good ventilation, arctic silver applied, fans cleaned out, etc.

 

Wow, this is the exact same thing that has happend to mine! What I am attempting to do now is re-seat the bios battery as someone has suggested. I can't seem to find a video or pictures of someone doing however. Its weird because mine was working fine until I applied artic silver... Now my symptoms are as you described.

 

fusion since your on a budget why diddnt you get this computer its more bang 4 the buck

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220416

 

Grey - Interesting about the safety feature thing. I don't know if thats what it is for sure, but I'll go with it! Especially since it never caused any real issues.

As for backing up the data. Yea it is crossing my mind that it may come to that. I hate thinking about it though!! I just don't have much money to spare at the moment.. who does? But, it is a last option.


Odin - Really?! We must join forces and solve this mystery! lol. Re-seat the bios battery eh?! I looked.. and I thought it was just held down by tape, and connected via little wires. It didn't hit me till just now, but maybe the bios battery is messed up. Which would of course cause it to not even boot.. I would imagine?! For the record.. Cmos/Bios battery is same thing? I'm so out of touch anymore.

I have arctic silver'd the cpu and the video cards. Something is telling me that they aren't the problem. Just the way it is acting you know? I also don't think its a dead system. I have torn mine completely apart, and checked for things inside (I do not recommend this.. what a mess and I am already tired at the thought of putting it back together).

I know for sure it isn't a visual problem. The hard drive would still be booting the OS up (and the icon would be flashing). What can we do hmmmmm

 

Yes, the bios battery.
Mystik was kinda enough to reply to my thread, here is what he said:

the fans are programmed to start, then stop automatically. first, start and blow as fast as possible to ensure no overheating is happening prior to the thermal profile being loaded by the bios. once that loads, they stop due to the fact that they aren't actually needed. honestly, I wouldn't worry so much about that.

My recommendation is to reset the bios. On most modern laptops, the only way to do this is to disconnect the BIOS battery (as well as all other power sources) for ~3-5 mins to discharge all power from the system. I'm not sure where the bios battery is on the m9750, so I can't help you in that regard... but I will suggest the AW support KB.

after removing all power sources (AC/battery/bios battery) for >5mins, replace the BIOS battery, and the AC ONLY, then power on the system. if it boots, you're okay. if not, there might be something more serious happening.

if you're okay, feel free to resume using your system as you always have... if not, call AW.... see how much it's gonna cost to have a tech look at it.

'cause the only other suggestions I would have is to reseat all the important things that might have been jostled during the procedure (aka video card and RAM... CPU too if you had it exposed... )...
Now, if it was a dead system I would think nothing would turn on, the and wouldn't try and start, and the cd/dvd drive wouldn't attempt to spin. I wanted to take mine apart but a single spot was preventing me from doing so. So if you could remove/replace the cmos and see if that works then let me know!!

 

Hey man,

just for reference; http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/...HQ9bTk3NTAgd29uJ3QgYm9vdA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

Anyway, I took the battery out for over 5 minutes with no new results. I am lost.. but no I don't believe our systems our just dead. I've seen tons of problems throughout the years and this one is kind of baffling... I really wish I had another one to test the parts on.

I think if the mobo was dead.. it wouldn't do anything like it is doing. Yes, the fans spin when they sense its warm. Yes the graphics cards and the cpu gets warm. Yes the lights show up and you can indeed push the caps lock key and it the icon will light up.

Like I said. It shut off on me the other day.. due to overheating (I highly believe). And it did this exact problem. So I waited.. and it was odd but it wouldn't turn on.. just like now. After a little while it did boot just fine. So I kept waiting for it to boot up out of luck today#$#@%# I don't believe its dead at all.. I just wish I understood!!!!!! It is driving me nuts and I was hoping to get it working by the weekend.

What else can we do here.. and if anyone else has any input to help out.. hey i'm willing to try about anything with this thing to get it to run.

 

One question did you take the thermal pad off the northbridge? Mine sorta fell off and it looked like it was semi brown, I replaced it with thermal paste and now it wont turn on. My guess is the thermal pad is really important there and the computer is preventing itself from frying the chip so it wont post. Or worst case the chip is already gone. So check your northbridge and see if there is any discoloration.

 

I didnt even touch the north bridge till a bit ago. No the pad is still on there and the chip looks fine. Well, except for how awesome alienwares thermal paste is!!! what junk.. its like there was just dry crap around it instead of on it.... I put some arctic silver 5 on that sucker too.

So its still doing the same thing. I just have it running to see how it reacts. A few hours ago, I let it run and later on I went back and it kept resetting itself. I found out it was because it was very hot. **** hot to touch the heat sinks underneath on the cpu/gpu. Why is this?! I mean our comps aren't really even running.. so why are they getting so hot if you let it sit?! Crazy.. this problem has really got me confused.

I still don't believe they are dead. I know strange things happen.. but if it was the mobo.. I don't think anything would work.. surely not as much that we get running. It at least seems to do the initial boot... well gets things started up anyway.

What could be causing this!$!@$ How come mine did the same thing the other day, but eventually started working. There has got to be something!!

So yours was just shutting off when you were playing graphic heavy games like fallout 3? So you decided to do the thermal paste thing and it went downhill after? Funny how ours are doing the same exact thing.. from two different approaches. Both seem to stem from what we believe to be heat.

Ok I'm rambling, but its almost 3 am!

 

and before I go to bed. I just checked on it.. was running under 10 mins and was resetting itself over and over. Was fricken hot on the cpu/gpu/bridge. Interesting. I can't say if thats the main problem to begin with (I don't think I tried to just let it sit before i did the paste).

Ugh its too late for me to think, but I can't help but wonder what the deal is.

 

Yes sir. Even when I would play less graphic intensive games, like WoW, if I left it idle it would eventually freeze. I cleaned off the north bridge and am going to get a thermal pad tomorrow. What I thought might be happening is the failsafe of the north bridge. From what Alienware has told me everything runs through the north bridge soooo. What could be happening is since the thermal paste AW had on had dried up and was falling apart it stuck to the chip, and when we removed it we pulled the chip it looks like it can be reseated but I'm not quite sure it maybe soldered in. I'm going to take mine to a locale shop and see what they say. Maybe the Arctic silver 5 got under the plastic protective and onto the board, or something. Bah ill have to solve this tomorrow I'm just hoping we don't have $2000 paper weights!

 

I know this is odd. I have never had something like this happen so im not sure what to do next. Unless its something stupid like the LCD was loose or a power switch isn't flipping somewhere. I just have no idea. Alienware wants like $300 just to diagnose the problem thats not including parts! So i think it will be cheaper to take it to a local place and see what they say. I cleaned all the paste off the north bridge and the chip looks shiny with a small hint of silver(not the arctic 5) but where either the old paste had worn the gloss off or it burned a little in that area, im not sure.

If your components are heating up then there is definitely power, its like we need to jump start the cpu! I did plug the adapter directly into the wall and saw a spark then the fans turned on and stayed on for awhile, but i can't replicate this.

 

Well I have no money as it is to give AW 300 bucks to just diagnose! Considering I would like to make a career out of this stuff.. I'm happier to learn and attempt to figure it out. Well.. I can tell you I don't think its the LCD. As I did try using an external monitor with no results, ALSO when I took it apart (and I mean I really took it apart) I checked all connections from the lcd and made sure the were on and correct.. and it yielded same results.

When are you planning on taking it to a local shop? There isn't any right in my vicinity and due to snow storms and me only having a firebird to drive!!!! I can't get anywhere.. ****it.

As for the northbridge idea... it makes sense to an extent. Remember though.. I haven't touched anything on it UNTIL mine started doing this. So unless one of the chips originally got messed up from overheating.... then again it would have just shut it self off. Wednesday night.. I had left mine on all night. not doing anything intense, just idling cause I kind of passed out to sleep real quick. It was on and fine when I woke up. I turned it off after I woke up in the morning, and about a half hour later I try to turn it on.. and here we are. So.. it really, Really is an odd situation.

I checked last night and now in the morning here. Oh ya the components are getting hot as if they are working.. which they shouldn't be.. well as far as we know. I would think its more normal heat just from it being on. I can tough the CPU heatsink without really hurting.. and the northbridge isn't too bad. but that primary video card... OW. Intense to touch. No way should it be that hot (imo).

It was stated earlier in this thread by fusion that the video card(s) could be fried. I guess this could be a possible reason.. yet still a little shaky on this. Im going to go about trying some more stuff.. ugh I hate confusion

 

Yea, Mine was working until I replaced the thermal paste. So unless the video card was destroyed when I opened it then im not sure. The only thing that changed on mine was the replacing of the thermal pad, and I can't find a replacement for it!!! No one in my town sells them bleh. So until I find one im SOL.

 

Small Breakthrough!

I've been here messing all morning... cuz im OCD'ing on this now. I will guess that you have Sli in yours? I said to hell with it and was taking out certain things at a time. Well I took the Daughter video card out(primary). Guess what? The screen comes on!! It at least turns on.. now nothing is still happening when it comes to boot up... yet.

So, I honestly don't know much about how Sli works. I will surely say the primary is fried.. (plus it gets soooooo unbearably hot) Can the parent be used as a primary? If i took it out of its slot and put it where the daughter was.. will that be safe? Could it be all down to the video card!! OH MY ... at least its a breakthrough for the screen.. so far.

 

alrite.. few more observations

I took the primary card and put it in the secondary slot. I took the Secondary card and put it in the primary slot. Guess what? Screen wouldn't come on.

I took the secondary card out out of the primary slot and kept the primary card (the one I thought fried) in the secondary slot. Guess what? Screen comes on again.

Soooo, both cards will at least turn screen on in secondary slot. Whats going on here? Is the primary slot dead? Once again, I don't know SLI much and if needs to work a certain way so anyone can chime in.

 

primary MXM slot might be dead.

 

you are probably right but do keep in mind.. even if a card is in the primary slot.. that card gets Hot. I'm out of ideas at the moment, and might take a break to see what anyone else has. And if Odin found out anything more.

Just out of curiosity... and this will probably be hard to find and expensive, but of the motherboard is the cause of this, anywhere I can buy a replacement? I'm not sure what motherboard exactly is in there.

 

lol ooooooooooooook.


So I take both video cards out.. just to see if I could get a post or something.. nope. same thing HOWEVER the screen turns on still. LOL ***?! I know the LCD is connected to the other side of the board and all... why would the screen still turn on with no graphics cards?! Of course putting a graphic card in the primary slot yields bah results.

This is very interesting and yet.. seems hopeless.

 

Hmm that is interesting. Sorry I haven't posted iv been busy getting my mind off the lappy. I dropped mine off at the shop today to see what they had to say. Unless the motherboard has a on board card then the screen showing up is odd. The motherboard can only be replaced through alienware, so your looking at $500 at least! (shipping/2 hours diagnosis, parts) I just hope the MXM slot isn't the cause of all this that wouldn't be good. I only have the one card so I can't check the slot If anything I hope the card is the problem so I can maybe find a cheap one somewhere, I know those are sold through other retailers.

One question, did you replace that thermal pad on the north bridge with thermal paste or another thermal pad. My guess is the heat sink isn't making contact with the north bridge, or the thermal paste isn't thick enough causing an air pocket. The computer may not be passing the initial thermal test thus causing the computer to stop, or not send power in that direction. The ram, cpu, and I believe video card use the north bridge, so it would be important to pass that thermal check. Again, I could be wrong.

 

Hey Odin,

I used Arctic Silver 5 on the north bridge. It should be ok, but who knows for sure. I was thinking of using an ohm reader to see if any of the chips were dead. I'm not completely sure on how to use it lol.. plus I have to wait till my brother comes visit which is a few days away (he has it).

I am finding it difficult to believe, at least in my case, that both video cards just magically died at the same time. I didn't even think about an onboard card.. this could be correct. We need to find info on this board. I'll go check the northbridge again in a bit.

There is no way I'm paying around 500 bucks.. that I don't even have. For Alienware to diagnose a problem that we are close to solving ourselves. Especially when the motherboard is probably like 100 bucks or less! Even though.. we aren't able to get it anywhere. That ain't right! Gah and now I miss putting together my own desktops. At least I knew what I could do.

Did the shop shed any light on it? Hopefully they can come up with something.

 

We shall see, they haven't called me back yet so maybe they were busy, and not that they can't figure it out haha. The only consistency in both our systems is that they were A) Overheating and freezing/shutting down B) North Bridge thermal pad was replaced by thermal paste.

Possible problems:
North Bridge is fried
Video Card is fried
MXM Slot is busted

Update: I spoke with the computer repair shop today and they informed me they got it up and running after pulling it apart, cleaning the parts, and placing thermal tape on the cpu, north bridge. They said it started but was acting funny so they started messing with the memory modules, and surprisingly it started. So they are playing fallout 3 to see if they can replicate the problem that was the cause of all this.

 

That is awesome they got it running!

its interesting but I'm not sure what to make out here. Ours are both acting the same. Except, did yours automatically turn on when plugged in? Even if you pressed the power button off? It would just turn on?

The only thing here is that mine stopped on me before applying any paste. However, it was acting up similar to yours before it went bad. Then I applied the paste. Someone on another forum said I might have put too much paste on.. its possible but I'm not sold on that yet. Wish I knew where to buy thermal tape!

Good news though... at least there is a possible chance of it working. Keep me updated dude. I'm going crazy here.

 

I'm going to throw out another thing here since you mentioned the ram.

I forgot, but I messed with this last night. If I take all ram out and leave it like that. What happens next is it turns on and the hdd led does not do anything.. but the computer keeps resetting itself.

Now I have had bad ram in older machines and no ram sometimes. I don't ever recall them resetting themselves over and over? I thoguht of that since you brought up they were fidgeting with your ram stuff. Hmmmmm.

Let me know if they can get any specifics dude? Help me Odin wan Kenobi! haha that kind of works. Fits well!

 

Ok update here, after talking with the laptop guy he told me what he did step by step.

First, he took out and cleaned all the parts. He then placed the thermal tape on the north bridge and cpu and some arctic silver on the south bridge and gpu. The north bridge has a small air pocket where the arctic silver does not make contact with the heatsink, thus the thermal tape covers that gap without movement. He said he then turned the computer on without the battery. It was acting kinda weird, so he started messing with the memory modules, and it seemed to improve.

So, really nothing you and I didn't try to do! The only difference seems to be the thermal tape. I had to purchase the northbridge cooling set just to get the tape, so I have an extra heatsink, fan, cables, and thermal paste.

I would recommend trying to find some thermal tape or pads, and maybe reapply the arctic silver. Try and get it as thin as possible paper thin, and post your results!

 

Thats great that they got it working for ya man!

I just followed some of what you said, but I am having no luck yet. I put a thermal pad over the north bridge. I also redid my arctic silver on both gpu's and the cpu. Did it much much better this time. Its been running for a few minutes now and the northbridge/secondary card/ and cpu aren't really too hot. The primary video card is and I think I know why. ugh

Ok I had a stupid accident with the cooling system today. You know the copper color thing (vent?!) that goes from the fan, over the north bridge and to the primary card? Well it kinda broke off near the north bridge. Yaaa it was crazy. Me being tired and frustrated had set it on floor while I was doing something.. and it got stepped on.. oye. Wan';t completely torn tilll I tried messing with it. uhhh. I'm trying to find a way to combine it together again.. but am not sure what to use. Solder seemed useless. Any suggestions?

I will guess that not being together properly (although i have it connected right now with electrical tape lol) will cause the video card to get real hot?!

Ehh, just nw i checked the northbridge and it is rather hot now too. Its awefully late haha. I can't figure this out. Stuck on what to do next.

 

Interesting to note. The fan on the left side of the system where the ram is (and goes from the north bridge to the primary card) is not blowing out wam air. Ya the fan is on but.. not hot air. The other side is blowing out normal warm air though. Thats strange. I won't say that will fix my problem, but I wonder why that is.

 

I bet while they were cleaning it, they reseated the CPU (that solves a lot of problems) and I bet you it had nothing to do with the memory. If you can't fix the heat pipe (the copper thingy) you need to get it replaced otherwise you'll fry the computer.

 

I'll fix that pipe soon enough. If not I see some places sell them. Its important that I find out the exact problem first. The people wasn't broke prior to it breaking so its doubtfully that. But will need fixed.

I know I reseated the CPU/Ram/Vid cards. Its driving me nuts lol. I borrowed and OHM/Multi-mter off of a friend. Figured this could tell me if something is dead.. if only I could figure out what to touch lol. Time to google!

 

Hmm it is rather interesting. Maybe the issues was resolved when you redid the thermal paste, but now since the heatsink is broken it created a new one. There is a website you can purchase a new one. I'm not sure if I can post places to buy stuff, but if you type Alienware m9750 heatsink it'll come up for you. Now that mine is up and running we need to get yours up too. I don't think I asked you this earlier but what are you system specs? Is taking it to a shop out of the question?

 

Odin, how is yours running? Well? I hope so! I still wonder what the exact cause of it was..

I do have good news, FINALLY!

So I got in the tearing apart mood again and this time I unhooked nearly everything. I even completely took the lcd screen off of it and away. I only left keyboard, (not at first) one stick of ram, one video card, and the power button bar with the led icons.

Guess what?

The SOB actually booted! I have it hooked up via external monitor at the moment. Now since there are no hard drives, it only boots up a little bit lol. but it turns on!! and it doesn't even turn itself on now which is excellent. After that, I plugged the cd drive back in which also works.

Of course with my ventilation problem.. I can't keep it on too long cause it heats up too much and shuts down. I got to fix this now! ugh, when it rains it pours scenario!! Odin, I did see replacement parts, but some people wanted $130 for just that side!! Crazy!! I'll see what I can find and a possible fix.

update- I am now able to boot into windows! this is still running minimum stuff thought. Soon i'll put things back together one by one to see what could be causing it.. before that.. i gotta figure this heat pipe out

 

Sweet well at least its a step in the right directing. Mine is still acting kinda funny, but im still letting the thermal paste set. Hopefully my temps stay in the low 70s high 60s, and never go back to the 80s again!

Well that's good, just keep adding parts and see if it starts up! Maybe not enough power was going to the components or now that you reapplied the thermal paste it got rid of a short that was created the first time. Maybe, now that you have a thermal pad on the northbridge, it got rid of a short created. It's a mystery! So it seems the only big issue you have left is the heatsink. Any progress on repairing that yet?

 

Odin, What kind of problems is yours still having? Like when it comes to acting up? Maybe I can help you with that? We'll get these things running fine.

I can't wait till I figure out heatsink because I am dieing to know what part is the problem. As for that though, this is copper tubing/piping as stated. I tried soldering it, but the solder I have here would not stick. I also was thinking that these things get pretty hot which may disrupt the solder later on. BUT I only have solder pens and such for working with smaller stuff which is probably the issue.

I am curious though, is there anything inside these copper tubing/pipes?? I noticed some gunk inside (dunno what it is). And honestly, this sounds dumb, but I wasn't sure if there was something inside that helps move the heat? I'm going to say no.. i mean if there was stuff inside.. how would the heat move to the fans right? It would just block it, right? I want to go clean it out, but if anyone has clarification on this? This could be why its a problem when i try to connect them.

I wish I could find a lot of info on how this ventilation system works. Like how the copper is on top of the heatsinks (soldered on?) Is there an opening underneath those little parts that catch the heat.. or does it just heat up naturally and the fans suck it out? Yaaa I know this is silly. But I think I can do this with a little clarification on how it works.

Thanks all!

 

The material inside the heatpipe liquifies or vaporizes when the pipe heats up and by convection removes the heat from the source. You need a new heatpipe heatsink since the pipe has to be completely sealed in order to work properly.

 

Are your core temps in the low 70s to high 60s?

Mine was hitting 80 at idle (and high 90s consistently during gaming).

You need better thermal paste. Get some Artic Cooling MX2. Much, much better than Artic Silver and no curing period.

Also give your heat sink air vents (not just the centrefugal fans) a cleaning with compressed air.
Theres alot of crap in there if you've had it for some time.

My temps are at 54C idle and goes low 60's when under full load.

If you want futher cooling... try undervolting your CPU. You can probs take 0.1v off when you run full load.

Remember how your m9750 was silent out of the box... you can still make it like that lol

 

The silent part is what worries me! It seems to silent to the point where the fans are on but I can hardly hear them. Im still in the "200 hours" of break in so hopefully my temps lower. The only problem I seem to be having is the heat issue from before all the excitement of the no power issue. I haven't tested fallout 3 for the freezing issue, so im not sure if its an issue yet. I might just sell her off and build a desktop!!!!!! haha

What drivers are yall using. Im using alienwares 179.28, could this be the reason for the heat? What are the best drivers for this computer, non sli?

Parasomia, sorry im not an expert in the area of copper heatsinks, but the gel is possibly what transfers the heat. I wouldn't think air would be a good conductor of heat, unless its being blown, so it probably isn't hollow, but its like 2 here so im probably not making sense. It seems like the heatsinks are glued or welded to the copper.

Mono, no my core temps stay in the 50s, its my **** video card creating so much heat (or the northbridge, but I can't tell which one due to them sharing a heatsink). If I could turn up the video card fan to like 80-90% hopefully I could reduce the heat, but it seems the m9750 has no fan controls!!!

Edit- Oh i have only been playing on it for a few hours(2) then leaving it to cool down for 2-3 hours.

 

Odin, I'll get back to you in a while. Sorry dude, I've gone off the deep end at the moment

Don't rid of it though dude!

For anyone that reads this... What options do I have with the heatsink/vent system? I think its a rip off that it cost 130 per heatsink... but thats probably cause they are hard to find? So, I looked around. google searched... Oh I found places.. diffferent websites that all seemed to be the same company... didn't like that BUT it didn't matter.. they were all out of stock on one of the heatsink parts. Yes I'm in a rush to get this back together. This temp computer isn't holding well haha.

What are my options? What Can I do? I tried ebay.. nothing.. Called Alienware,.. they didn't have the parts... SERIOUSLY. Is it possible I can get the heat sinks for m9700 and kind of shape them to fit in here??? They are cheaper.. and with a bit of work.. is it possible?!

I know there are tons of experts here that know what they are talking about and.. I swear.. any any any any advice right now.. is good advice. Thanks all.

 

To tell you the truth parasomia I would pay the 130 bucks. They are the cheapest option you have at the moment of saving your computer. Alienware certainly wont have them cheaper, and they are always late on parts. The only other option I know is if someone on this board is willing to donate to you the part. It really could happen, but you are again waiting on luck and goodwill.

If my m9750 was busted I would send it to you, but right now it is running (and hopefully for a while yet )

 

rsg!

Ya, you are right man. I'm happy the system is booting and ready to roll (possibly). I'll search around and see if I can find some good deals or anything I can come up with. I've been trying to fix these tubes with some solder work but no go lol. Sometimes.. I'm just too determined.

Thanks though! I'll get back to ya guys when it is figured out!

 

I'm taking my time hunting down pieces I need. I noticed the CPU pipe was pinched and that part may need to be done as well. The primary graphics card/bridge seems to be in stock, but the cpu/secondary card/sli sinks/piping I can't find.

So in the meantime, Whilst I search for the parts (google searching is odd as I said... lots of shops.. all from the same city... all with the same parts out of stock... riiiiiite). Does anyone know what material is used inside the copper piping to transfer the heat? Is this available anywhere? Ahh what happened to good ole' distilled water lol

I'm going to check out some buy/sell forums to see if theres anything as well.