AREA-51 ALX NO BOOT, NO SCREEN, FANS 100%, HELP?

I have a very similar problem. Mine powers on, the lights come on, fans come on (Sometimes in different order than the next, may or may not stay on), hard drive SEEMS to be running, disc drive runs ( I have a disc stuck in there at the moment) and my screen stays blank all the time. Only once did I get a very faint display, but that's it. I tried swapping parts over from another computer and it didn't help so I'm really stumped on whats wrong with it. Hopefully someone can help us out. If I figure anything out I'll let you know.

I called Dell, they told me to take out the RAM modules for the bleep test - no bleeps. They told me to take out the hard-drives - still nothing.. Technician is on his way tomorrow to replace the MOBO. Im stumped? I cant see how there is a problem with the MOBO, but lets see how this works out tomorrow. Will post again with results

Does my situation seem familiar to what yours is doing? I tried 2 other motherboards that work, and it didn't make one bit of difference. But I hope it will solve your problem. Its frustrating when I've spent hours on this thing and haven't gotten any further with it.

I had the simalar problem in May with my Area 51.  It would start to boot and then just freeze before the bios started loading.  After 4 tech visits and and replacement of motherboard, I/O board, video card, and ram, they finally exchanged the computer.  No one could ever figure out what the problem was!

I think I found out key info about what happened with mine, I'll know more when I get my other video card. This is what happened: I swapped over parts from my working machine into the non-working one, it worked. I went into the BIOS, changed Integrated graphics and disabled them (I think thats the built-in one in the MOBO?) if not, thats what I mean, to the hybrid graphics. But didnt hook up my hybrid GPU, so It couldnt find it. I hooked it up, and now with that MOBO since the BIOS is set up to go straight to the hybrid video card(s) it wont recognize it. So Im thinking with the machine thats not working, the video card(s) failed and now the problem is to somehow reset the BIOS to its factory settings without actually getting in there. So now Im down to 1 working MOBO out of 4, found out one isnt the same part # as the others, which may explain why it isnt working. Anyone know how to reset the BIOS manually, without having to have the laptop working? Im to the point where Id pay someone to help me, so please if you want to make some quick money, help me out? Im just so frustrated right now. I need to get at least one working decent.

Quote from above.  "  without having to have the laptop working "............ try a monitor in the VGA port, you may have to use a function Key.

I think I've tried using my monitor, seems to me you have to be into windows in order to use it. At least in my case. Guess I could try the HDMI output port? Worth a shot I guess.

I tried hooking up montiors and to the tv.  Neither one worked.

remove the plug-in graphics card and reboot without it.

Im not sure who you were refering to when you said that, dodger_roger, but I tried that many times and nothing happens.

Plaxiotic.

Remove the battery, hold down the power button for 30 seconds, plug in the A/C adaptor, on pressing the power-on button; run the "F" keys with your finger while it is rebooting, this may wake-up the bios ( has worked on other laptops and towers for me ) watch the screen all-the-while for any changes, this may get you into the bios as I am sure you removed the button battery and shorted the pins for a few seconds for a bios reset.

Unplug the HDD then while on A/C, reboot and see if it will error-out and give you a "F1 or F2 " option..... try holding down a key on the keyboard to invoke the bios while doing a reboot. Open the DVD drive with a paper-clip and insert a HIREMS boot Disk ( Google ) and reboot ( with the HDD disconnected and the Ethernet cable disconnected ); and try that. Other than this I am out of ideas except to replace hardware.

Your comment " Only once did I get a very faint display " makes me think Hardware or cable connections..

Good Luck.

Yeah I don't know what I did to get that display, but it only has happened once that I know of. I mean you had to go right up to the screen in order to see it, I even used a flashlight to help see it better, thats how faint it was. But I have also swapped so many different combinations of parts I wouldn't even know where to guess which ones I had in there. I ordered a video card, it has the same part # as the one that may not be working, so we'll see what happens when I get that. Im not sure if switching between an ATI and nVidia would work. You'd have to install the drivers first right? Because the two im playing with are one of each which might be why it's not making a difference. One other thing, the cable running from the MOBO to the power button on the laptop that's having issues doesn't work but as soon as I use the other one, it works. So that's something im going to have to replace also.

I googled the HIREMS boot disk. Which one would I have to use? Im guessing one to clear the bios/cmos, but not sure which one.

Plaxiotic

Am sorry you don't know what you are doing, .. Consult a professional repair shop.