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Cwollaeger

2 Posts

15328

May 12th, 2014 22:00

Alienware M15X 260m to 460m upgrade, Now won't boot

Hi all, I recently decided to upgrade my 4yr-old m15x's graphics card from a nvidia 260m to a 460m (another old card I know but I'm on a budget), however after installing the new card my computer won't boot. The fans start and keyboard lights up, but the Scroll, Caps, and Num indicators are flashing. From what I have read, this indicates a faulty component, but I followed detailed instructions on how to reseat/thermal paste the new card. I have tried draining the power and removing the bios cell battery, but nothing changed. My Bios is A09, which is the one required to use the card. The only thing out of the ordinary was that due to the screw-seatings in the 460m being too small, I swapped out the X from my old 260m so that it could properly screw in to my heat sink. Does anyone have any idea what's wrong?

Jonas200

97 Posts

May 13th, 2014 10:00

Did you do any research before attempting the upgrade? Alienware use fairly 'closed' system designs which means you can't usually upgrade GPUs to a next gen model.

I'll be surprised to hear you could upgrade past the 285m model.

Cwollaeger

2 Posts

May 13th, 2014 13:00

Yeah I did a lot of research actually--about a year after I bought my laptop Alienware began offering the 460m as upgrades in the M15x, which was the same model. The 460m can use the same power supply, fits the slot and my heat sink, and is supported by the A09 bios version, which I have. I'm thinking that maybe I've just gotten a faulty card... also I read many other people's posts who did this successfully

Alienware-Naomi

1.8K Posts

May 13th, 2014 16:00

Hi!

Just to clarify. Yes, the GTX 560M is compatible with the Alienware M15X model.

You mentioned that all 3 LED lights are flashing:

The fans start and keyboard lights up, but the Scroll, Caps, and Num indicators are flashing.

This indicates that the problem is being caused by a faulty Motherboard according to the No Post LED Error Codes. Check the following article for more information. 

I recommend you test the computer with the original GTX 260M video card. If the issue persists it means the Motherboard needs replacing.  

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