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8 Posts
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65594
Laptop Power Issues
Hi, first time here and in desperation...
I have an Alienware M17x R3 laptop and it is having huge issues with power.
The computer will be fine one second saying it is 100% fully charged plugged in then in a second it will change to being run by battery not recognizing that it is still plugged in, then it will recognize it for a second then jump back to running only on battery - which jumps from 100% fully charged down to 7% low battery and in 1 minute the computer will shut down due tp no power.
I have updated the BIOS to A12 with no change in the problem, if anything it has gotten worse since I updated.
I have unplugged the computer and taken the battery out, held the on button to drain what charge remains before putting battery back in and plugging it back on charge - no change.
IF it is wanting to work briefly it will get to 8% charge then jump tp 100% Charged
I have had this laptop for 2 years now and my warranty has just expired... I don't know what is causing this problem whether it is the AC Adapter (250w), the battery, the DC port on laptop or the motherboard.
I would love any help as fast as possible :)
Thanks
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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January 8th, 2014 17:00
OK Changing this to resolved.
The issue that I had was solved by replacing all four things... Battery - Motherboard - Graphics Card - AC Adapter.
They ALL had their own part to play in the issue, unfortunately when all 4 have issues this is what you get.
If anyone else has this issue, DON"T hesitate to call DELL, the tech helped me out greatly when I had failed to get things working and I wouldn't have thought it was ALL four things.
Thanks to everyone that posted here for the help :)
AndrewSi
901 Posts
1
December 26th, 2013 03:00
Hi - Bad time to have problems, everyone is on holidays.
There are a few things you can try to help pin down exactly what the problem is.
1. Run the Dell PSA if possible (Hit the F12 key while booting and select the PSA test.)
2. Download and install alienautopsy, run it and check for errors.
If you can't do any of the above from lack of power then try.
1. Removing battery and use AC power only
2. Remove AC and use battery power only
3. Do a complete power drain (Remove battery and AC power, remove rear cover and remove coin cell battery, hold down power button for slow count to 20, I always wait an extra 20 minutes, to be sure, to be sure!!! Re-assemble laptop - NOTE; When you first boot after this you will get 5 beeps, don't panic, it's just the CPU clock resetting, hold down the power button and switch off the machine, then re-start, it will boot normally after this) Here's a link to the service manual, look under "Coin cell battery"
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_alienware_laptops/alienware-m17x-r3_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf
It could be a host of things ranging from faulty battery and/or AC power adaptor to faulty motherboard or perhaps even Alienware OSD software, so you have to start somewhere
Goodluck
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 27th, 2013 01:00
Tried to boot it up and my descrete graphics card is now [Not Detected]
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 27th, 2013 01:00
Hi,
I ran it on battery only - it died in matter of seconds.
I ran it on AC adapter only - it worked but I knocked it a tiny bit and it died
I did the F12 scan and it showed that the battery health is at 90% with 0% charge and it said my AC adapter isnt installed.
I did that complete power drain and nothing changed.
Could this be both AC adapter mess up and battery. Or motherboard?
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 27th, 2013 01:00
Oh and alien autopsy found nothing.
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 27th, 2013 02:00
OK sorry for the spam messages but something strange just happened that hasn't happened before.
I got a blue screen when I had my computer on for a little bit, the error was: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
does that help anyone?
It is now charging MORE than it has been, its currently at 11%, more than it charged before...
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 27th, 2013 18:00
Please it is now worse than ever before - it wont charge or recognise that the ac adapter is even in so battery cant run due to being flat so comp womt run
Where can I buy new motherboard, AC adapter and battery - I am going to replace all 3
wwallender
7 Posts
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December 28th, 2013 17:00
The power jack solder connection could be broken on the motherboard, that would explain why its not charging and shut down when you bumped it., You can get thoses for 8$ on ebay.
AndrewSi
901 Posts
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December 30th, 2013 18:00
Sanguinere - DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (also known as 0x0000009F) Usually but not always relates to your computer going into and out of sleep mode.
To try some of the fix's I have you will need to find a way to power up the machine, my first suggestion would be to try to (if you have not already) update your system BIOS to the latest version.
If that does not work a re-installation of your Display drives is the next step, not just un-install and re-install, but un-install, then restart computer, then run driver sweeper to clean out registry entries, then restart, then re-install your display driver (If using NVidia, tick custom install and then tick clean installation).
If after all of this nothing changes, or you find it impossible to bootup the machine then it may be time to investigate hardware failure.
May be a dumb question, but have you tried wiggling the power cord where it enters the laptop to see if theres a contact issue
Sanguinere
8 Posts
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December 30th, 2013 22:00
Done all of your suggestions Andrew, nothing did any good - leading me again to being a hardware issue - for which I have had a Dell Tech come to fiddle.
Replaced the motherboard and AC adapter so it now turns on and works however the issue remains of losing my NVIDIA GFX descrete graphics card and battery jumping from now 2% life to 100% charged.
Either the old AC adapter or motherboard had issues with the adapter not being connected because there has been 0 issues with that side of things after. However now the issue remains with losing the graphics card and the weird issue with the battery.
Thursday (2 days) will be testing with a new motherboard (again) / graphics card / battery to test if it is fixed or not.
AndrewSi
901 Posts
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December 31st, 2013 09:00
A complete re-installation of the OS and drivers in the CORRECT ORDER may help this, Alienware OSD sometimes does strange things with the battery, and a fresh install of your O/S, display drivers ect with possibly fix the problem or at the very least eliminate a few others