X51 R3, lights on, no display

Question

Hello,

My (formerly) trusty X51 R3 froze on me. Not the blue screen of death and not a blank screen. It froze in the middle of me working inside several open windows and wouldn't unfreeze after a long wait. Also, Ctrl+Alt+Delete would do nothing.

I powered it down, let it sit a few minutes, then pressed Power.

The blue lights on the X51 R3 all light as expected. But after that, NOTHING. The lights stay on but the screen NEVER gets a signal (my CRT's light stays in the no signal white color), NO boot beep occurs, and I can let the computer sit in that state for 2 hours with no change.

The Alienware's colored lights remain on but zero activity. It doesn't even seem CLOSE to starting to boot at any point.

I tried a FEW times to turn it on and off 4 or 5 times in succession, fairly quickly, and the louder fan whirling occurs after a few rounds of that but nothing happens after that.

*In these helpful forums, I've seen LOTS of helpful advice once the beep happens, once the logo appears on the screen, etc. But I've never seen anyone with my problem: Console lights come on, stay on, but absolutely nothing else happens.

If this helps, it uses a single 512GB PCIe Solid State Drive for storage and OS. But I keep thinking it's not getting far enough in the boot process to even know to look for a disk drive.

I sure appreciate any direction you can give me.

Sincerely,

Greg Perry (Loyal Dell User for Years)

Dittos777 · Answer

Edits made to clear up any confusion. Greg

gebruikersnaam · Answer

is your problem solved? i have the same problem

Dittos777 · Answer

YES!Sadly, not after an embarrassment.I ordered a new power supply/brick power cord. You know, that heavy brick power cord. It did nothing new. Total ZERO on the machine.So, I'm out that money, although I'll sell it on eBay for a loss from what I paid. Still, better than complete loss. I unplugged it for a week and then plugged it back in. Nothing. By then, I'd gotten my laptop to a point where I could basically do my work on it, so I let the Alien sit for 3 weeks or so. I then called ThinkGeek, then Best Buy guys, to come out and fix it. The min charge was $125 I seem to recall. The morning they were to arrive, I plugged it in. Just for laughs, I pushed the power button. IT ALL FIRED UP LIKE NEW. I went through all Norton Utility tests, etc. No problems. Worked as well as the day before IT DIED ON ME. I'm a computer guy from way back. (Amazon still has tons of my now-outdated computer book titles, Greg Perry, and I know I can say that because they're so outdated there's no way Dell will think I'm selling something here! Like decades old.) Given my background, I'm no dummy with computers. THIS THING WAS DEAD. EXACTLY AS I DESCRIBED. AFTER A WEEK OF NO POWER ATTACHED STILL DEAD. Only after THREE weeks of no power attached did it change its mind and power on normally. I quickly called to try to cancel the in-home service call. They actually let me cancel without penalty the morning of the repair. But even more important, the man on the phone said this: 'This is common when computer mother boards are about to go out. You may have another month or 2 more years, but it will happen again. the next time it will probably power on again after some time. But one of these times, it won't.' I explained it was only about 3 years old and he said that's about the start of the end of them now. (THAT is horrid.) He said it's dryness in capacitors and this is a known issue with computers. He said the time unplugged eliminated the static that now easily builds up due to the motherboard's age. I asked why the full week unplugged from the power source didn't get rid of this static keeping it from powering on. He said a week often does it, but not always. He said to do this and I sure hope this fixes it for you @gebruikersnaam !!! - Unplug it for 48 hours. At the end of 48 or more hours, keep it unplugged and press the power button in over and over for 10-20 times. Not rapidly, not jarringly, just on and off as you'd do if you were turning it on and off. Then, press and hold the power button in for a minute or two. Then, he said the odds are great that it will start up without the multi-week wait. I have no idea if that would have 'fixed' mine originally, but it goes right along with the experience I had. PLEASE let me know if this gets yours up and running! Thanks, Greg Perry

Serqet · Answer

I've had this same issue on my X51 R3 for over a year. Plugging the unit in the power light is immediately solid. Not after turning it, after plugging it in the power light goes on and stays solid. I have a 2nd x51 R3 next to me with no issues. This one the power went out one night and it hasn't worked since. Turning it on, the pump all fans and GPU all start working but I never get a post, no beep codes no nothing. Just turns off on its own after a minute or two and the power light still stays solid. I've tried just about everything on it but nothing has helped. It was unplugged for months.

Alienware Desktops

X51 R3, lights on, no display

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