Area 51 r2 - swap to a new motherboard, is it possible?

Gman did it right?

Right. Dude over on Arena who gave you an opinion has A-51 R2 confused with R1.

At any rate, yes, all of your 6 grfx-cables & both of your 8pin Cpu-type cables are designed to plug into the 8pin rows 1-8, they plug in anywhere, it's your choice. Your cpu-cables have 4+4 device-ends, those plug into your Cpu_Pwr1 & Pcie_pwr1.

Cpu_Pwr1, Pcie_Pwr1 & your Grfx-cables only use 12volts & ground, rows 1-8 provide that. You're set, you have the right type of power supply which has all the right cables. hurry & plug in, document what happened with photos Gaudio

wow great feedback man! Yes! Sounds AND look good. So..just to be sure.... : I use the two 4+4 CPU cables: in the PSU they go in on of the 1-8 8-pin slots on the right of your picture. Then 1 goes in the mobo PCIE_PWR1 and 1 goes in the mobo CPU_PWR1, am I right?

Somebody on a other forum said that an after market PSU like the 1200i won't work on a Area 51 R2, but that isn't true right....... And alienware self told me it should work, but just curious.. I haven't hooked it up obviously :-) 

and here the pics! 

the first molex that connects with the old PSU

the little 'mobo-thing' ;-) 

the SATA in the disc-drive with 2 cables in it: 1 mini sata to the mobo and 1 little wire that goes to the molex that connects to the other molex from pic 1... 

Ok great! 1 last issue (ps. *** you know much about this stuff ;-)) ..... The molex cable.... there runs one 6-pin in the old PSU to double molex (see pic) --> 1 molex goed in the front little "mobo-thing" (I REALLY don't know what it is... see pic) --> other molex goes into an OTHER molex cable which connects trough SATA to the disc-drive and back from the SATA in the disc-drive to the original MOBO... (see pic too).

How on earth am I gonna do this with my cables that came with the AX1200i .... ? There a a couple molex cables and SATA cables which connects with a 6-pin to the AX1200i (but you know that ;-) ) 

haha, thanks in advance....I owe you! 

wait, maybe this cable? It is a 6-pin to 4 molex cables... I can connect one of the 4 in the "mini-mobo-thing" and on of the others into the original molex --> THAT connects to the disc-drive and mobo trough mini SATA, am I right? 

I was unavailable, I'm online now. You would have sorted through your new pouch & cable assortment looking for the best candidate molex & sata cables to run your devices. You should have cable-type you need to run your daughterboard, dvd & hard drives (all your peripheral eqwipment).

However you are there & I am here, I can not say why your pc won't boot up & simply dead-clicks. It is possible you bumped some other non-power-supply cable loose, so make sure all of your other connections are seated, also make sure all of your psu cables are seated in the front panel & to their devices (mthrbrd especially). Report back.

well...... Everything is installed.. but the PC won't boot.... :-S just a 'dead' click.... I installed the molex like the last post... 

PS .. gman got it to work indeed with the ax1200i.... But he has a third party mobo.... Maybe it doesnt work at all after all.....

hmmmm ok.... I will try that ! It is very late in my country right now, so I'll try tomorrow ;-) I'll keep you posted! Thank you very much for your great help so far Cass-Olé!!

Gaudio, how should I put this ...

there is nothing 'special' about your old 850watt, nor anything 'special' about your new 1200watt; 'a power supply is a power supply'.

• you can drop ax1200i in your R2 just as sure as I dropped the R2 1500watt in my R1

the guy who sold me his 1500 did so because of a fresh psu swap in his R2; he traded up to an EVGA 1600watt, and it worked, I asked, I asked why he pulled out the 1500 for, he swapped it out ...

if you're having a start-up issue, you might unplug all cables from your machine at the device-ends, leave your cables connected to the power supply, 'jump-start' the psu 'on' using a paperclip or similar jumping-tool, make sure it turns on. When it does, power down & hook your cables back up to your Alien, try again after going over your case and making sure all, every-last connexion is tight & seated:

@ 1min 45second mark:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqPTD6LXQsg
• your wires are all black, he's jumping pin #16 & #17 together
• 16 = Power Supply On
• 17 = Common / Ground

the 850w & 1500w R2 power supplies, there's nothing special or different about them. If there was, I would not have been able to drop the 1500w R2 psu in my R1:

• The ALX-Files: A Triad of Power Supply Swaps. Area-51 Aurora XPS 730x ... How to Make an Area-51 R1.44 Using the r2's New 1440w Delta ... Lessons In the PSU Swap Done Right
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19618380

I've gone over the 1500w & R2 cable-set thoroughly, which helped me make the color front panel pinout I posted earlier.

Like Donovan posted, the board & power supply aren't 'custom', they are standard parts:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-urlcdzvgA
• @ 10min 30 seconds

Hi, I posted this one also on the Arena forum, but also here for the record..

Hi guys! I've put the original 850w back in, just to be sure and test it, everything just boots up directly and fine... There's also nothing wrong with the AX1200i itself, it has a test-button and that lights up green instantly. Class-Olé: maybe use a 8-pin to 8-pin PCIE cable for the PCIE_PWR1 slot in the motherboard? Instead of the 8-pin to 4+4 CPU cable? I can try to put everything back in, but it is so strange... I pushed every cable in the connectors just fine.. Just for the record, I'll write everything down that I connected:

- 24-pin to 24-pin cable to the mobo (that CANT go wrong ;-) )

- 8-pin to double 8-pin PCIE cable to the GTX980Ti

- 8-pin to 4+4 pin CPU cable to the CPU_PWR1 input in mobo

- 8-pin to 4+4 pin CPU cable to the PCIE_PWR1 input in mobo (maybe here a 8-pin to 8-pin PCIE cable??)

- 6-pin to 4 SATA conncections cable : 1 SATA in the 2TB HDD

- 6-pin to 4 SATA conncections cable : 1 SATA in the 120GB SSD

- 6-pin to 4 MOLEX connections cable : 1 female MOLEX in the daughterboard and 1 female MOLEX in the EXCISTING male MOLEX cable that splits into a mini SATA for the mobo and SATA for the DVDdrive

I hope this is a little more clear now...and maybe somebody sees what I am doing wrong... 

try to power on without a Cpu 8pin in the  Pcie_Pwr1 port, if no good, reinsert it, & as you are pressing the front power on button, grab your 24pin and 'jiggle it', looking for a loose-wire or bad connection (perhaps one of the pins isn't making good enough contact).

You did good by puting the 850w back in to test the systems various wiring.

All of your cables you inventoried look correct.

The only cable that will fit into the Pcie_Pwr1 port is a Cpu 8pin:

• grfx 8pins (6+2) are keyed differently, they won't fit
• grfx 8pins only have three 12volt wires & five grounds
• Cpu 8pins have four 12volt & four grounds wires

There is nothing different or special about your 850watt, the original cables or the motherboard. I've gone over my R2 case harness / cable set, visually & with a voltmeter & there is nothing different about it compared to ax1200i or any other power supply for that matter.

- there's nothing unusual or mysterious about this set of cables, they're typical industry standard parts -

So long as the mthrbrd 24pin, Cpu 8pin & grfx cable is hooked up, a system has the basics & should turn on. If you hooked everything up right, & all you get is a dead-click, perhaps exchange your ax1200i & try a different one.

You have the option to do the paper-clip power-up test (check for spinning fan) & from there take a voltmeter to it (or buy a power supply tester). I won't admit the R2 mthrbrd can not have a different (non-Dell) power supply since I've already tested my 1500watter here & it isn't special nor has to be inside R2 to work; I'm almost at a dead-end to offer further help if the system won't power on unless you try a different power supply.

A test-procedure like this by-passes the FIO board & power-on switch. In your situation, that means removing power from the FIO board, backing the connector off of the mthrbrd #22 header, looking for pwr sw +/- & quickly shorting the pins. Youi do not have to try it, but I post it here for others who might try it:

• How to turn on a computer without switches or buttons
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKHfW8emEpY
• How to Jump A Motherboard Without Power Button
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuPZlliGqBw