Help, my alien-ware just died on me

Question

Hi everyone

I was just playing some world of warcraft on my alienware laptop when suddenly the screen went black and the computer turned itself off.

When I now push the on button nothing happens. when I plug the power supply in the power socket then I have the blue light on the end that goes into the computer, also the supply unit makes a light hum, so that seems to be working.

But when I plug the power into the computer the blue light goes out and when I unplug it then it comes back on.

I was not working on batteries, battery still gives 5 white led's when I check.

It would be great if anyone could help me out, I really depend on my notebook ( and not only for WoW :-))

warm regards

Alex

ejn63 · Answer

Hopefully the system is under warranty - when the LED on the adapter goes out on connection to the notebook, the mainboard has a short circuit in it and will need to be replaced.

Call Dell for warranty service if it's under warranty.

Tesla1856 · Answer

Try a new or different Alienware laptop AC Adapter.

alexfromwa · Answer

Thx for the reply Could there be no other reason for this? because my notebook is only 2 years old and replacing the mainboard sounds very expensive:(((

alikatmassage · Answer

Did the replacing the power adapter work for you or are you thinking you will need to actually replace the motherboard?

AndrewSi · Answer

Hi Alikatmassage - I'm not guaranteeing this will work, and if it doesn't it's almost 100% a short circuit but you can try doing a complete power drain.

Not sure what model you have but it sounds like maybe a M17x R3 or R4

1. Disconnect power cord.

2. Remove main battery.

3. Remove rear cover.

4. Locate coin cell battery ( On M17x R3/4 it is just below the GPU fan - If you have a M18xR1/2 then you need to find a service manual as the whole laptop needs to be dis-assembled to remove the coin cell battery)

5. Remove coin cell battery

6. Hold down main power button for a slow count to 20

7. Just to be sure I usually wait 20-30 minutes before re-inserting coin cell battery and re-assembling laptop.

8. Once laptop is re-assembled turn it on, you will prob get 5 beeps firstly - Don't panic, it's just the CPU clock resetting, reboot computer again and see if this fix's your problem

Goodluck

AndrewSi · Answer

Sorry I forgot to add a very important part, make sure you are grounded BEFORE working on your laptop, a kitchen bench close to a water tap is a good spot, you can hold or touch the tap for a second or two to discharge any static you may have in you body, do this every few minutes to ensure you don't get any static buildup that will discharge into the computer and potentially do (further) damage

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Help, my alien-ware just died on me

Was this post helpful?