Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
9 Posts
0
30711
Help! Won't boot when master board plugged into power
Hey guys,
So my Alienware Aurora died the other day after a power failure, in the past it would happen and when pressing power it would just turn on and right back off after less than a second and wouldnt let me hit power until I unplugged it, plugged back in, and tried again. After 2-3 tries it would always start back up so I wasn't too worried about it although I felt something was coming - sure enough! Power went out the other day and I probably tried a good 15 times and no go, I unplugged everything except 1 cable (which I now know goes to the master board[not motherboard]) because it was a pain to get to and typically power supplies require something plugged in to start anyway, I bridged the green and a ground wire with a paper clip on the mobo connector to test if it would power on - same thing, so I thought it was the power supply. I bought a new alienware power supply online come to find that wasn't the issue :( So after testing everything I came to find that when the master board has the power plug in it from the PSU - it wouldnt boot. I got it to boot by unplugging that master board and quickly turned it off when I realized that's what powers not only all the fancy lights but also the CPU pump/etc... so before i go and buy a new master board I wanted a second opinion haha. I am NOT talking about the motherboard, I'm talking about the master board labeled MS-4194 v1.1.
Anyone have any other ideas or is it indeed the master board? I've had this for years now so wouldn't be surprised if it somehow got surged, throughout all this I also dropped a good 500 on 2 backup power supplies so when the power flickers as it sometimes does it won't cause issues and my office will stay online. I appreciate any feedback you guys could give! Thanks!!
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
June 21st, 2012 17:00
I took my machine apart today and finished writing these notes. See if any of this helps.
You said the Power Supply tests good, so it sounds like it's either the MIO-Board or motherboard. If you want to know for sure (before you order the MIO-Board) I think you will have to temporarily install a cheap HS/Fan cooler on the CPU and see if the motherboard starts acting right.
It would be cool if some hacked a little adapter cable that would convert the Alienware Asetek Pump/Rad-Fan cooler back to standard (so it could be plugged straight into standard MB_CPU_Fan header ... and maybe a Molex or Sata for power) ... but I don't think anyone has ever done that. I know a guy that retro-fitted a stock Corsair cooler onto AW-MB ... but I don't think that would help you.
MotherBoard Connections:
MB USB1 - MIO-Board (one USB channel for MIO, one for FlexBay)
MB USB2 - Front-Top Panel (2 x USB 2.0 Ports)
Front_Panel - Front-Top Panel (Power Switch, Power Light, HDD Light)
Front_Panel - BLINK header on MIO-Board (wires in parallel with others ... 2 wires on each pin)
Firewire - Front-Top Panel (1 Firewire port)
Audio - Front-Top Panel (analog heaphone and mic)
Chipset Fan
MB_CPU_Fan - 3-pins of the 26-pin cable that goes to the MIO-Board (MB_MIO)
MIO-Board Connections:
MotherBoard USB (MB_USB)
MotherBoard Front_Panel (BLINK)
MotherBoard MB_CPU_Fan (3-pins of the 26-pin cable that goes to MB_MIO)
Top Lighting Board 26-pin (MB_MIO)
FlexBay (USB Card reader)
BlueTooth Module
All exterior lights
Large case fans (temp. sensors might be on 3 large fans)
"Top Lighting Board" Connections:
CPU_Pump (Asetek Cooler) pump
Sys_Fan (Asetek Cooler) radiator or main system fan
CPU_Fan - No connection
Mem_Fan (small case fan in top for memory)
Arrow - "Rear of case" external white lighting with switch (to help view external connections)
---------------------
Either BLINK (Front_Panel) or MB_CPU_Fan is used to read "power status" of MB (off, on, or sleeping).
On the Aurora: The MIO-Board communicates through the motherboard's USB1 header connector. A 26 pin cable connects the MIO-board to the "Top Lighting Board" (CPU cooler, interior lights, and other devices are connected here). The MIO Board is powered by the larger 4 pin Molex power cable. The orange light is lit only if it's getting power and ready to operate (ie, it is connected to motherboard via USB cable to USB-1 header). Its actual mode of operation seems to be dependent on what it reads (the MB is doing) through the BLINK cable. If you have a Power Supply tester (or voltmeter), make sure the Molex plug has +12v and +5v DC on it.
Aurora turned Off (but still plugged into AC power)
---------------------------------------------------
MIO Molex - 0 volts
MIO Orange Light - Off
CPU Pump and Radiator Fan - Off
Aurora Turned On, but USB-1 Disconnected
----------------------------------------
MIO Molex - 5vdc, 12vdc
MIO Orange Light - Off
CPU Pump and Radiator Fan - On/Working (as verified with HyperPI and CPUID-HW-Monitor
Aurora Turned On, but USB-1 Disconnected, and MIO Molex power disconnected
----------------------------------------
MIO Molex - N/A
MIO Orange Light - Off
CPU Pump and Radiator Fan - Off/Not-Working
Hazey11
9 Posts
0
June 21st, 2012 18:00
Thank you very much for all that info Tesla. As you posted that I was testing with a different CPU fan/heatsink and the connector reference made it MUCH easier, that seemed to work fine (the non-standard CPU fan). The one thing I did not try was the USB on MIO unplugged with the power molex plugged in - just tried and same issue as before (starts for 1/2 second, turns off) so I'm thinking the MIO is just totally dead and not passing anything along for those fans to fallback to 100%, on a side note for whatever reason on my board the MIO was plugged into USB2. I also tried replacing the entire power cabling just to be sure, the power molex is showing the correct voltage.
Nothing on the MIO or top lighting board is getting power, one of which being the CPU_PUMP, the mobo on its own seems to be working flawlessly, everything plugged into that including the chipset is having no problem that fan is the one fan working. After being off all night the CPU was showing the correct frequency, I assume that discrepancy before was due to it overheating and falling back to a lower operating frequency? That's an assumption but could explain it. The memory was still showing 4GB but I have not tried pulling them out and putting in incrementally as suggested and I'm sure that'll work. Prior to trying with a normal CPU fan/heatsink when I turned on I could feel EXTREME heat coming off the processor/pump and in the tubes, mainly one which I assume is the outtake, I could tell that the water was not moving fast if at all, it seemed to barely move up the pipe and stop (the heat) I of course immediately turned off and let it cool down. So where is the fallback to 100% if the MIO is not operating? I assume that would be some kind of fallback ON the MIO to pass along at least the power since everything (being top lighting board/fans) is ran into there to begin with? I'm leaning towards the MIO just being completely fried and assuming that is the reason for no fans or the CPU Pump defaulting to the 100% as it should? What do you think? I found a MIO board for 20$ and can see what happens, hmmm!
Some more misc info:
MIO:
Power molex out, USB in
Orange light on
Power molex out, USB out
Orange light off
Both the above make no difference with the fans/cpu_pump - they stay off and seemingly unpowered.
Power molex in, any combo
Will not start/starts and stops within 1/2 second - fans jerk (only the ones NOT wired into the MIO aka the chipset fan)
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
June 21st, 2012 18:00
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
June 23rd, 2012 13:00
Have you had time to work on this?
I was just wondering how the motherboard (whole machine actually) is performing with the conventional HeatSink/Fan cooler (and MIO-Board completely dis-connected).