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MarkJoel60
3 Posts
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2980
February 5th, 2021 13:00
17 R4, no power or boot
I have an Alienware R4 17 that has been running fine for a few years. I left it running most of the time on my desk. It went dark. When I go to power it up, I get nothing.
The Blue LED light at the end of the power cord is out. When I take it out of the laptop, and unplug it from the wall, and then plug it back into the wall, the blue LED comes on at the end of the jack. When I plug that into the laptop, it goes out again. I have two power adapters, and tried them both, but get the same thing. I have another Dell laptop, and both power adapters work fine there.
There is no power coming into the Alienware laptop.
I tried disconnecting the battery, and plugging it in again, but get the same results.
I took it to a local repair shop (I don't think its Dell certified) and he looked it over, called me back, and told me "Something is shorting out somewhere on the Motherboard" -- but he doesn't know where, and wouldn't know how to find it. Essentially, he is saying it is unfixable.
I find that hard to believe.
Is this something worth pursuing? Or is this laptop essentially Dead, RIP, forget about it?
2500
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Posted February 9th, 2021 06:00
@crimsom Thank you for the reply. The laptop is still at the "Can Not Repair" center, and I hope to get it tomorrow. I watched a disassembly video on the battery. It is a lot of steps (just to replace a battery...) but mostly unscrewing screws, which I can do. I'm a software guy, not a hardware guy, but it looked like something I can handle. Certainly worth giving it a shot! It's a great laptop when it is running.
Thanks again for the suggestion.
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Posted February 9th, 2021 13:00
When the adapter light goes off after plugging it into the laptop it's a tell-tale sign that there is a short on the system board (in my experience it is usually the GPU). The adapter trips itself for protection. I really hope this isn't the case for you though as it would usually mean replacing the motherboard.
With the older laptops you could unplug the main system components like the GPU, CPU, etc to see what part was causing the short but these components in your machine are soldered to the board. Unplug what you can and then test. Battery, RAM, SSD/HDD, network card, etc.
If the light stays on after removing these then you may have found the culprit. Plug each one back in one at a time between testing to see if the light goes off again.
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Posted February 11th, 2021 18:00
@mattyb3 Well, that's not encouraging.
I have the laptop back from the unrepair shop now, so I'll test it out this weekend.
I did finally get to find the service tag which is:
-- Made in 2017 Express Service Code: , if that makes any difference...
I'll try to see what I can and report back. Thanks everyone!
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Posted August 2nd, 2021 14:00
I'm having the exact same problem with identical diagnostics... so I replaced the DC input and sadly my problem is persisting.
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Posted August 2nd, 2021 14:00
Hi @MarkJoel60 did the "Can Not Repair" center find the fault and fix it? Hopefully your Alienware R4 17 is working.
Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you.
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]
crimsom
9 Technologist
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6114 Posts
2539
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Posted February 6th, 2021 07:00
Hi @MarkJoel60 welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support.
Do not bin the 17 R4 until we now what is happening. From your good description of the problem, it seems that the dc-in port on the side of the laptop has a shorting fault due to normal wear. Leaving the laptop working and unattended, you probably missed the warnings that battery is low and the laptop is going to switch itself off.
The dc-in port and cable is Dell Part No. 0K5M1 [Source] and search on the internet should reveal a genuine OEM replacement part for about US $40 [Source]. There could be a local Dell OEM part supplier near to your location.
The Dell Support Alienware 17 R4 Service Manual Replace Power Adapter Port provides the process. Visit YouTube to watch an Alienware 17 R4 disassembly/ assembly video [Example] to see how easy or difficult you think the process is. Then decide how you want the get the dc-in port and cable installed.
You should also think about replacing the main battery and coin battery as part of the dc-in port and cable installation process. However, as these parts are easy to access, you may decide to wait and see if replacing the dc-in port and cable is the fix/solution to get your 17 R4 working.
Please click on Kudos to say thank you for response from another user. Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you.
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]