Area-51 R2, USBs not working

Question

I arrived home from a vacation and ultimately decided to turn on my September 2016 Area-51 R2. But, all power USB and HDMI coming out from the PC doesn't appear to power on, my monitor emptiness my mouse nothing my keyboard extinct. I tried replacing the CMOS battery but to no avail, tried swapping the GPU various times still nothing, tried a CMOS reset and still nothing. The PC itself powers on fine but all the USBs appear not to work whatsoever, I've never had this issue before and it seems to have just stopped working while I was away, and since my warranty has expired (September 2017), I can't contact support but I have sent a renew form. If anyone has had this issue before or has a fix please could you post a fix? Thanks in advance.

AxelSpace · Accepted Answer

Turns out it was the motherboard.

AxelSpace · Answer

Alienware Area-51 R2

Vanadiel · Answer

Sounds like a possible PSU failure. What model of Alienware is this?

Vanadiel · Answer

Try pressing the power supply diagnostic button 21, and see what light 22 comes back with. Manual

AxelSpace · Answer

I press button 21 and the green light turns on.

redxps630 · Answer

Is it just the USB or no video at all?  sounds like No POST if latter.  This model is known to have motherboard no post occurrences reported by multiple users.  try to find a spare working psu and simple video card that does not require 6 pin if available.  test mobo using the working psu to see if you can get any video from simple card.

AxelSpace · Answer

So there is no video and I get a message on my monitor saying there is no power coming from my PC, and all USB outlets have no power coming from them, as for the PSU It's weird that everything else works fine (Lights, Fans, etc) and just the USBs do not work, and I tried so far two video cards but still the same. I'm going to try to look into the PSU now.

redxps630 · Answer

I have a feeling that it is more likely mobo than psu.  if you have an old working 24 pin ATX motherboard you could also test the Area 51 psu using the old mobo.  If Dell psu can turn on old mobo and give video it would prove that psu is still working.

AxelSpace · Answer

So I'll try giving a different motherboard a go and see what happens.

Tesla1856 · Answer

First objective is to get into BIOS. Also to run (built-in) ePSA Diagnostics.

Disconnect everything except monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

You test Power-Supply with a Digital PC Power-Supply Tester .

If that passes, you have a more serious internal hardware problem. Not sure I would bother. If you do swap motherboard, it should be an exact Dell/Alienware Area-51-R2 motherboard (if you want all fans and lights to work in the end).

IIRC, Area51-R2 was the first Triad-shaped model.

AxelSpace · Answer

I would love to get into BIOS but the issue is that my monitor doesn't display anything and my mouse and keyboard do not power on. I will see if I can test the PSU with something lying around and not have to order anything, if the PSU appears to work fine then as you said I'll probably just get a new motherboard.

Alienware Desktops

Was this post helpful?