Alienware M11x R1 No Boot Issue

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

Hi Everyone,

First off, I appreciate any help anyone can give me. I'll be as clear and concise as possible!

I purchased an Alienware M11x off of Craigslist recently. I paid $80 for it (parts alone are worth it). The original owner stated that the motherboard was gone in it and needed to be replaced.

When I got the laptop home I noticed that a number of screws were missing and the ones that were in there weren't screwed down properly or in the wrong spots.
I've gone ahead and put the screws in the right spots but I am still missing about 7 total.

The laptop would not power on at all, except for once when it gave me 7 distinct short beeps, signifying that the cmos battery needed to be replaced. It only powered on to give me that error code when the screen was 80% shut and my hand was reaching in to press the button.

I've now purchased a replacement motherboard from ebay and installed it in the computer. With it installed now it is still not powering up. No lights, no sounds, nothing.

I have tried all the usual stuff like removing ram/swapping it, removing the hard drive, swapping it. Removing all other components, breadboarding the motherboard even. Nothing I do will make it power up.

Now normally I would say at this point that the motherboard is bad, but why would the old motherboard also not boot up?

I have checked the charger and it works fine, I have checked the battery, and it hold a good charge.

I'm at a total loss here of what to do or what may be wrong. Please help!

 

[USAFRet]

Alienware
From craigslist
$80
obvious signs of being taken apart before, and not being put back together properly
replacement motherboard from eBay

And now it doesn't turn on. Whoda thunkit?

There could be any one of a number of things wrong with this turd.
Stop throwing money at this thing. Either find the actual problem, or cut your losses and move on.

Start from the actual first action....the power switch. Move on from there.
Seriously. It could be anything.

 

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

Hey USAFRet, thanks for the reply.

Yep Alienware from Craigslist, I knew I was taking a chance when I bought it. But I do it quite often and usually its a stupid or simple issue. I usually buy them fix them and sell them locally to make a few extra bucks or use them in my business, so anything I spend on this thing isn't greatly affecting me, I completely understand its a risk, and one I'm willing to take. But I want to keep this one for myself so I don't mind putting a few bucks into it.

Ok, so Im going to test the power switch, on a normal desktop this would be easy enough, but on a laptop Im lost as to how I would test it.

This may be a stupid question but.... do you think that missing some keyboard and palmrest screws would prevent it from powering up? (It is possible that some of these screws also contact the motherboard)

 

[USAFRet]

If the wrong length screws are contacting the MB, yes, that may be an issue.

 

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

I've ensured that the correct screws are in the correct locations. There is nothing where it should not be. There is just sometimes nothing where there should be something

 

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

If anyone at all has any idea how it would be possible to test turn on a laptop motherboard I would be forever grateful!

 

[hitandmiss]

I have a similar situation OR maybe not so similar !!

My M11x will not power up by pressing the power button. For me to start it up I need to use a USB crisis disk.

Disconnect the battery

Disconnect power supply

Insert crisis USB . Hold down the end key and plug in the charger. System will beep after a few seconds, remove finger from end key.
System will flash the bios and start.
This may be a way to see if the motherboard is powering up.

IT does NOT answer my question - How can I get the m11x to power by pressing power button.
I've replaced the power board and cable. Once system is flashed and up and running I press the power button to power down, again no response. The power button is not doing anything.