laptop shut off, ...alienware Options

[hydeuphonium]

so i was playing LOTROnline right, and boom.. laptop shuts off.

no signs of life either. laptop will not turn back on and no lights come on.

power supply light is on but blinking and making a clicking noise.
usually i'd see a light on the led panel on the laptop when the power supply is plugged in, but nothing.

so i called alienware.... just to see what they'd say... and some foreigner who talked fast and incoherent at times said that i needed to get a new video card... lol.

so i hung up on him, because its OBVIOUSLY a POWER issue and nothing about the video card...

i think that the laptop won't turn on because the power supply is done for. and while playing LOTR online, my laptop battery lost charge and when it was totally gone... shut off.

anyways... thats' what i'm hoping.

damn power supply costs $115...

if anyone can find me a cheaper one... not ebay... unless new... then I would appreciate it.

the model number is: 0405B20220
the output is 20V and 11A.

Thanks guys.

[Aaron]

Goddamn, $115 for a laptop power supply? Surely you can find a cheap-o, third-party one for cheaper than that. Holy hell.

[Billy]

I have had my video card blow on me and my computer wouldn't turn on. So it might just very well be your video card, and not your power supply.

[zetec]

if you have any sort of warranty, you should be able to get it fixed under that. I've had more or less the exact same problems twice on my Inspiron 9100, which has a 150W power supply (size of a fucking brick). I just called 'em up, they shipped me a box with a new one (after 47 minutes on the phone each time with "Dave"... yeah, sure, dave... from bangladesh.) and i shippe'd 'em back the old one. The second time it happened, they actually shipped me a newer version of the power supply (this time with a sexy blue LED!), as apparently they had to make a revision since it happened often.

However on mine, the LED on the power supply wouldn't come on after they blew, but that's really just about how the power supply is designed.

And for alienwares, I'd be wary of a third party adapter. If it's anything like my dell, and it probably is, (super high wattage) then you're gonna want OEM. Come to think of it, I've never even seen a third party 150W supply.

My first DESKTOP had a 150W power supply.

[jonathan83]

it isn't necessarily the power supply. it could also be the motherboard or video card that could cause that problem.
plus, you said you were playing a game, so your video card could've overheated and screwed up. i'd call them again and see if they say its the video card again. if so then that's probably what it is.

[hydeuphonium]

if it helps any with determining the problem, none of the power lights on the laptop come on at all.. there's usually a yellow light on the laptop that turns on when i have the power supply plugged in, even while the laptop is off.

i'd hate to have to go through alienware to fix this problem if i could just get a new power supply and be done with it.

thanks guys.

[impala454]

i'd hate to have to go through alienware to fix this problem

anyone missing an alienware laptop lately?







jk

[jonathan83]

i wouldnt get the power supply unless you know you can take it back if that's not the problem.

you could just take it to some local repair shop just for a diagnosis on what the problme is. might cost $20-50 though.

btw when did you get an alienware? you sure have moved up ever since that e-machine, haha

[zetec]

it isn't necessarily the power supply. it could also be the motherboard or video card that could cause that problem.
plus, you said you were playing a game, so your video card could've overheated and screwed up. i'd call them again and see if they say its the video card again. if so then that's probably what it is.

if the light isn't going on on the power supply, then no, it's pretty much the power supply, at least if it's anything like most power supplys they make nowadays. most of them, the light turns on just when it's plugged into the wall, doesn't matter if the laptop is plugged in as well.

[jonathan83]

if the light isn't going on on the power supply, then no, it's pretty much the power supply, at least if it's anything like most power supplys they make nowadays. most of them, the light turns on just when it's plugged into the wall, doesn't matter if the laptop is plugged in as well.

yeah, but even when a laptop isnt plugged into a power supply, it should have a light turn on when pressing the power button (even if the battery is dead). so yeah, it could be the power supply, but if no lights on the laptop are turning on, then it could be more than that. the p/s could have affected the motherboard somehow.

travis, why dont you just take it to some place where they sell power supplies and ask them if you can try one to see if it works? (say you'll buy it if it works). then if it does, just say you'll be back later when you have money or something. and if it doesnt, you could take it somewhere for a diagnosis.

[hydeuphonium]

I took my system to arlington so my girlfriends dad could look at it. He's a web tech for a school over there...

anyways... determined it wasn't the power supply or the battery.
Figured it was either the Motherboard or the Vid Card.

I just got home from the trip back and decided to try to see if it would turn on without the vid card in the laptop.

I plugged it into the power supply without the video card installed and lights came on like normal!!

and it went back to not doing anything when i reinstalled the vid card.

So, does this mean that the video card is at fault here or should i be concerned about something else, just in case???

[zetec]

in that case, probably the video card. try another video card/laptop? (if you can find one.)

Lucky you Alienware has those upgradable laptop videocards. You're probably due for an upgrade, amirite or amirite?

[chook]

check the capacitors on the video card. Sounds like a short to ground on the card to me. The video card still might be ok if its that. I suspected it wasn't the power supply because of atx specs.

[hydeuphonium]

check the capacitors on the video card. Sounds like a short to ground on the card to me. The video card still might be ok if its that. I suspected it wasn't the power supply because of atx specs.

How do I check the flux capacitors??

[zetec]

first you have to realign the deflector dish to generate an inverse tachyon beam.

This post has been edited by zetec: May 21 2007, 03:31 PM

[chook]

look to see if the electrolytics look blown. Sometimes they use really crappy ones whose breakdown isn't that high.

[James]

look to see if the electrolytics look blown. Sometimes they use really crappy ones whose breakdown isn't that high.

Chuck, I know this may be hard to believe, but you're still not talking in layman's terms yet. Unless the OP is an EE, too, then nevermind and he should know wtf you're talking about.

[HMWH]

what brand laptop?

Dell had a problem with their power supply on some models.

They recalled quite a few of them. Most of the people in my office had to get new power supplies

[James]

He has the Alienware 7700 220W AC Adapter and is using one of the following computers:

• Alienware Area-51m 7700
• Alienware Aurora m7700
• Alienware MJ-12m 7700
• Alienware MJ-12 m7700a
• Alienware MJ-12 m7700i

Don't see a recall on that adapter though.

[zetec]

doesn't dell own alienware now though?

[James]

Yes, but they're still Alienware branded.

[hydeuphonium]

I could not find the electrolytics on the video card, I'm not sure what they look like,

But it does look like the thermal grease on the gpu is lacking...


btw... does anyone know if there is a place where i can buy a Geforce Go 6800??? Alienware apparently doesn't "distribute" them anymore... annoying...

or should i just sell the remaining parts on the laptop and be smart and build my own desktop...

[zetec]

thermal grease: less is more.

just FYI.

[hydeuphonium]

So, after alot of bitching... Alienware "found" a small batch of go 6800 ultra vid cards.

So, $430 later.... atleast my laptop will work again!

[zetec]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Nvidia-Geforce-Go...1QQcmdZViewItem

You are bidding on a used Nvidia Geforce Go 6800 Ultra. It works perfect. I upgraded my video card to a 7800 GTX. Has 256mb of ram built in. Only serious bidders.

Bid: $1. Shipping $10 to the US. 5 Days left. 1 bidder.

[hydeuphonium]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Nvidia-Geforce-Go...1QQcmdZViewItem
Bid: $1. Shipping $10 to the US. 5 Days left. 1 bidder.

this one is a different model from the one i am getting...

[zetec]

oh.

well FINE.

be that way.

THPPPPT!

[hydeuphonium]

I got the card today, and the laptop was able to turn on.. it wasn't the exact same version.. mine is a 204 and AW sent me a 205.. the voltages looked different.. 204=V1.2C 205=V1.5C

The laptop will not load past the Windows logo screen and then it gives a quick blue screen of death and restarts the system.

I have been told that reistalling XP should be the last option, so i want to see if there is something else to try.

PLEASE HELP

Any help will be appreciated.

[James]

Tried booting in safe mode? You might be trying to run video settings that the new card doesn't support.

[impala454]

unless you have software or documents you can't lose, doing a clean install of windows should be your first option, not last. it's easy to do if you have the disc, just boot off it, follow the directions, and delete your partitions and create a new one. you might have had a virus.

[zetec]

if you can't boot to safe mode, stick in your XP install disc and when the install starts choose "repair".

should re-copy all the windows files and it think it kills your registry (well, merges default registry with old registry)

I'm not 100% sure on all that, i ususally just reformat anyways

[hydeuphonium]

Hey, it works now, i was able to get to the BIOS, and after reseating the hard drive didn't make a difference, I changed the setting from RAID to ATA, and that did the trick.

Can anyone explain why that worked and not RAID. I don't think it was different before the video card died...

oh well...

back to gaming!