Alienware parts

TheCybermonkey

TheCybermonkey

TheCybermonkey

Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Posts
178
Location
Bournemouth
Hello,

Long story short, a friend has an Alienware laptop thats just over 2 years old.
In typical fashion, now its out of warrenty its been getting hot and finaly yesterday it would appear the gfx card(s) have died.

Hes spoken to Alienware who would not even discuss it with him as its out of warrenty.

Granted you wouldnt expect them to fix an out of warrenty machine for free but I would have expected maybe a repair or parts for some kind of fee. Especially as it billed as a bit of a 'premium' product etc Anyway...thats a whole other subject.

Had a google etc and think they are but couldnt find any uk stockests of parts and as Im not very clued up on laptop hardware, thought I would ask here for help.

Does anyone know if Alienware gfx cards are user replacable etc?

Is it a case of finding out card type and just buying a new one and putting it in?

Any help/guidence would be appreciated
 
It will not be cheap! First find out if it is removeable, just because its classed as premium, doesn;t mean it is. Take to bits, find graphics card. Then find part numbers to replace.
 
Hes expecting it to be pricey, but its better to fix it than have an expensive paperweight I guess.

Guess im going to have to just take the plunge and crack it open for him and see if it can be sorted.
 
What model is it? If you need any help I work in Ferndown and rip open laptops on a regular basis ;)

Edit - yes alienware normally use mxm gfx cards which are not difficult to get hold of but can be pricey.
 
Hello,

Model is M9700 and its running SLI 512 GFORCE Go 8700m GT.

Not had a chance to go and look at it yet to verify 100% that its the GFX card, but does sound like it probably is.

If I have no luck, may need to take you up on your offer Ninja :)
Got visions of me splitting the case in 2 or somthing daft!
 
Cheers for that.

Problem started a couple of weeks ago.
Machine was getting very hot and powering down after a short period of him playing WoW. (Believe he only has one card active for this as it plays up and he gets performance drop when running it in SLI mode).

He removed the bottom plate to increase airflow.
Machine worked fine like this so I told him that he should carefully clean any air ducts he could see etc.
He put the bottom plate back on and it was fine for a couple of days and then one morning he powered it up and there is no image on screen.

Hes checked that hes not nocked any cables/connectors and he said it looks fine.

When booting he gets the following:
Power light on
Wireless light on
HD drive light on
Fans trigger initialy and then power down.
Screen - Backlight doesnt appear to be on.

Originaly I was sure he said the backlight was on.
Thinking it could be screen prob and that the heat issue was seperate and due to it being a couple of years old and its airflow being so great..i.e. it sucks in a lot of air and therfore a lot of dust particles etc. He does smoke around it aswell.

But would the machine then not just boot up as normal, just no image?

The fact the fans start and then stop sounds like its not even booting up properly and he doesnt get any windows sound etc that would indicate that its booted but the screens broken and he cant see it.
 
Last edited:
hmm that doesnt sound too good! It could be motherboard if it powers up then down.
I guess he doesnt get any beeps?

It is going to be a bit of trial and error to track down the problem, but I would try one ram stick at a time to eliminate a ram problem. Then try unplugging 1 gfx card at a time to see if you can get it to boot. If it was just screen it would boot as normal so I think you can rule that out, if he wants to test he can attach an external monitor.

If you cant get the laptop to boot with either of the gfx cards (both burning out at the same time is very rare) then it sounds like a motherboard issue. Getting hold of one is going to be tough I am afraid
 
From what he said, I belive its powering up and staying on, its just the fans that kick in and then stop. Power/hdd/wireless lights stay on etc.

Ill try your steps and see how it goes.
Apparently the cooling system looks like a nightmare to take apart to get to the gfx cards....wish me luck :D

Expensive lesson lernt I guess....always buy the extended warrenty.
Still find it suprising that they wont fix it for a fee.
Then again I have not owned a machine that Ive not been able to fix myself so maybe im just expecting a level of service which isnt standard.
 
Usually with the cooling systems its just a few screws for the fan assemblies, then four screws around each cpu/gpu holding them in place. If you have any problems, take a photo and post it up.
Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom