NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware General › Area 51-5500 won't boot need help
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Area 51-5500 won't boot need help

post #1 of 17
7/13/06 at 11:15pm
Thread Starter 
Alright well after searching on the net for about a good 4 hours. and searching extensively on the AW website and even the manuals that came with it, as well as doing some hands on work I come up short. Heres my problem whenever I try to start my computer the battery LED blinks then the HDD or the Disc Drive (its the one next to the Battery LED below the touchpad) LED lights up and stays lit but then it just shuts off. Nothing else happens, I tried contacting AW over the phone and apparently my warranty just ran out last month. The guy suggested to me that I "clear" or "reset" my CMOS and that it might be a power problem. I opened my laptop up and checked for anything that is loose and nothing is loose or looks burnt or smells like anything is fried so it looks good. I checked the HDD and it looks perfect and connects in pretty good. I haven't seen the CPU yet but I doubt it burned up. So anyone have any info? Im getting desperate now and hoping that I won't have to shell out $400+ dollars to have the thing fixed. I used to love Alienware till now, you'd think a $2300 laptop would last at least 6 mos but apparently not. Any ideas suggestions please! thanks
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 17
7/14/06 at 1:46am
I agree with the Alienware guy. Try using a jumper to reset your CMOS, if that doesn't work I'm willing to bet it's a problem with the PSU.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 17
7/14/06 at 1:02pm
See if you can get another power supply and test that, it sounds like your battery is just dead.

There have been more than a few cases where something like this happened, and the problem was a short or something in the mobo (and it had to be replaced), so I hope it's just the power supply...
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 17
7/14/06 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 
How exactly do you fix this problem with a jumper? I mean I was on the AW website and I only found CMOS troubleshooting with like the Aurora or something that had you flip the CMOS battery upside down and insert it. Supposedly this reverse polarity cleared the battery, I tried that and still nothing. My "neighbor" in the dorm room just had this problem, he doesn't have a 5100 but a 7700 or something like that, its much bigger. Anyways he said his fan wasn't moving or something or wasn't powering up. How could I check this? Also when you guys are referring to the PSU you mean the AC adapter? or an actual internal PSU in the laptop? Thanks a lot for the info guys hopefully I can get all this done by the weekend.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 17
7/15/06 at 4:59pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone? I really need to know if this is the problem or if I need to start looking at bigger things.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 17
7/15/06 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
Alright well I gave AW another call today and they told me it could probably be my AC adapter. She said since the LEDs light up my mobo is probably fine which was worrying me the most. I had another look around in the mobo last night and took off the heat sink and fan and took a look at the CPU just in case. It looks fine other than some residue left behind by the pad and thermal paste on it. I guess Im going to take a look on newegg for a new AC adapter, not all that cheap but if it works then ill be more than glad.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 17
7/16/06 at 2:55pm
It seems your system is trying to boot, and it's getting stuck in the component checking process. Whenever you boot a computer, it takes inventory of the hardware, then if everything is working and reporting properly, it finishes booting.

Unfortunately, with what you're seeing could be anything from a bad mobo, to a single component that isn't working like a hard drive, or memory stick or even the vid card.

Since it's starting to power up, I doubt it's the AC adapter. Usually when I've seen this type of boot problem it's been the motherboard...

Did you ask what it would cost to send the system in to AW for testing and repair? They will repair your system, but you have to pay for shipping, parts and labor if you're out of warranty.

You might also consider taking it to a local computer repair shop and have them take a look at it. They may be able to diagnose what is causing the issue and repair it cheaper than it would cost to send to AW.

If you have no luck, check out http://www.excelcomputerinc.com/ . They repair AW systems and sell parts for them also.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 17
7/16/06 at 4:27pm
Thread Starter 
So what your saying is that its probably not a power issue? Heh well sending it to AW is out of the question for me, $250+ on shipping alone isn't worth it. Besides im going to be moving around a lot in about a month, going back home to TX, then going to Korea so yeah I need something where I can pick it up. If anything if I still haven't resolved the problem ill take it to a best buy and have them give me the run down of problems it has. I've been thinking of getting a new HDD with more capacity so I may get a bigger one and put it in and maybe that might actually fix the problem if it was caused by a faulty HDD. Also I don't know if it helps but about a couple weeks before this happened I reformatted my computer and put in a new fresh install of XP. If anyone has any more input please let me know thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 17
7/17/06 at 11:22pm
Thread Starter 
Alright ive been thinking of getting a new HDD but im not sure if my internal HDD is a 2.5 or 3.5. I would only be able to get PATA if my exisiting one is PATA correct? SATA would probably be out of the question, so anyways I was checking around on the samsung website and found this http://www.samsung.com/Products/Hard...0000245598.htm
Thats the brand of my HDD, I bought my laptop in late march to early April so this may be something that led to my problem possibly. I did do a reformat with a fresh instal of XP about a couple weeks before this happened.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 17
7/20/06 at 4:24pm
Thread Starter 
Heh well seems like im the only one thats going to figure out this problem. Alright I ordered a Western Digital HDD 80 gig this time around (so that way im upgrading from my 60 gig at the same time) and put it in and it seemed to actually turn on. Everything turns on and seems ok but the only thing is that I don't have anything show up on the screen. I put in the alienware disc that has XP and all the drivers in the drive and turned it on again and nothing. The disc sounds like its being read but then after a while it just stops and doesn't do anything, the power is still on and everything. I know this because I can hear the fan from the laptop and when I push the drive button on the side the tray opens up. So im guessing my motherboard is fine, the only thing I would think would be bad is that my RAM isn't sitting right or something. I did take one of the sticks of RAM out to check it and im not sure if its seated in real good, its kinda hard to put them in and know if they are in really good. Ill double check that, anything else that I should check?
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 17
7/20/06 at 5:06pm
sorry we haven't been much help...this is a tough one. I'd definitely suggest re-seating your RAM, or even removing 1 stick at a time and trying them separately.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 17
7/20/06 at 5:18pm
Yeah, put one stick in at a time and see if BIOS recognizes its full value and such. I want to help more, but really don't have any answers....
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 17
7/21/06 at 3:53pm
Thread Starter 
Well I tried the one stick of RAM at a time and nothing. After about a couple hours after I installed the HDD it decided to do the same thing which leads me to believe that its the motherboard or something associated with power. Theres probably a short somewhere. I checked on that sited posted on here and it looks to be like the mobo costs around $400-600 which is ridiculous since I already paid $2300 for my new paperweight. Hopefully I can fix it but if not then im just going to let it sit for a good while before I decided to fix it and just go onto building my own desktop from parts I CHOSE. This will definately be my 1st and last purchase I make from Alienware.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 17
7/21/06 at 5:01pm
deadfingers - this is a longshot, but I think it is worth you sending a PM to one of the Alienware reps who occasionally hang out here. Technically, AW does not need to help you, because apparently you only got the 90 day warranty. BUT - they have since made their basic warranty one year. Perhaps asking nicely for some consideration may get you somewhere...you might start with Alienware-Steve. You may not get an immediate answer, but give it a few days. Good Luck, and sorry you've had this problem with your system.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 17
7/21/06 at 7:36pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info man, I gave him a PM. Right now im pretty much doing anything possible that I can before I throw in the towel and give up and move on. $2300 is nothing to just throw away, especially when it takes a couple month's paychecks to save up for.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 17
7/21/06 at 10:28pm
Steve is awfully busy. AW-Fiachra helped me out greatly (Alienware-Fiachra maybe, not sure on user name). Steve was too busy to help me in June and AW-Fiachra in Ireland had a part DHL'ed to me from Ireland overnight express for free, I paid nothing for shipping/part and it was just an awesome experience. Shazza (as always) is right on top of things. See what the reps can do first.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 17
7/22/06 at 10:51am
Thread Starter 
Cool thanks for the info, I PM'd them both hopefully I get some good info from them. Thanks for your help.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Alienware General
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware General › Area 51-5500 won't boot need help