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Battery or power supply problem

post #1 of 14
2/18/07 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
I have a power supply fault with my Area 51M 7700.

At first the laptop switched to running on battery whilst plugged in. Once the battery became low it started switching between AC and battery every second or so. I shut the machine down once it started doing this. Now when I try to boot up the power dies after a couple of seconds as if the AC isn't connected and the battery is dead.

I tried running the laptop without the battery in (does anybody know if this is even possible?) and the machine wouldn't power up at all. Does anybody have an idea if this is a battery or power supply issue? The light does come on on the transformer.

Machine is out of waranty, so can't get Alienware to speak to me.
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post #2 of 14
2/18/07 at 3:07pm
Your motherboard just fried. The laptop COULD run from battery it seems, if it had enough power.

You need a motherboard replacement.
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post #3 of 14
2/18/07 at 5:17pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply - even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear!

I'm pretty sure the computer would run on battery if I had any charge left - can it do this if the motherboard is fried?
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post #4 of 14
2/18/07 at 6:50pm
maybe the part connect your PS to laptop is broken or your PS is dead
but i'm sure your MOBO is working
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post #5 of 14
2/18/07 at 7:14pm
Simular thing was happening to my D900 (Sager 9860/Alienware 7700). The laptop would randomly switch between battery and outlet when it was plugged in. Then it stopped charging the battery. Then it stopped runnin on battery power. Then it died.

Its a massive flaw with this line of notebooks. They ALL turned out to be lemons. Its only the power supply on the motherboard that fried. Sadly, you need it to run the notebook. You need a new mobo to get the machine up and going again. Sorry.
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post #6 of 14
2/24/07 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 
Have taken the laptop into a shop for diagnostics and repairs. Will let you know what the outcome is
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post #7 of 14
2/24/07 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shalamar
Simular thing was happening to my D900 (Sager 9860/Alienware 7700). The laptop would randomly switch between battery and outlet when it was plugged in. Then it stopped charging the battery. Then it stopped runnin on battery power. Then it died.

Its a massive flaw with this line of notebooks. They ALL turned out to be lemons. Its only the power supply on the motherboard that fried. Sadly, you need it to run the notebook. You need a new mobo to get the machine up and going again. Sorry.

Don’t say ALL turned out to be lemons. I received mine January of 2005 and I have only had one stick of RAM fail (Samsung's fault). I just was 1GB short for a couple weeks before the new stick arrived. I'm still running strong! I only hope it doesn’t wait to die 2 days after the warranty runs out...
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post #8 of 14
2/24/07 at 8:13pm
Going by your video card upgrade Tokamak7700, I believe you had to upgrade your motherboard to accomplish this, if so, then in all fairness you bailed out before yours became a paper weight too.
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post #9 of 14
2/24/07 at 8:32pm
Technically, Its the machines with the 6800go, and 6800 ultras with the older mobos that were lemons. Yours, with the 7900 is of the better and improved.

Mine (a Sager 9860, not a alienware branded one) is now sitting in pieces after I tore it all apart when it died.
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post #10 of 14
2/24/07 at 9:48pm
God, now you guys are scaring me. I've had my 7700 almost 2 years and its worked perfectly :knock on wood: . I've had no problems, though i do baby it. The only weird thing is that there is some weird grounding issue when i connect the usb cable from my printer to my laptop while its plugged in. Its just some small sparks when the metal of the cable touches the case, though its strange cause i thought the outside of the laptop was just painted plastic.
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post #11 of 14
2/24/07 at 9:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Garfieldww
God, now you guys are scaring me. I've had my 7700 almost 2 years and its worked perfectly :knock on wood: . I've had no problems, though i do baby it. The only weird thing is that there is some weird grounding issue when i connect the usb cable from my printer to my laptop while its plugged in. Its just some small sparks when the metal of the cable touches the case, though its strange cause i thought the outside of the laptop was just painted plastic.

Mine didn't make two years. And yes, you may be one of the lucky ones. Watch the power consumption. Early indicators are odd issues with the power lights, and bizzare battery behavior. Its thought that its a combination of overheating caused by the desktop CPU, and improper power. Most people where their d900's died, reported a burning smell when it happened, and scorch marks on their motherboard.

You might want to jump the gun, and see if you can upgrade to the nvidia 7900 video card. it would involve a mobo repacement to the newest version which, as of yet, has few of those issues reported.

Read the various boards on the sager 9860/9880, the alienware 7700's and a couple others (all the same base unit), and there are more and more people reporting dead machines. .
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post #12 of 14
2/24/07 at 10:31pm
I do remember alot of BSOD and overheating the first 2 months before I discovered GetThermal. But after I found GetThermal I watched the temps constantly so the system was very stable. Even with GetThermal, GPU temps were approaching 80C in BF2 so I only assume that it would have been a matter of time before the system finally gave in. My thermal habits where probably better than most 7700 owners. I was the type that launched GetThermal and adjusted the trip points immediately after starting XP so it would idle 10C cooler (little noisier). I’m sure this helped the system to stay cool enough, even through my excessive OC’ing. ^_^

You can call me a 7900, but I’m still a 6800 at heart.
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post #13 of 14
3/6/07 at 1:49pm
Thread Starter 
Just got the laptop back from the shop. It is a motherboard fault. Time to get searching for parts I think. FYI the laptop made it to the ripe old age of 2 years.

Thanks for your comments
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post #14 of 14
3/6/07 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueline
Just got the laptop back from the shop. It is a motherboard fault. Time to get searching for parts I think. FYI the laptop made it to the ripe old age of 2 years.

Thanks for your comments

The only place I know of that sells clevo parts is rjtech.com. Try them.

I understand clevo is eliminating the intel version of this laptop, so you may want to consider installing the AMD motherboard and a dual core AMD processor. You'll also be able to upgrade the video card and end up with a much faster system.
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