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General discussion

Alienware Area 51m laptop dead?

by TheChodja Dec 10, 2009 1:16AM PST

This is an old laptop that died on my a couple of years ago. I drug it out of the closet and I'm wondering if it can be salvaged because I'd rather not pay Alienware an enormous amount of money just to get it fixed.

I don't remember the specs.

I left it running one night (I have a habit of running my PCs/Laptops for elongated periods of time) and I believe there was a thunderstorm. The next morning, it wouldn't turn on.

I hit the power button and, before, the LED around the power button would turn on and then fade out, and I -think- the hard drive spun a little. Now, it does nothing.

Thing is, there's a built-in CD player. It can be turned on when the laptop is off and it takes over the DVD player. It still works, as well as the speakers, and the LED that notes the AC adapter's plugged in as well as the battery charging LED.

So, would the motherboard be fried in a singulated spot, could the power supply not have enough power to start the system (desktop processor, I imagine it needs a little umphf), or can it have something to do with the power switch board?

Any help would be appreciated, I'd like to get it running again.

Discussion is locked

1 Posts

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Let's say it's a fried spot on the motherboard.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Dec 10, 2009 1:59AM PST

Since all the signs point to motherboard issues all you need to know is that no one is repairing motherboards beyond the LAPTOP JACK issue (see google.)

So price out a board and see if anyone has the same model on Ebay but with a cracked screen but a good system for you to put your good screen on.
Bob

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