Alienware M17-R1 Won't go past logo, it loops!

[vr6rafal]

Hi All.

I normally don't post questions like these but i'm stumped.

I have an Alienware M17-R1 with a weird problem that I haven't seen before. It doesnt boot into Windows, it won't go past the Alienware logo, all it does is shows up the Alienware Logo then loops over and over as if it restarts but not exactly, the screen goes black for a second then logo reappears again, and again...

It won't boot from CD drive or Hard Drive but it will stay in BIOS all day long if needed.

I'm able to go into BIOS and make any changes i want, I reset the bios to default config, I changed the boot config but nothing helped.

I cleared the CMOS, still same.

I changed memory sticks, used my sticks, still same

I changed out the video card as we have compatible cards since we do a lot of Alienware laptops, but still same.

I removed the hard drives trying to boot from CD, but nothing.

I can't imagine it being motherboard or CPU, but running out of things to check.

Any Ideas?

 

[frenchscottie]

Can you start the Pre-Boot System Assessment (PSA) Diagnostics by pressing
F12 once a second. You could give it a try and see what it says.

 

[NYJimbo]

Just had one last week and a few weeks before. Be aware that this machine has a very high mortality rate from overheating. First thing to do is check both fans for how badly clogged they are. This will give you an idea if heat might have done something to it.

The last one had a bad video card, replaced it and then it was powering on and off. The one before would do pretty much the same thing you are seeing.

It can be the mobo, video card, ram or a combination. You can find many people with similiar issues on this model (a few others look just like it but have different numbers). Its just a big laptop with too much going on and not enough proper venting.

Try to run internal or cd diags, but if you cannot its a pain in the ass to diag otherwise.

Check out what this guy did to his:

http://granyte.blogspot.com/2011/07/alienware-m17-r1-customized-back-cover.html

 

[granyte]

I have been sumoned here....

well almost i'm the guys who's blog has been linked

i didnot do this modification out of need but out of paranoia because i'm an overclocker. ps: it resulted in a too cool gpu crash with other mods i did

and i have to say a couple things honestly this laptop has a very very low over heating failure rate unlike it's predecesor the area-51 m17x (or other laptop in the same class/ price range arhem asus w90)

also the m17-r1 gpu is insanely heat resistant during last sumer one of my fans died and i ran 1 complete month on passive cooling the gpu handeled the heating quite well the temp was permanently in the 80

my master gpu just died 2 month ago and my laptop could still boot to windows only then screen teearing started only once or twice did it fail before getting into windows and even then the screen tearing issue was very obvious

and at this point with my experience and the test you have done i would start to think it's the mobo or a bad flash

on the whole laptop the mobo has always been the weak link and there were not manufactured even, some of them could handle running quad cores while others would act like if they were power starved when ever yu plugged somethign else then a core2

sorry if the post iss messy it's a bit late and i'm tired ill try to put some order in it tomorrow

 

[NYJimbo]

and i have to say a couple things honestly this laptop has a very very low over heating failure rate unlike it's predecesor the area-51 m17x (or other laptop in the same class/ price range arhem asus w90)

also the m17-r1 gpu is insanely heat resistant during last sumer one of my fans died and i ran 1 complete month on passive cooling the gpu handeled the heating quite well the temp was permanently in the 80

We had two die from heat. Not very heat resistant if you ask me. Not sure why you would go through all the trouble to do that much work on it just for just fear of it dying. Likewise that video card IS a nightmare, just google "m17-r1 not booting" or similiar searches and you will see it has a long history of failures like this. You also say one fan died, then your "master gpu" died and the you complain that the motherboard is not very good, but you still say this laptop has a low failure rate. You even acknowledge that the OP in this thread probably has a motherboard that died. Whatever...

 

[granyte]

the mobo has a very high failure rate but it's not related to heat it's related to power the power desing was cheap from the begining how ever most people could run core2 perfectly fine.


i had my gpu fan die but it was a phisycal part that broke i got replacement part after a month and both gpu survived and it's only one year later that my master gpu died and and i just flashed my slave 4850 to master. and i'm still looking to "bake" my master back to life.

as far as i know the m17 gpu are heat resistant enough that thier gpu were often used to replace the 8800g that it's predecesor came with.


I did the modiification out of pleasure because i love overclocking (i ran a core2 extreme at 3.7) and i was curious how much i could drop the normal operating temperature. Note that this modification is not the only one if you look back on my blog i even toasted the mobo once with a bad flash from a custom bios i also modified my gpu vbios.

and ps when we google m17-r1 not booting we get result mixed with m17x-r1 not booting bot laptop are very diferent beast

 

[NYJimbo]

the mobo has a very high failure rate but it's not related to heat it's related to power the power desing was cheap from the begining how ever most people could run core2 perfectly fine.


i had my gpu fan die but it was a phisycal part that broke i got replacement part after a month and both gpu survived and it's only one year later that my master gpu died and and i just flashed my slave 4850 to master. and i'm still looking to "bake" my master back to life.

as far as i know the m17 gpu are heat resistant enough that thier gpu were often used to replace the 8800g that it's predecesor came with.


I did the modiification out of pleasure because i love overclocking (i ran a core2 extreme at 3.7) and i was curious how much i could drop the normal operating temperature. Note that this modification is not the only one if you look back on my blog i even toasted the mobo once with a bad flash from a custom bios i also modified my gpu vbios.

and ps when we google m17-r1 not booting we get result mixed with m17x-r1 not booting bot laptop are very diferent beast

Ok, you want to be a fan boy, that's your business. Meanwhile everything is pointing to the machine failing due to heat. You say the motherboard is failing, not the GPU. Even if thats true what good is the GPU when the mobo dies. But I get a M17 with a dead GPU, replace the GPU and now it boots but its funky and everything now points to the mobo. What killed the GPU and hurt the mobo ? Still gonna blame power design ? Sure the M17 is a different board, cpu and other features but it still dies. M17x, M17, M9750, they ALL are dying from heat. If you dont want to blame heat, fine, I'll play along. The M17 still dies "for some reason" and we have proof of it, so its not a very reliable machine.

Its like telling a technician that there is a major difference between the reliability of the HP DV6000 and HP DV9000 AMD chip machines. No, there is not. Its a totally different board, config, cpu, video, etc, but they both die from overheating usually in a few years.

ps - The idea of "baking" a board back to life is ridiculous. This is reflowing and any technician will tell you thats not a fix. We shouldnt even have to think about doing this.

 

[granyte]

I'm not saying it will never happen i'm saying it's not the main failure reason on this model and if the user never cleaned up his fans then it's more a maintenance issue.(note i agree that the material they put on the air intake originaly was the dumbest idea i ever saw)

also i'm not telling the machine won't die i'm telling that it will go through alot more pounding then other pre-dell m"something" models most other models died from heat after 1-2 years of normal usage most m17 that are dieing right now are in thier 4th year of service it's kinda normal that some start to fail.

i agree reflowing is not a fix but in my case i'm sure the gpu took damage when i had no fan and normal heating got it to a breaking point after so reflowing will probably give me 6 month to 1 year wich is the time frame i intend to replace the machine

 

[vr6rafal]

Ok so we figured it out, it ended up being a bad CPU, the laptop is back and running fine with another CPU.

For some reason I was very hesitant to call this a mobo problem, my gut was telling me try the CPU and my gut was right, hehehe!

 

[NYJimbo]

Ok so we figured it out, it ended up being a bad CPU, the laptop is back and running fine with another CPU.

For some reason I was very hesitant to call this a mobo problem, my gut was telling me try the CPU and my gut was right, hehehe!

Takes a lot to kill a cpu.... Just sayin....