• Need Guidance on Repairing (or selling for parts) Alienware M17xR2
    13 replies, posted
Hey everybody - it's been short while since I've lurked the pages of Facepunch, and it seems confusion has brought me back. A while back (say 6 months ago), I bought a M17xR2 from a friend for around $700. This included the Intel i7 940XM, 2 x ATI 5870Ms, and 6GB of RAM. It had a little wear and tear (as expected), but it ran extremely well. More recently, I had a problem with with charger not being able to stay connected into the motherboard's charging receptacle. It finally got to the point where repositioning the charging cable did not solve the issue, so I opened up the laptop to take a peek inside. I found my problem to be the receptacle itself physically pulled away from the motherboard. Knowing my motherboard was still salvageable, I installed a new charging adapter onto the board. I ended up correctly installing the adapter, but I also managed to destroy the small pin connector that aids in verifying if the charger is "real" by using a little too much each around the connector (stupid me used a bulky soldering GUN at 3AM instead of a specialist iron). So now my predicament is this: the laptop works, but always in low power mode and always on the battery... sort of. When it first boots, the BIOS screams that the charger is not genuine and to hit F1 to continue. With my [B]battery inserted into the computer (as well as my charger inserted)[/B],[U] it instantly shuts off from having too low charge on the battery and doesn't charge the battery[/U]. But if I take the [B]battery out and leave the charger in[/B], [U]it boots and runs in low power mode.[/U] In low power mode I can do just about anything non-GPU intensive (I do a lot of programming for work and university, so this is a god send when I absolutely HAVE to work out of my house). Any GPU intensive actions (games, naturally) suffer tremendous performance lag, and I've traced this to be caused by the GPUs being locked into 2D mode because of the low power situation (I've also learned that this is because the battery acts as a partial surge protector for the internal powering of the components, so to decrease any chance of power surges/spikes from the outputted power on the charger block, it keeps everything in a low power state [but I may be wrong]). I did the obvious task and dragged the waters of the internet for any clues about a fix, but found nothing fruitful. I've updated the BIOS to the latest revisions (since they patched some of the "Non-Dell genuine product" problems), but to no avail. My question to you, Facepunch, is whether this problem is cost effective to fix. I just upgraded my desktop from a C2Q Q6600, 4GB of RAM, and an ATI 5850 to a much needed upgrade of an i5-4760K, 16GB of RAM, and a Nvidia 780 GTX. I'm capable of replacing the motherboard (and it seems the price is ~$200), but is it worth it with my current desktop rig being miles in front of it? Is there something you gurus know that may aid me in fixing my motherboard issue without my $200 price tag? In the case of the laptop being cost ineffective to fix, should I sell my parts? I've seen the 940XM go for at least $300. Any thoughts or tips on that? As always, thanks for the help!
Why couldn't you just resolder the charging port? If you ended up damaging the motherboard, I personally wouldn't spend more than $100 on an older piece of hardware like that. But this is also kind of a personal preference thing. If you feel it's worth it to pay $150 to replace the board, then do it. Otherwise, I'd say not.
I'd take the motherboard out and try fixing the connector before buying a replacement motherboard. It'd still be worth fixing it to have a portable gaming system.
[QUOTE=Sigs367;42130746]Why couldn't you just resolder the charging port? If you ended up damaging the motherboard, I personally wouldn't spend more than $100 on an older piece of hardware like that. But this is also kind of a personal preference thing. If you feel it's worth it to pay $150 to replace the board, then do it. Otherwise, I'd say not.[/QUOTE] I'm having a bit of a brain fart when it comes to the the proper name of the object, but when I originally tried to solder the "ring" that the small connector from the charging port to the board, I got the motheboard too hot and the "ring" fell out (I accidentally pushed it through the other side of the motherboard with the charging port). The "ring" is placed between the two layers of the PCB, so I have no real clue of how I'm supposed to reattach it. So, I'm at a loss. EDIT: I think the "ring" is called an annular ring?
Picture maybe? I have no clue what you mean.
[QUOTE=taipan;42162057]Picture maybe? I have no clue what you mean.[/QUOTE] Probably a good idea: [IMG]https://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/assets/b/2/a/f/d/50d4b1fcce395f8655000000.jpg[/IMG] Do you see the small eyelets that the connectors for that component go into? The inner ring of that hole melted out, not allowing contact with the connector and the PCB. [IMG]http://i.ebayimg.com/t/ALIENWARE-M17XR2-M17X-R2-DC-DC-JACK-POWER-pin-PORT-SOCKET-CONNECTOR-230w-/00/s/NjAwWDYwMA==/z/BpEAAOxyWalR1sE3/$(KGrHqF,!nsFGzcK5McwBR1sE3eqUQ~~60_35.JPG[/IMG] In my case, if you look at the bottom right DC jack in the picture above, the middle of the three prongs in that series is placed into the "melted out" PCB eyelet. Is that a little clearer? I reassembled my laptop, but I can take an actual picture if need be!
Does it by any chance look like you lifted the pads, like this? [img]http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bjr/scrape_resist.jpg[/img] Or has the plating through the hole worn out?
[QUOTE=ddrl46;42162452]Does it by any chance look like you lifted the pads, like this? [img]http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bjr/scrape_resist.jpg[/img] Or has the plating through the hole worn out?[/QUOTE] I definitely didn't lift the pad - it seems like it's just the plating through the hole. I'm praying to the Nine that you have good news on how I could fix it!
Not exactly sure what you mean but you could likely just run a small jumper wire if the pcb bit is broken around the place it solders to, to a place that's still good.
[QUOTE=MCPeePants;42162646]I definitely didn't lift the pad - it seems like it's just the plating through the hole. I'm praying to the Nine that you have good news on how I could fix it![/QUOTE] If you have just damaged the through hole plating you may be able to use a pcb pin / eyelet and solder it on both sides. [img]http://www.tromop.eu/cms/images/stories/set_of_knurled_pcb_pins.jpg[/img] or [img]http://www.yaotek.com/store/Assets/ProductImages/eyelet.jpg[/img] To do this however you have to take the connector out to put it in. You could also try applying a little bit more solder to the pin and hope it flows through to the other side.
[QUOTE=ddrl46;42163058]If you have just damaged the through hole plating you may be able to use a pcb pin / eyelet and solder it on both sides. [img]http://www.tromop.eu/cms/images/stories/set_of_knurled_pcb_pins.jpg[/img] or [img]http://www.yaotek.com/store/Assets/ProductImages/eyelet.jpg[/img] To do this however you have to take the connector out to put it in. You could also try applying a little bit more solder to the pin and hope it flows through to the other side.[/QUOTE] Ah! I'm really hoping this is the case. I'll see if I can't order some of these pins, a much better (and needed) soldering iron, and give it a go. Also, I'll try to pry open the laptop and take a picture of the damaged eyelet (since I need to measure the diameter of the hole anyway). I will be estatic if this can prove to be a remedy!
I'd recommend one of these: [thumb]http://static.coleparmer.com/large_images/97105_63.jpg[/thumb] It's $50 but it beats the hell out of shitty Radioshack irons that burn their tips off after a half dozen uses.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;42171832]I'd recommend one of these: [thumb]http://static.coleparmer.com/large_images/97105_63.jpg[/thumb] It's $50 but it beats the hell out of shitty Radioshack irons that burn their tips off after a half dozen uses.[/QUOTE] Thank you for the suggestion! Next weekend, I'll be heading back home and trying this out. I'll update the thread with my results!
[QUOTE=MCPeePants;42191687]Thank you for the suggestion! Next weekend, I'll be heading back home and trying this out. I'll update the thread with my results![/QUOTE] If plan on taking the connector out don't forget a desoldering pump / solder wick.
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