DOA troubleshooting of mobo: Dell Alienware 17R4

[808dude]

Where might I find some tech info on DVM tests or similar, assuming there is such a thing, to check the basics on this motherboard? Is there a standard sequence to use, as I recall doing for desktop PCs, wherein one strips most or all devices connected to the mobo, and keeps rebooting until a newly-reconnected component causes it NOT to boot up?

Failing that - anyone got any non-Dell service centers they swear by?

Background: It's a long and absurd story, but cutting to the current chase, it booted up before I sent it to Dell for replacement of most case components over a month ago. It came back no longer booting up. Dell international call centers simply say it's BER (beyond economical repair) but can't get any details on what was done from Dell in Round Rock. I've got photos of it running after being damaged, before being sent - because I couldn't believe it booted up after the torture it went through. Dell (Round Rock) is impenetrable, and at this point, even if I could get the tech who worked on it, I doubt I'd get anywhere.

Thanks - Dave

 

[808dude]

No one?

If nothing else, recommendations for a trustworthy repair biz - maybe one that even gets into component-level repairs?

 

[smorizio]

if there was a water spill or it was dropped or shorted there may have been one or two bad parts. but during testing if they were doing board level repair they may have caused more chips to fail. to a point that it would cost more to replace the system board then to do a board level repair. if you used a credit card get your money back if there no repair info done on your laptop. call dell speak with a level 3 customer relation person also send a letter to dell corp. if the system board could not be replaced they should have given a cost to replace the system board. i would also google your laptop see if there more people with the same defect or class action lawsuit. there a reapir guy from ny that on youtube..if he cant fix it there no charge. best repair video was the bio hazard apple.

 

[808dude]

smorizio - thanks for your reply. I've no one to blame but myself for the original damage...great/awful story that would take up too much space here - but I have to accept it's down to me to deal with the damage - at least the INITIAL damage.

... call dell speak with a level 3 customer relation person also send a letter to dell corp. if the system board could not be replaced they should have given a cost to replace the system board...

I may have been through that already. How does one get correspondence/email etc directly to Round Rock? I don't want to sound xenophobic, but in all cases during my MANY discussions with call-centers (in Delhi, Hyderabad, Costa Rica, and Panama), even being left on hold for up to half an hour on occasion, Dell reps would every time come back to say they were unable to get more information. So it seems to me that Round Rock has a very tall wall around itself, or at least when they want not to be reached, they won't be.

An extremely un-helpful woman (in Hyderabad) claimed to be the highest level supervisor available, yet like all preceding her, was unable to give me more detail than "unit is BER...do you want to see photos?" I was fairly furious with her - and she didn't give a rip. I ended up telling her YES - send me the damned photos, but there's not going to be anything new to me, since I knew well the interior condition of the machine when it went to them, and had my own photos. But I specifically forbade her from shipping ('shoving' would be more accurate) the unit back to me (from Round Rock), thinking I'd keep banging on other Dell doors to get some actual communication happening and maybe get the damned thing fixed while it was there - or at least hear the gory details.

She sent no photos. She DID send the laptop back, regardless of my warning her NOT to do so. Major drama, me off-island when it came, had to go to FedEx to get it when I returned, and I went ballistic when they couldn't find it because Dell hadn't given me an effing TRACKING number...

A subsequent Dell "supervisor" is at least pleasant to deal with and says I will be refunded, but that's not my real concern. He's suggesting we "try again." I'd even do that, but wanted to again demonstrate that it would boot up, but...yeah, now it won't. I'd been sending various "supervisors" who parroted the "BER" diagnosis with my photos of the scorched mess; it had been barely able to display anything, but despite ugliness, it had booted up fine to show my desktop on an external monitor, and that was all the convincing I'd needed to send it out. Even composed a letter in the box explaining this to the unknown tech.

Adding to the insanity of this: there was a letter in the return box that said Dell had been trying to reach me, without success, to tell me what the repairs WOULD COST, so they'd given up and were returning it to me. NO mention of BER. New supervisor says 'nah, nevermind that...' (I know, right?)

Though the thing was a mess when I sent it in, I found some things further amiss when I opened it again - the aux USB board disconnected, some screws missing from the mobo, and what I think was a Dell-damaged mobo connector for the LCD. Seems plausible the tech "had a plan" and just wanted to get my approval for the tab before proceeding, but their absurd maze of call-center communications lost all of that in the translation.

--------------
Anyway, if you've got more knowledge about getting in contact with The Right People - Round Rock, that is - please say how. Sending a letter seems absurd, though yes, I'd do it if it were the only way.

 

[808dude]

I set this aside, but want to do some basic troubleshooting before giving up and sending it off somewhere, when I've got a little more time. I'd like to get some sign of life first...as I did before I sent it to Dell, who apparently breathed complete death into it somehow.

In the case of this (laptop) mobo, what must NOT be removed from it, while still providing the bare min to let it boot up? I'm guessing the basics are the HDD, maybe one memory-stick...what else?

My LCD screen is definitely wasted. Must it still be connected, or can I just connect an external via HDMI?

I'd like to exclude as many as possible off-mobo items (of course) to eliminate as many potentially-confusing variables. I'm thinking that list could include:
SSD
one RAM module
USB aux board
WIFI card
LCD display
Tobii eye-tracking board
battery

Right now, there's a portion of the mobo that gets warm (not hot) to the touch, but aside from that, there's no sign of life, at least via HDMI connection.

Thanks for any help...

Dave