PC Will not power on

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wlogatto

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May 3, 2013
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I have an Alienware Area-51 PC I got in 2011.

About 4 months ago, I did a Shutdown. When it was off, I pressed the power button and it did not turn on.

You can hear a 'click' as if it was attempting to turn on.

If you press and hold the power button for 8-10 secs, you will hear another 'click' as if it were force shutdown.

I used to be able to remedy this by unplugging the AC power from the wall for 3-5 mins and then re-connecting it and it would turn on normally.

ALSO note that if I EVER selected RESTART it would reboot with NO ISSUE.

Only SHUTDOWN gave me an issue, even SLEEP was fine.

Tonight, 5/3/2013, I was not able to turn on my PC no matter what I tried.

I unplugged AC power for 5-10 mins and re-connected and it would not turn on.

I disconnected each device one at a time with the power out and then connected power and tried to turn it on and it would not, up to the point where all I had connected was AC power.

Inside the LED light is light up on the small sub-board between the PS and the MOBO as well as the LED on the mobo, as well as the case lights, so I do NOT believe it is the PS.

This process took me about an hour an a half.. so I finally called Dell tech support.

When I spoke with someone they promptly informed me my Warranty was expried.

After explaining the problem he believed it was a motherboard issue, but to replace it without a warranty is $800 which I do not have. I am 23 yrs old with no credit cards. I bought it for $3600 which I gave to my dad in cash and then he put it on his CC.

Dell would not approve me for a Dell preferred account either and he told me there was nothing he could do.

I am at a loss of what to do.

Can I buy a new Mobo through newegg, ect. and swap it out with no Issues??

Would I need to reformat my HDD's?

Also it has Water cooling, so I don't know if that has any factor in choosing a replacement MOBO.

I know I need triple socket ram and the right CPU socket.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Will
 
Solution
alexoiu
I would firstly try borrowing a power supply from a friend (or taking the computer to his house) and testing. It looks like a PSU issue.
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Can you please tell me what parts are inside your system?
Then I can help you choose a replacement motherboard.

And yeah.. you can swap out the motherboard with no issues.

Some pictures of your cabinet's insides will help too.

Also, it would help in determining if the problem is the motherboard in the first place.
 
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CPU - intel i7 970 LGA1366
RAM - 12gb triple channel
GPU - 2 x nVidia GTX 460

I was looking at boards such as
ASUS-SABERTOOTH-X58

Or

NEW OEM Intel DX58OG INTEL X58 SOCKET LGA 1366 ATX Motherboard

But that was only minimal searching I haven't taken time yet to look at anything else
 
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"small sub-board between the PS and the MOBO" Is that an expansion board to the motherboard?

You haven't mentioned the PSU, if it is the original Dell PSU then it would be only 330 watts, any hardware addtions done by you would require a PSU upgrade, possibly as much as 650 watts.
 
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Nopes, all Alienware systems come with high end PSU's. Also between Intel and ASUS, I would go for ASUS, though it may be a bit more costly. Depends on your budget.

Can you tell which motherboard it is? At least the brand if not the model.

 
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After taking out both GPU's it turned on.

I shut it down and put one back and it turned on again.

After adding the 2nd back, it did not turn back on.

I proceeded to remove both again, but now it won't turn on with no GPU.

Is that pointing to the power supply? Is my PC trying to pull too much power?
 
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Well, I could be wrong about the PSU, it could be one or the other of the following,
Alienware™ 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Alienware™ 1100 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
however, another Question in the forum also referred to the Alenware Dell Pc and he only had a 330 watt PSU but not the Area 51.

You will have to confirm what PSU you have in your PC.

Here is something from the Dell Community forum -

"In theory but not supported by Dell, these video cards should run in three way on our power supplies (1.1KW or 1.2KW) -
AMD 5770, 5670, Nvidia GTX260, GTS240, GTX460, GTS450. The AMD 5870 is questionable. The AMD 5970 and Nvidia GTX 480 is a no go."
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19346132/19753838.aspx

The following refers to possible problems with the PSU, in reference to the wrong cabnles used on the video cards, for Alienware Aurora ALX, R1, R2, R3, R4 -

"This article describes a possible lockup, shut down, or Blue Screen error on the Alienware Aurora and Aurora ALX computers. Some Alienware Aurora and Aurora ALX computers may experience intermittent lockups, shut downs, or Blue Screen errors due to power connectors (rails) are incorrectly distributed on the graphics card. To resolve the issue, open the computer and correctly distribute the power connectors (Tables 1 and 2) on the graphics cards."
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&docid=430542
 
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I wouldn't buy one until making sure that I need one. Otherwise you might find out that the issue is elsewhere. Can't you find one at a friend / colleague, just for testing? A local shop might also help.
Or buy one only if you can return it in case the PSU isn't the culprit.
 
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I have to wait until monday to get a psu tester from my friend. I could buy a Multimeter I suppose..

Also the mobo MPN is J560M / DPN 0j560M
 
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A multimeter might not help, as it seems that the PSU fails under load. Try leaving single graphics card, one RAM module, DVD drive, keyboard and mouse. Check again all connections. With the power supply turned off/power cord unplugged, press the power button for 20-30 seconds. Then turn on the power supply and see if it does start.
 
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The reference table in the link I gave refers to the Dell PSU and the use of the numbered cables.

You have to use a Dell PSU, otherwise it may not fit into the holder.
A non-Dell PSU in a "regular" Dell case can only hold two screws, enough to keep it in place.
 
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So thanks but the chart apparently does not apply my x51 the only cables available are p16/17 or p18/19.

Also I connected the keyboard and mouse, 1display and 1gpu and after holding the power button for 30 secs I plugged it in and it turned on!

It asked me if I wanted to check my bios settings and then I saved and exited and it shut off and then again would not come back on.

This was after I had the psu disconnected for several hours..

So now I unplugged the psu and ill wait another extended period of time and see if it will come on again.
 
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So I seem to have narrowed it down. I left it unplugged for a few hours and it turned on once, and then said no OS detected and so I had to turn it back off but it would not come on again. So I ordered a replacement PSU for $50. It's so cheap that the quality can't be that great so I'm leaning toward the PSU being bad at this point.

Thanks for the replies, I will update when I get the new PSU
 
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Thanks for the update, about your choice of other motherboards, the X58 seems to run really hot, you'd need to add a small fan to the Northbridge if it is not included with the purchase. It's been known to cause problems.
 
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I received the New PSU yesterday.

After hooking it up, it turned on, I was able to change my BIOS settings to recognize my RAID setup, and then it rebooted fine!

I have been able to fully turn it on and everything seems to be working.

I have powered it on and off a dozen times at least so I am pretty satisfied.

And for $50 I may just buy another one to have just incase.

Thanks for all the help everyone.
 
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