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Can't boot computer

Have an alienware 7700 duel amd processor that i've installed vista on several months ago. I've had an increasing problem where the comp doesn't like to boot up. It's like power goes on, then off, and repeats until i manually shutdown and try again. But lately i can't boot it up at all, and once in a while the screen goes white, where as before it was black. Neideas? i tried testing each ram stick individually and still had same issue. Tried with battery and w/o battery. Let me know, thanks.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

It doesnt boot really at all, sometimes the screen doesn't turn on, but the cd drive light flickers, then it tries again. It doesn't quite turn all the way off after each attempt tho, there's a digital clock on the front of the notebook that remains on unless I manually turn it off. Sometimes the screen does turn on but it behaves the same as before.

1. The fact that it won't boot makes troubleshooting rather difficult.

2. I would say that it is almost certainly a hardware problem, given that it deteriorated over time. I say that because you are not getting to the software, and if it were a BIOS problem I would expect it to fail pretty much instantaneously rather than gradually.

3. It shouldn't be the HDDs as you don't get that far into the boot sequence.

4. It could be the video card, but I doubt that, as you should get some BIOS beeps and the rest of the machine should boot.

5. It certainly could be the motherboard, or some component/peripheral.

6. My suspicion at this point is that it is a power supply/distribution problem.

Tried with battery and w/o battery. Let me know,thanks.

1. Have you tried it on battery power alone?
2. Have you checked to see if the battery is charging, and is charged?

I would also give it a thorough clean, reseat all the connections and check that the fans are working.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

Sounds like the power supply bugging out. Happened to me when I added additional components to my rig. The computer would think about starting and the power supply was blowing hot air like a furnace when CPU was IDLE. I replaced the power supply with a 600watt version. System now is actually running a little faster.

I tried it with w/o battery and with and w/o power supply. Reset all connections and checked fans, no luck. If it is the power supply how would I go about replacing that. And is there neway to tell for sure if that's the problem.

Well, I am not familiar with that model, but I believe that it has an external power supply?

I would guess that it transforms your mains AC supply to 12v DC or whatever?

If you have a multimeter you can check if it is delivering the power it should be. Whilst you are at it, check that the battery is charging.

If both of those check out you have a more serious problem. Probably the motherboard or power distribution system?

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

Other than the power supply, have you checked to see if you or someone attempted to overclock the cpu? What happens when you connect the machine via a surge protector? Has anyone else experienced this issues on the Alien support boards?

There's nothing on alienware I can find, and they won't even talk to me on the phone because they want me to fork over another 200 bucks just to get phone support so they can tell me I'm screwed. 5500$ I spent on the system several years ago when it was top of the line too.

Well, the general concensus on the net seems to be that Alienware support sucks, so don't bother.

I don't rate their product very highly either. A tarted up and badged Clevo?

Best I can suggest is to take it to a small local shop and find out what exactly is wrong with it. They will have the equipment to test the power supply at least, and probably most of the other components.

That is a problem with laptops, it isn't easy to get reasonably priced generic or third party parts, and most of them are a pig to work on, which shoves the labour charges up. Go to the manufacturer and you will pay through the nose.

I replaced a Mac G4 HDD the other day........... it took me 90 minutes (and I do know what I am doing) whereas an ordinary desktop would take no more than 10 minutes for an awkward one!

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?