Member Avatar for shmigivi

I have an Alienware Aurora laptop. The machine is powered (LEDs lit, drive spinning) but no POST. None of the 4 fans spin at all. The screen doesn't show anything and the computer reboots. Upon internal inspection I saw the fan above the RAM has a wire that is no longer soddered. So that fan is dead for sure but the other 3 should be good.

Could this 1 non-working fan potentially prevent the whole system from booting? The model is prone to overheating.

Or are these just signs of a much bigger problem like a CPU or mobo?

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Member Avatar for stevenpetersen

It sounds like a power supply problem. When did the problem start. How long have you had it. What happen when you put the OS disk it

Member Avatar for Rik_

Re-solder it and see if it will work.

Member Avatar for shmigivi

It sounds like a power supply problem. When did the problem start. How long have you had it. What happen when you put the OS disk it

Everything but the fans seems to make noise and run. The CD drive works, as it accepts disks. The laptop is 2 years old, problem just started today. OS disk does nothing as there is no screen or POST.

Can a fan out that was connected to the mobo prevent even a POST or is that not really possible?

Member Avatar for Rik_

Yup, the mobo should be able to monitor if all the fans are working or not.

Member Avatar for shmigivi

Yup, the mobo should be able to monitor if all the fans are working or not.

So are you saying my mobo senses it's not connected and won't boot to prevent overheating?

Member Avatar for stevenpetersen

What modol Alienware Aurora do you have...... what Rik from RCE could be true but i would like to now the modol Number. If you know how to Re-solder do it. If not be very careful. you dont want to melt something.

Member Avatar for Rik_

Without examining one for myself I can't be sure. There are plenty of PC's and laptops that wont boot with faulty fans so......

Member Avatar for shmigivi

it's a Aurora 7700. I ordered a replacement fan (don't own soldering stuff) so I will see what happens when that comes in.

Member Avatar for Chaky

One little thing:

BIOS monitors the fans, and if the fans aren't spinning, then the BIOS gives you a warning during POST. If there's no POST, then the BIOS hasn't kicked in. In other words, the fan isn't a direct cause.

What you could be having there is PSU protection. Most PSUs have shorting protection that cuts off all power. That can be easily triggered by a lose wire touching a casing.

I'm not sure how to reset that kind of protection on laptops.. My best guess is to plug out the mains and remove the battery.

Member Avatar for PcTestCard.com

Replace the broken wire and see if your laptop POST.
For me, I would say, probably not since CPU already overheated, maybe the mainboard not letting the PC to POST because it detects the wire is broken.

Hope the previous overheating did not cause your laptop other parts to fail as well, seems CPU is a possibility and you need to find out.

Hope this helps!
Bill

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