Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

[mon2]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

I think the secret lies inside the aptio screen.

What does the load defaults do for you?

Insert a usb thumb drive. Do you see any activity? Some websites claim the bios can be reflashed using this method and screen.

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

I am able to flash the bios in the aptio screen using a USB drive but the machine turns off when it get to 90% at the EC FIRMWARE UPDATE. I will upload a video soon. Maybe that would help alot.
Thanks again

[mon2]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Review the EC area. Is there a flash IC nearby? What are the topside markings of the flash chip? Confirm it is soldered properly.

Was this chip removed?

Confirm the power rails of the EC.

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

The video is too big to be attached. Honestly I don't know what the EC chip is . There are 4 Bio looking chip. UH4, UE2, UT2 and UT5.
I will look in the schematic if I can locate the EC chip.
Thanks again.

[mon2]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

EC chip will be a TQFP package and large in size. Perhaps 160 pins with same number of pins on each side. Perhaps ITE or EN markings.

If the flash is external, small 8 pin soic are common and from Winbond. Will be similar to the main flash device but a lower density as it runs smaller firmware.

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Ok thanks for the lead. i will review the EC area and report back.
Thanks again.

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Hi,
I posted a video on YouTube about the issue am experiencing since the file is too big to post it here.
The link is below hopefully someone can help me out since am out of ideas.
The machine turns on and off within 6 seconds. I disconnected the AC plug, plug in the USB drive with the Bios to flash 1.8.0 and press the ESC + CTRL key and plug in the AC plug and press the power button. Once the screen turns on I released the ESC + CTRL keys and the recovery screen is displayed.
I select the recover Bios and the following in the video below happens:

https://youtube.com/shorts/e1l0gut9DJs?

The machine turns off during the EC FIRMWARE UPDATE and then tries to turn on but turn off immediately.

Thanks for all help.

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Does anyone has any insight in why the system is behaving like that. Is this a graphic card issue?
Thanks

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Any help guys?

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Will someone help me out with this. I am stuck. I tried flashing many firmware and the machine still turns on and off in 6 seconds.
Thanks

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

Do you guys think the the CPU is shut?

Thanks

[waakye]

Re: Alienware 17 R3 power on and shuts itself off and stays off

I ended up stripping the machine for parts.

Thanks all that helped.
@Mon2, @Sephir0th thank you guys for helping. I learned alot from you.