nerogoth

Dumb question, but did you try a external monitor just for S&Giggles and see if there was any differences? I.e. Snow White on built in LCD, Black screen on Ext.? That at least would narrow down and eliminate the potential the signal from the video card to the built in monitor isn't hosed up (broken / bent wire, etc.).

FYI: The links at the beginning page are all no longer valid at Dell. I tried them all and except for the custom desktop, all came back as invalids. Looks like Dell finally retired the pages and can only be found with your service tag now.

Tell me about it. With all the Wintersales and spring sales I had picked up all three of Mass Effect, Crysis 1-2 (Full pack of all Crysis 2 related), Homeworld 1 & 2, Witcher 1 & 2, GTA (all of them), etc. I am so far behind I actually just sort of stare at my list now. Was vry bad because Amazon, EA, Steam, D2D, etc. all had 'get rid of sales' I really couldn't resist (I think for M.E. I spent $20 for all three!, and I so remember not to long ago ME3 was $59!). --- I had previously (last year) picked up New Vegas online, was like $4.99! I was first initially stumped at the open environment and was getting killed left right and center (no I never made it out of the town you start in). I took a break then learned some more about the game and tried again, I got lucky and got some stuff to one side that helped me survived first off against those armor plated scorpions. When I started to venture out whereever I wanted I was again a bit stymied about such a open landscape and was getting bored right off (sort of like watching EVE players 'mining' Wooo hoo that loooks like fun... hours after hours..). Then I found the MAP showing every location to the game, so I made it a personal challenge to just access every spot on the map! WOW! Now the game was fun!!! I did all sorts of things 'out of script', running into people and places 'out of order' and completely was random for the ending sequence (I had to watch the youtube to see all the different endings OMG!). My kids thought it was funny me getting bottlecaps all the time, my 5 yr old son dug one up and handed to me, said it would help in my game! LOL . Anyway, I didn't learn till 60% of the map was done about the 'building' of weapons and such. I thought it was a waste of time initially so I put it out of my mind, OH WAS I WRONG! I had more fun with my weapons then I did just adventuring around. My second oldest son decided to send me the Ultimate edition.It is still sitting there unwrapped as I have Mass Effect (1 thru 3) , Witcher 1 & 2 , all stil unplayed.

FYI Download OpenAl from here: http://connect.creativelabs.com/deve...20Windows.aspx is no longer valid link. Creative seems to have packed it in, and only has a Asia server with relic items and only a couple new product offerings. No sign of this software is anywhere nearby the link (redirects back to asia.creative.com or 404).

Just because your 'speed' is slow doesn't mean your connection is actually 'horrible'. People torrent stuff while their kid sister is watching your tube videos all night at HiDef levels, and think there is something wrong with their 'Windows' or 'Connection'. So to help advise, here are the basics: 1) when looking for the wireless connection how many 'neighbors' connections do you see 2) How many 'bars' are you seeing in your connection as compared to neighbors 3) How many devices (phones, printers, DVD players, PS3, PC, iPad, etc.) connect wirelessly in the house? 4) what is your router make / model? 5) What is the ISP provided speed your paying for? 6) Do you have access to the router to modify it? What connection do you / other devices normally make on it (802.11 a, b , g , n, ac) - remember the slowest device connecting affects ALL devices connecting 7) Can you turn on Quality of Service (QoS) on the router (then every device that connects to the router) and establish the table on what apps are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. priority? This can drastically improve the service to all devices as the router manages the data flow according to this table.

I was getting a bit tired of fighting with AMD/ATi on my 5870 when I upgraded to a 120Hz monitor. I wanted the clearer picture I seen, and read many articles on the difference and such but didn't know ATi doesn't really support it (WTF!). So I decided I was going to have to switch my 3yr old system to NVIDIA and researched, got me the 670M card after they incorrectly told me the 680M would work (WRONG!) in my R2. What I did find was numerous reports on the fans, would kick on all the time, personally I have no problem with that, but many people reported your findings. The only solution is use HWINFO in your bootup and your golden. Why you ask? Basically because we are HACKING hardware to work into a system NOT SOLD to support that video card configuration. That means Dell is not responsible for what you / I do to 'frankenstein' the Alienware, because we know others made it work with different 'unsupported' hardware, but want it to work exactly the same way with the old card (fans turn on only when hot). It is plainly something your just going to have to deal with.

Your right, when you tested the MOBO, keyboard and power it should at least power on, I don't know though if it wouldn't if there was no CPU (I never tried). As suggested your power strip maybe in itself faulty, my own with the little retention clip failed and now won't power on physically via button - wait then how am I powering it on you ask? R2 has IR in it, and used a HP media remote control to power it on, as it mainly sits on a shelf above my 23" 120HZ monitor (mainly turned my lappy into a 'box'). Replacing the whole motherboard to begin with was a extreme step, but further this means you have two different MOBOs having the same issue, so the best answer is to buy and replace the power strip itself. Now if this doesn't solve it then I would go back to the first MOBO and try with that one. If that still doesn't work then I would sell the parts because something else is the culprit here OR the processes being followed to do all this 'repairing' isn't being followed correctly and only a third party service could help resolve it then. Personally I am suspicious of where he got the 'new' MOBO with CPU, as they aren't made / supported so it may been 'used' and 'faulty' before he got his hands on it. Just my two cents.

Sort of Deja Vu as what happened to me recently as well but I am a 3 year holder of my R2 and the only upgrade I have done is swap from a5870 to a Nvida 670M (wow what a difference, AMD sure has lost their touch!). I had the same problem with the retention clip for the power, a small segment on it broke and I thought the same thing, I was SOL. I then got a bright idea, on my old HP laptop it came with a remote control to watch videos, power it on, etc. (media controller) HSTNN-PR07, because the R2 does include IR reader inputs. I pressed the power on it an worked like a charm. This came to be a real advantage as I got a 23" 120HZ screen, so I put my R2 on a shelf tucked away (with a big hole for ventilation in the back) and just press the remote and I never open up the R2 unless I need to 'fix' something. Your solution to replace it was the better answer, but as you said you are still not getting anywhere, your getting power in (by the charging indicator of the battery) so we know the power is on okay. Time for strip down! I opened and reseated my memory, made sure it was dust free while at it. Clear out the cpu/case fan too (might as well at least do preventative). Flip it over and get back to the CPU and reseat it. Then remove the CMOS and reseat that too. Now what I would do would partially put it back together, where your video cards and the CF was sitting out and stop there. Plug in keyboard and power strip, then plug in the power cord and press the button. Does it come on with just the Mobo, CPU and Memory? If not, unplug the power and drop down to just 8GB and test again. If it still doesn't power on, then try with no memory installed and see, if still no luck then I would revert back the CPU to the original one (yeah pain in the ass) but don't fully heat synch/etc. on it, just get it plugged in and again, power it (becareful!) and see if it at least gives the first beep of powering up. If still not you just diagnosed down to the MOBO the MOBO is shot. It is a step by step process, but that is how to figure out which component is causing the problem along the way. _________________________________________________________