Dakeryas

Ok, I have very good news for me: it was just that I had badly put back the two memory modules! I am writing from my M15x now ! Last time I repasted, I had badly put back one memory module, resulting in the computer going up to the BIOS, but with both badly inserted, you will have no display whatsoever! Conclusion: the damaged motherboard Express Card doesn't prevent the computer from working otherwise. The BD drive is working as well and EAC, Foobar and Everest recognize as HL-DT drive, even though the sticker only shows an unbranded product of China! Conclusion 2: no display, no working keyboard, no tray slot loading => double-check your memory slots! Thanks for your help anyways!

Thank you for your answer. The Caps, Num and Scroll LED are all off, nothing is flashing. They do not want to light on either. Both fans are spinning, the GPU and CPU fans are turning normally. I'll try to disassemble it again and take a picture.

Hello all, I tried to replace my DVD drive by a Blu-Ray drive yesterday. The model should fit since it is a CA30N (the seller told me it was a LG but it actually looks like it is unbranded, "product of China" "March 2012" "ATAK7N0 CA30N"). While disassembling my computer using Dell's guide to remove the optical drive, I somewhat broke the connector and the latch on the motherboard that is used to connect the ExpressCard cable. I had troubles opening the latch, put too much force into it, and a few "pins" of the connector on the motherboard moved a little bit (not even by half a millimiter, but you can see that four or five pins are not aligned anymore). A plastic part that should hold the latch on the connector is also cracked. I put the new Blu-Ray drive into its location, it went smoothly to tighten all the screws, the new optical drive sits perfectly. Then I put back together the whole laptop, tried to plug the ExpressCard cable in it is damaged motherboard connector as best as I could. Now, when I power on the laptop, I have no display whatsoever. The keyboards and all the other lights are correctly lit (even the Alien head is), the fans are running normally, but the optical drive does not seem to respond for instance. Pressing the lit eject button doesn't produce any sound when the drive is empty. Moreover, I have tried to put a CD-R into it, but the eject button doesn't work either, the disk is now stuck into the drive. The drive seemed to try to read the disk however, it was spinning and made some normal noise when the disk was inserted. Could it be that the broken Express Card connector prevents the laptop from booting properly? Or could it be that the drive is not recognized (the eject button doesn't work) or even faulty? Many thanks in advance, Dakeryas.

What do you mean by "not stable"? Do you have frequent reboots or freezes, what is the problem?

Are you sure you put the ram properly in their slots? At first I had one of the two sticks that was not fully inserted and caused the start up to stop at BIOS level. I have 2x8Gb of 1333MHz Ram in my M15X, and it works well (though it is pretty useless, for some apps you need a bit more than 4Gb, and 8Gb is more than enough). Sorry, if that can be merged with the previous post by a moderator: The exact reference of my RAM is: G Skill F3-10666CL9-8GBSQ.

Ok thanks, that should be the key then! Just to know, is it this kit you bought HD7970M Alienware M17x M18x VGA Upgrade Kit Dell HD7970M 2GB DDR5 CF Ready | eBay and you got 1.5mm thermal pads with it instead of 0.5mm? I have been using the Arctic Cooling MX4 thermal paste on a few laptops with great results, including repasting my 5850M! Thanks again for your help!

Thanks for replying. But from what I have read, you're using a cooper shim. I would rather not use a cooper shim to have the lowest temperatures. So it means grinding down?

Hello everybody. I have an m15x with a 5850M GPU and am also interested in upgrading to an 7970M GPU. I have seen "upgrade kits" offers on eBay that go for 525$. They're for the m17x/m18x though. As I have read here, the bracket is too high. I would rather not add a cooper shim because it adds three more layers and needs paste on both sides. I would like to have the lowest temps for long-term reliability. Since I already have a 5850M GPU, could I just remove the X-bracket from my current GPU and swap it with that of the 7970M GPU? Is it easy to remove? Would there be no more use to grind the bracket or the screws down? Thanks in advance, Dakeryas.