Lcmann

Long time reader first time poster. I am at my wits end and Google has not been able to find a solution.

I have an Alienware M9750 - Vista which has worked great for 2 years.

2 days ago I restarted it and crazy things started happening.

1. Laptop keyboard didnt work anymore (or touchpad pointer)
2. The battery light turned constant purple (indicative of battery not taking charge the manual says)
3. When I shut dow (BOTH software and by holding the power button down 5 secs) the laptop restarts.

I eventually fixed the keyboard issue by removing the hard drive and booting up off the CD recovery disk. For some reason after that it worked. So I removed the battery, shutdown and ninja removed the power cord right as it restarted, and re-connected the hard drive. On reboot I was able to access Bios.

What I have done:

1. Looked in BIOS (AMI 8series) but there is not option to disable auto restart on network activity or anything similar. In fact the BIOS has very little options)
2. Re-installed windows vista and fully updated.
3. Installed latest drivers.
4. Reseated all hardware.
5. Made sure the power button was not stuck etc.


My only problem left is I can not shut the Laptop down. Whether I hold the power button down for 5 secs or use the menu Shutdown command the computer will shut down - all the lights turn off but the AC power cord light, and then a half a second later it starts booting again. The Laptop physically shuts down, but immediately restarts.

Help!

TriggerFinger

Try to remove the HDD again and boot into BIOS settings. Press the power ON button to shut laptop down (as you have described). Does laptop restart a few seconds later (just as you experienced when HDD is still installed)?

herbman7

look at boot.ini
ouch.. i'd be annoyed if id shelled out on an alienware to find problems!

good luck dude! definitely call warranty if its covered cos you may as well get a brand spanker

herbman7

otherwise.. does this help?

http://www.pchelpforum.com/windows-x...shut-down.html

Lcmann

I have tried all the software setting fixes that people have told me.

I think I will run the BIOS test - as far as booting to BIOS and then doing a hard power off with the switch. If it still happens then that probably confirms that it is a hardware issue.

If its a hardware issue its probably the mother board.

The Laptop is 2 years old and out of warranty. Alienware tech service will not even talk to me on the phone with me paying $150 to get an extended warranty (They literally wont even answer a question like "have you heard this before). Alienware wants $305 to send it in then they will determine the parts and labor cost for the fix. Needless to say I will never buy another Alienware product again.

TriggerFinger

Yeah boot into BIOS first and see if it happens. That would tell you immediately if it is hardware caused or something you need to tweak Windows to resolve.