Alienware M18x R2 User manual

Alienware M18x R2

Owner’s Manual

Computer model: M18x R2

Regulatory model: P12E

Regulatory type: P12E002

Book.book Page 1 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make

better use of your computer.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to

hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed.

WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage,

personal injury, or death.

____________________

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission

of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Alienware®is a registered trademark of Alienware

Corporation; Dell™ is a trademark of Dell Inc.; Microsoft®,Windows®, and the Windows start

button logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft corporation in the

United States and/or other countries;Bluetooth®is a registered trademark owned by

Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and is used by Dell under license.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the

entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary

interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

2012 - 04 Rev. A00

Book.book Page 2 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

Contents | 3

Contents

1 Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Turn Off Your Computer and Connected Devices. . . . 9

Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Recommended Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2 After Working Inside Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3 Removing the Battery Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 Replacing the Battery Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5 Removing the Base Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6ReplacingtheBaseCover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

7 Removing the mSATA Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

8 Replacing the mSATA Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

9 Removing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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4| Contents

10 Replacing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

11 Removing the Hard Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

12 Replacing the Hard Drive(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

13 Removing the Center Control Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

14 Replacing the Center Control Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

15 Removing the Power-Button Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

16 Replacing the Power-Button Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

17 Removing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

18 Replacing the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

19 Removing the Macro Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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Contents | 5

20 Replacing the Macro Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

21 Removing the Memory Module(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

22 Replacing the Memory Module(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

23 Removing the Display Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

24 Replacing the Display Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

25 Removing the Palm Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

26 Replacing the Palm Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

27 Removing the Status-Light Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

28 Replacing the Status-Light Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

29 Removing the Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

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6| Contents

30 Replacing the Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

31 Removing the I/O Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

32 Replacing the I/O Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

33 Removing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

34 Replacing the Optical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

35 Removing the Video-Card Heat-Sink Fan(s) . . . . . . . 67

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

36 Replacing the Video-Card Heat-Sink Fan(s) . . . . . . . 69

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

37 Removing the Video-Card Heat-Sink(s) . . . . . . . . . . 70

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

38 Replacing the Video-Card Heat-Sink(s) . . . . . . . . . . 72

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

39 Removing the Video Card(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Book.book Page 6 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

Contents | 7

40 Replacing the Video Card(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

41 Removing the Processor Heat-Sink Fan. . . . . . . . . . 76

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

42 Replacing the Processor Heat-Sink Fan . . . . . . . . . . 77

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

43 Removing the Processor Heat-Sink. . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

44 Replacing the Processor Heat-Sink. . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

45 Removing the Processor Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

46 Replacing the Processor Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

47 Removing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

48 Replacing the System Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Entering the Service Tag in the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . 88

49 Removing the Wireless Mini-Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

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8| Contents

50 Replacing the Wireless Mini-Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

51 Removing the Subwoofer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

52 Replacing the Subwoofer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

53 System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

System Setup Screens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Boot Sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

54 Flashing the BIOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Book.book Page 8 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

Before You Begin | 9

Before You Begin

Turn Off Your Computer and Connected

Devices

CAUTION: To avoid losing data, save and close all open files and exit

all open programs before you turn off your computer.

1Save and close all open files and exit all open programs.

2Click Start and click Shut Down.

Microsoft Windows shuts down and then the computer turns off.

NOTE: If you are using a different operating system, see the documentation

of your operating system for shut-down instructions.

3Disconnect your computer and all attached devices from their electrical outlets.

4Disconnect all telephone cables, network cables, and attached devices from your

computer.

5After the computer is unplugged, press and hold the power button for about 5

seconds to ground the system board.

Safety Instructions

Use the following safety guidelines to protect your computer from potential damage and

ensure your personal safety.

WARNING: Disconnect all power sources before opening the

computer cover or panels. After you finish working inside the

computer, replace all covers, panels, and screws before connecting to

the power source.

WARNING: Before working inside your computer, read the safety

information that shipped with your computer. For additional safety

best practices information, see the Regulatory Compliance

Homepage at dell.com/regulatory_compliance.

CAUTION: To avoid damaging the computer, ensure that the work

surface is flat and clean.

CAUTION: To avoid damaging the components and cards, handle

them by their edges and avoid touching pins and contacts.

Book.book Page 9 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

10 | Before You Begin

CAUTION: Only a certified service technician is authorized to remove

the computer cover and access any of the components inside the

computer. See the safety instructions for complete information

about safety precautions, working inside your computer, and

protecting against electrostatic discharge.

CAUTION: Before touching anything inside your computer, ground

yourself by touching an unpainted metal surface, such as the metal

at the back of the computer. While you work, periodically touch an

unpainted metal surface to dissipate static electricity, which could

harm internal components.

CAUTION: When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on

its pull-tab, not on the cable itself. Some cables have connectors with

locking tabs or thumb-screws that you must disengage before

disconnecting the cable. When disconnecting cables, keep them

evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector pins. When

connecting cables, ensure that the connectors and ports are

correctly oriented and aligned.

CAUTION: To disconnect a network cable, first unplug the cable from

your computer and then unplug the cable from the network device.

Recommended Tools

The procedures in this document may require the following tools:

•Phillips screwdriver

•Plastic scribe

•Small flat-blade screwdriver

Book.book Page 10 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:38 PM

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