Alienware A51 ALX Randomly turns off

Generally, the pump tubes shouldn't be grossly or markedly different in the feel of the tube. If it is very hot compared to the other, either the pump is unnaturally clogged up & requires maintenance (flushed/cleaned) or the pump isn't 'on' causing the shutdown (if cpu overheats, then system shuts down):

• if the time comes to this step, you can disassemble the cooler as here, since @ least one Area-51 pump is known to have clogged up (his was a gen 2 w/flexible tubes, not a gen1 w/rigid tubes)
• Aurora R4 overheating problem SOLVED!!!
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19516339/20440773#20440773

If pump isn't 'running' as we'd expect:

• it is not plugged in, not getting power (check photo, pump needs power & top power board connector must be plugged in)

(I've borrowed this photo where the square explains to put in a 92mm fan)

I've circled the connectors of interest. A gen1 rigid tube pump: black connector plugs in to top power board, top power board has its own harness that must be fully seated on the right

• if above looks ok in your pc, check the master i/o (daughter board) in your case floor that all connectors are fully seated, if so:
• pump may have failed & you need a new one

Here, I'm using a wall transformer set to 12volts DC. My pump connector can plug in & if the pump is ok, it will run, 'start to hum'

B4 I outline how to use a 12v transformer, let me know if you have one or wish to borrow / buy one for pump testing purposes, huh? Yours would be a similar deal w/raw wires & no reciprocal connector as I am using. Touch positive 12v to correct pin & ground to correct pin: if ok, pumps turn on & hum

Sometimes you can 'feel' the pump housing or listen to hear if it 'hums', which means it's on. If you're sure it is on & one tube is way hotter than other, perhaps a fast disassembly will reveal if it is clogged & therefore 'useless'.

You said you had a spare drive, basically since you can't install windows (what I gathered your problem is actually), if you have another intel computer you can try to snatch its hard drive to boot into, perhaps you could use a cpu temperature monitoring tool. A cpu @ idle inside Area-51 w/a working liquid pump cooler should idle at about 80F-100F or 27-37C. If way higher (130f+ / 55c+), the pump ain't workin'.

Sounds like cpu is overheating. Yours could be any of 10 different problems: square one, let's make sure the pump is on. Report back?

Your 'new pc', perhaps now's a good time to clue people in if the prior owner clued you in to any possible troubles w/the pc, ie 'why they really sold it'. Any issues? Is this your 1st A-51?

Maybe you have a volt-meter, you can probe the pump connector pins while the pc is on, see if 12v & ground are at least present to the pins? Whether the motor can utilize it or not? Test for 12v?

Pump definately works as i can feel the coolant running through the pipes. The pipes are the exact same as the ones in the picture. Thinking the water cooler is clogged up somewhere, any suggestions on how to clean it out?

I posted the link for cooler component disassembly & 'un-natural' maintenance:

• Aurora R4 overheating problem SOLVED!!!
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19516339/20440773#20440773

It would be unheard of for a gen1 rigid pump like yours to need maintenance; however, physics considers that: given enough time, anything that can happen in this universe can and will happen, so, there ya go ...

Personally, I would take a flashlight (or a bread twist-tie, peel off the wrapper some, & when the desktop is on, stick it down through the mesh lightly 'til a spinning fan blade touches) to make sure the radiator fan is spinning, & of course plugged in up there next to the cooler 5pin connector. Maybe get an air-mattress pump and blow it all out up there, the rad/fan to 'improve cooling'. B4 I removed my cooler, I would make darn sure one tube is way hotter then the other & not just marginally so. If so, crack it open, take a look-see in there @ your own risk --> note in 'solved!!!' a lot of people think the job is un-nerving. When in doubt, buy a new cooler (eBay) since 4-5 years is what we'd expect these to last.

Note: I have a spare i7 for testing, but lemme say this once. It occurs to me in times such as these I'd do well to have a spare i7920 to test with (about $40-$50 eBay), in the rarest of events the cpu over-heated & spazzes out now as a side-effect. If it gets to the point we can't get your A51 up & running, you may need a pc-shop who can diagnose (& fix) true cpu-failure.

So how are you getting along at finding a prior windows (Intel-based) hard drive, to boot into & slap a hardware-cpu temp program on to monitor what the cpu temp is @ shutdown - bsod etc?

For now, this AwareClub splash/landing page has an FAQ & Troubleshooting by Model sticky's up top you can browse through for finer detail. I'll chime back in when I've thought your problem over more.

While you're busy looking into the cpu-cooler combo, let's turn to the power supply & video card(s).

Here, I've chimed in w/info on the correct video cable assignments, based on which of the three power supplies one might have:

• Area 51 ALX Video goes black once the machine warms up
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19608263

Note alot of the Dell Area-51 links don't work anymore (I honestly don't think they care about 'supporting' the old A-51 anymore, it's up to them to prove us wrong), so I've had to take umpteen minutes whipping a basic chart together.

*What vid-card(s) do you have?  

• if you have two, remove one for now
• if you have one card, blow out your pci-e slots & reseat it in a different slot for now, for testing
• use the cable-connector guide for correct card connections from psu &/or harness 
• if you have a spare card from your other pc, try it out during a Windows install, for testing

*Pull your motherboard 24pin & cpu 8pin out, reseat them

*Pull your black power supply modular bulk connector out & reseat it fully: its tough to get out & back in, there are tabs on both sides you must cinch 1st 

*Unplug your psu, hold your top power button down one minute, let rest 5 minutes, power back up: doing so might drain the caps from psu, who knows, may not help, can't hurt

9 out of 10 of your master i/o board wire harnesses have labels on them: compare to this mio chart I made, that whether you need this chart now or later, save it as reference:

*I can tell it might take a while to get you set up. Try to provide the info I request the past two days so others can get a feel for what's going on in there.

*Reaffirm you took a hard drive & tried to install Windows on it but it blue screens &/or shuts down before you ever reach the final desktop you've helped setup ... if you have a spare test drive w/windows setup, slap it in to get cpu temps like I recommended. It's tough to go over all this if you won't look at all options I lay out & report back.

I ran the ePSA diagnostics pre-boot assessment on my Aurora R4 the other day for the 1st time, & I noted it gave me cpu temps (I think). I also noted the interface is slightly different then Area-51's older ePSA, which I haven't run in like 15 months.

Here, you'll find a handy tool you need anyway:

• from Dell.com > Area-51 drivers page
• http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/alienware-area51/drivers
• diagnostics
• http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R267117

Carefully read the details on download & installation:

• create this file on media (cd/dvd/usb etc)
• boot into it
• run the assessment
• it checks most all system hardware & may in fact show cpu temp, can not say for sure
• may prove to be a valuable tool in your diagnosing your system
• you'll need it anyway down the road, might as well do it now

Of course Alienware has their own utube page for helpful tips on trouble-shooting & reinstalling Windows etc:

• https://www.youtube.com/user/Alienwareservices/videos

Note here a few people chimed in on reinstalling Windows:

• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19607997

You'll need to save all this info & links & go over it, since Area-51 can be a finicky handful of an Alien