iFixit - Answers With Device "Dell Alienware 15 Series"

Dell Alienware M15 R4: Keys needing hard presses to activate after "never" using the keyboard

Tue, 19 May 2026 12:08:44 -0700

I have an M15 R4 that sat int he corner of my cubicle at work and I would remote into it using Windows Remote Desktop. About the only time I ever "used" it as a computer was during a few weeks when my Dell was in the shop. Beyond that, I have barely ever even typed on the keyboard.

Now that I go to try (getting ready to sell it), I find many keys do not respond. I have to really press forcefully to get them to show up. I assume this may have been caused by dust settling in over the years. It is the only laptop I have ever had that this has happened to (and my first laptop was purchased in 1995).

I don't even eat Cheetos while typing on it.

Is this a common issue with Dell keyboards?

Dell Alienware m15 R7: My Dell Alienware m15 R7 shows black screen on AC boot, as OS boots

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:47:56 -0700

Alienware laptop shows a black screen (backlight on) while system continues running (audio plays, fans active).

More likely when powering on with AC adapter connected
Less frequent when booting on battery first
Occurs during normal use (e.g., video playback)

Boot on battery
Wait briefly
Plug in AC after system stabilizes

This significantly reduces the issue.

Updated drivers via Dell SupportAssist
Reinstalled graphics drivers
Ran hardware diagnostics (no issues)
Disabled sleep / adjusted power settings
Replaced battery

Issue started after heavy GPU usage with Topaz Video AI.

Question

Has anyone encountered this behavior?

Is this a known hybrid GPU / power-state issue?
Did factory reset resolve it?
Any permanent fix besides the workaround?

⟐ Edited by author April 20, 2026 at 9:47 MST

Dell Alienware m15 R7: My Gpu fan kick to 100% everytime

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 10:44:23 -0700

hey my dell alienware gpu fan is spinning at 100% all the time. i try to reset the windows, its not working. it kick to 100% right when i press power button

Dell Alienware 15 R3: Battery is not working

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 08:04:09 -0700

My laptop is not working on charge.When I plug out my charger from my laptop,my laptop automatic shut down.I have to open my laptop with my charger plug in.Is it possible to fix?

⟐ Answer accepted July 14, 2025 at 8:04 MST

Dell Alienware m15 R7 AMD: Touch is not working properly

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 02:14:32 -0700

Touch is not working properly,it have some issue on touching 2 fingers parallel its give no response

Alienware 15 R2: Screen takes a while to boot up

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:13:18 -0700

So I have just installed a new battery and when I go to power on my device the screen takes a couple minutes to turn on. All the lights turn on immediately so I'm not sure what's causing the issue. Also I'm pretty new to working on computers

Alienware m15 R6: Why my pc wont turn on after sleep, like its totally dead

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 12:37:25 -0700

Sometimes Im working with my pc then i go to some place so i just put it on sleep manually or just close it, then when i come back i try to turn it on it wont, like its dead, i tried all what those youtube videos say but nothing worked so i just removed the battery and then attached it again and it worked.

i need a solution to this

⟐ Commented July 12, 2024 at 12:37 MST

Alienware m15 R6: Video_tdr_failure on battery only

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 22:48:18 -0700

Hi have problem with my alienware, most of the times i try doing something without charger plug in the Video_tdr_failure BSOD pop up

⟐ Commented March 28, 2024 at 22:48 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R2: plugged a usb in to my laptop and just went dead

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 09:49:48 -0700

I have same problem as above, plugged a usb in to my laptop and just went dead no lights, but when I plug the power cable in the light is a blue circle.

Is their a schematic for the 15 r2 — AAP21 LA-CI2P

Rev: 2.

0 ( A01)

2015-10 - 01

⟐ Answer edited September 15, 2023 at 9:49 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R2: USB Ports shutting off

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 19:45:32 -0700

The other day i was playing a pretty demanding game on my lab top when suddenly it made both usb ports nonfunctioning. Headphones and a mouse shut off. Made the battery % drop to 6% and throw the screen into dim mode. What would be the root of the issue? would this be in need of a replacement battery? currently while typing this the battery shows charging on and off.

⟐ Commented August 15, 2023 at 19:45 MST

Alienware m15 R6: Alienware m15 r6 speaker no sound and ticking

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 06:23:43 -0700

Since perhaps half a year ago, the internal speaker on my Alienware m15 r6(bought in Jan 2021) starting to lost its sound and instead making an almost inaudible ticking sound around once every second.

Initially it would go back to functional if I either (a)change to a external Bluetooth speaker or (b)just leave it there with audio going, both for about an hour.

Recently it has turn completely quiet, other than the ticking, and the two method above no longer works. I assume there's definitely something wrong with the speaker elements as both the 3.5mm jack and the Bluetooth function are perfectly fine.

I would like to know if any other owner of my model meets such problem, and what might be a fix for it? Thanks.

⟐ Commented July 01, 2023 at 6:23 MST

Dell Alienware M15 R3: Why is the power button switching colors?

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 14:51:32 -0700

Model: Alienware M15 R3

Service Manual: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-...

Issue: When I press the power button, it lights up in different colors and shuffling through them until I press and hold the power button again for about 8 seconds to turn it off. The fans do not turn on and the display doesn't show up. I also tried an external monitor, with same results. I've reseated the battery, SSD (x2) and same issue. I’ve tried this with the charger plugged in, with and without the battery installed, but same issue. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

⟐ Commented June 15, 2023 at 14:51 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R3: My backspace button doesn’t work anymore

Fri, 19 May 2023 21:23:20 -0700

I bought it used from a trusted eBay seller and the backspace key worked for a while but stopped have to use macro keys to use backspace how can I fix this?

Dell Alienware M15 R1: Can anyone provide a full guide with this PC?

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 20:07:13 -0700

I've owned this device since 2018, and it hasn't had any problems yet. However, recently my hard drive started to fail after 5 years of owning it. I am relatively new here, and I would like to know all the tool kits that are required to disassemble the system, replace the hard drive and SSD, as well as upgrade the RAM and repaste the heat sink. I've watched some YouTube tutorials, but they aren't fully in-depth for a newbie. I would also like to know which hard drives, SSDs, and RAM sticks are compatible with the device. Thank you so much for your time!

⟐ Commented March 09, 2023 at 20:07 MST

Alienware M15x: M15x Upgrade TO THE MAX :D 2016

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 07:44:44 -0700

a friendly heads up, i am very dyslexia so my grammar and spelling is poor. thank you as well for taking the time to read and post. plz dont post pointless comments about my typing skill OR " just get a new labtop" ***

looking to just upgrade my M15x much as possible as a project ( cuz i like learning :3 n tinkering ) will list what it has and what i done so far with questions. the point of this post is see every possible upgrade i could do then do it. i dont however wana do big moding jobs on it, but i am ok with small ones. i have taken apart the computer 3 times to clean,upgrade and just paint the outside.

BUILD

started with > done > Next upgrade?

also ok upgrading upgrades i already done, like my CPU *

OS: Windows 7 >Windows 7( fresh install) and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

CPU: i7-720QM 1.6 GHz L3 6MB > i7-920XM 2GHz L3 8MB > Next upgrade?

GPU: GeForce GT 240M ( this need a huge upgrade )

RAM:2x 1gbs > 2x 4GB 1.33v > next upgrade? ( read below )

MOTHER: intel PM55 Express chipset CPU socket : BGA1288 /socket G1

STORAGE: HD 250Gb > SSD 500Gb

ETC: missing charger and battery > got both from online

Commets/Questions

OS: would puting windows 8.1 be a good idea? ( i hate win10 soooo much)

CPU: what is better GHz or the cacha? like 2GHZ L3 8mb VS 2.8GHz L3 4mb, the 2.8GHZ also runs at a lower watts ( 55 >35) but also has a GPU on it may need a heat sink mod so both tops get love. also not fully get what makes a cpu work or not work with a motherboard then the chipset? googled n got chipset for some site to see what CPUs it can use cuz it only asked for whats the chipset.

GPU: easy this is the most behinde part of the labtop and what is the best upgrade can i do with this? seems ubuntu likes nvidia more then ATI but if ATI has a much better card then i am willing to suck up with lil bad drivers still ubtuntu gets a good ones for ATI

RAM: got two 4Gbs on it, people say they are doing 16gbs with two 8gbs. some say its pure luck if it works or not..... this cant be true that its lucky. has to be a way to know what will work. the motherboard has the volt options for ram 1.5V 1.6V 1.7V

its also DDR3 and memory frequency is 1333 MHZ

MOTHER: petty sure i cant upgrade this lol. i did however upgrade the BIOs A02 to A09. got ton better at cooling. this labtop was my friends that gave me it, had huge heating issues. not agisnt modded BIOs too but what i found seem to not be much better then the A09 stock

STORAGE: hard drive to SSD. i know i will get a 1tb or more to give better room to both windows n ubtuntu. right now i got 2 500gbs, one windows 7 the other is ubuntu. what is the fastest storage and is it wroth it?

ETC: when i got this. didnt have a battery or a charger, got both on ebay. both was ever used and in great shap. labtop runs with 150v right now too. cooling wise. it ran SOOOOO HOT but the huge BIOs update fixed it. now its not even close to how hot it was. now sits at 60 to 70 on cpu. the gpu is runing at 50. both temp checks are aftering idling on tf2 for HOURS, like 4. i also added lil legs to the back of it n added a vent right over the top of CPU n GPU. cooling wise is great so if any upgrades make it got alot hotter, will be ok. i even got fully new heat sinks for both cpu n gpu ( and yes added new thermal paste, it was sooo dry n crusty)

The End

Thank you for reading and dealing with my poor grammar n spelling. i hope i learn alot from this post :3 thank you to everyone who posted n share their though n info

⟐ Answered December 24, 2022 at 7:44 MST

Dell Alienware M15 R3: Can I move an SSD to another slot when it is in a RAID 0 configuration

Sat, 12 Nov 2022 08:24:51 -0700

The storage on this device is 512 gb using 2 2230 ssds in a RAID 0 configuration. The only problem that dell put these 2 2230 ssds in the only 2 2280 slots in the laptop. It does have a 3rd slot only for 2230. I was wondering, if I move lets say slot 2 (one of the 2230) to the empty slot 3. Will that mess up the RAID 0 array? I want to add a new 2TB ssd, so that is why I am wanting to free a 2280 slot.

⟐ Answered November 12, 2022 at 8:24 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R3: Screen flickering right part of the screen

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 06:17:49 -0700

Hello , I have a problem with my laptop i don’t know what cause this problem and i just wanna know if this a software problem or hardware problem maybe cable or the entire screen is now broken

here is the video showing the screen problem Video 1 Video 2

Thanks

⟐ Answer accepted October 25, 2022 at 6:17 MST

Alienware 15 R2: Windows doesn't boot after installing integrated GPU drivers

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 06:26:54 -0700

After turning on the laptop boot starts and it comes up to Windows logo and dots underneath spinning after that it stucks. When i am disabling Intel HD graphics from safe mode windows boots well. I try to install a clean windows and drivers, but it didnt help.

When Intel HD graphics disabled laptop working normally, even i can play games with the other graphics card RTX 2060.

Laptop model: Alienware M15 R2

Cpu: I7 8750H

Gpu: RTX 2060

⟐ Commented October 05, 2022 at 6:26 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R3: Speaker on laptop is busted

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 03:32:15 -0700

How can i replace the spaeaker from my alienware laptop? Is there any step by step?

⟐ Commented August 31, 2022 at 3:32 MST

Dell Alienware 15 R2: Need schematics urgently please

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 07:16:49 -0700

This laptop won't turn on after a power cut. When the charger is plugged in the power brick light goes out. I felt a mosfet get hot so I removed it and when the charger is plugged in the brick light stays on. I replaced the mosfet but goes back to the same issue

⟐ Commented August 30, 2022 at 7:16 MST