Dell Alienware m15, Service Manual

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Safety instructions
Use the following safety guidelines to protect your computer from potential damage and ensure your personal safety.
WARNING: Before working inside your computer, read the safety information that shipped with your computer. For
more safety best practices, see the Regulatory Compliance home page at
www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance .
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 electrical outlet.
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.
CAUTION: You should only perform troubleshooting and repairs as authorized or directed by the Dell technical
assistance team. Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty. See the
safety instructions that shipped with the product or at
www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance .
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 ports and connectors are correctly oriented and aligned.
CAUTION: Press and eject any installed card from the media-card reader.
Electrostatic discharge—ESD protection
ESD is a major concern when you handle electronic components, especially sensitive components such as expansion cards,
processors, memory DIMMs, and system boards. Very slight charges can damage circuits in ways that may not be obvious, such
as intermittent problems or a shortened product life span. As the industry pushes for lower power requirements and increased
density, ESD protection is an increasing concern.
Due to the increased density of semiconductors used in recent Dell products, the sensitivity to static damage is now higher than
in previous Dell products. For this reason, some previously approved methods of handling parts are no longer applicable.
Two recognized types of ESD damage are catastrophic and intermittent failures.
• Catastrophic – Catastrophic failures represent approximately 20 percent of ESD-related failures. The damage causes an
immediate and complete loss of device functionality. An example of catastrophic failure is a memory DIMM that has
received a static shock and immediately generates a "No POST/No Video" symptom with a beep code emitted for missing
or nonfunctional memory.
• Intermittent – Intermittent failures represent approximately 80 percent of ESD-related failures. The high rate of
intermittent failures means that most of the time when damage occurs, it is not immediately recognizable. The DIMM
receives a static shock, but the tracing is merely weakened and does not immediately produce outward symptoms related to
the damage. The weakened trace may take weeks or months to melt, and in the meantime may cause degradation of
memory integrity, intermittent memory errors, etc.
The more difficult type of damage to recognize and troubleshoot is the intermittent (also called latent or "walking wounded")
failure.
Perform the following steps to prevent ESD damage:
• Use a wired ESD wrist strap that is properly grounded. The use of wireless anti-static straps is no longer allowed; they do
not provide adequate protection. Touching the chassis before handling parts does not ensure adequate ESD protection on
parts with increased sensitivity to ESD damage.
• Handle all static-sensitive components in a static-safe area. If possible, use anti-static floor pads and workbench pads.
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