Idk what to do. Help someone pls.

Wolferras · December 20, 2022

I have a alienware 17 r5 laptop and a fan had died so i bought and and replaced the fan. However while taking it apart carefully the tab where the monitor connect to the motherboard broke off

(metal plate with teeth that connects to ribbon. The teeth inside broke in half and the piece came off the mobo completely.)

Now my mobo has no slot for the monitor ribbon cable. Laptop works fine but i have no way of using the laptop monitor anymore. And when plugging a monitor in hdmi it doesnt work and im trying blindly with audio queues to try and project the display on it with no avail. I payed 3k+ for this laptop wome years ago and i rly dont want to leave it as a peper weight.... help please.

SpookyCitrus · December 20, 2022

Take it to a professional that does soldering and see if they can solder it back on. Otherwise you're out of luck. Also with some laptops the lid needs to be completely closed in order for an external display to work so if you have the laptop open when you're trying to use an external monitor that's probably why it isn't showing up. If it is closed then it's possible the sensor is controlled through the ribbon cable that is broken. If that's the case it's going to be tricky/near impossible to get it working again without fixing the motherboard ribbon header.

IkeaGnome · December 20, 2022

$18 part if you know how to solder. However, with how that got torn off, you need to go to a repair shop.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265614709223

Having a new connector in hand might make it easier to get a shop to repair it and make for a quicker turn around.

It's going to be a little bit of a pain for them to get the old connector to work right. It's doable, but you have pins that are very short now that ripped off your connector.

Bianks84 · December 20, 2022

12 minutes ago, Wolferras said:

Laptop works fine but i have no way of using the laptop monitor anymore. And when plugging a monitor in hdmi it doesnt work and im trying blindly with audio queues to try and project the display on it with no avail.

Agree with the two above saying it may be possible to repair, but in the meantime...

I have a lot of weird issues with displays and can help you troubleshoot this if you can give specific hardware details.

Can't promise anything but just know that displays can be weird especially with laptops.

I guess from you mentioning audio that the laptop boots to windows and you were trying to do stuff there?

Just to make sure, did you try different ports? Specifics on what display you are using along with cable and connection type can help here.

Year and model number can also help to narrow down the specs.

Best of luck!