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    15 R2 / 17 R3 BIOS A03

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Game7a1, Nov 17, 2015.

  1. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...alienware-15-r2&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI
    So... yeah, a lot of notes this time.
     
    Game7a1, Nov 17, 2015
    #1
    Tony V likes this.
  2. ccsasuke

    ccsasuke Notebook Enthusiast

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    Updated to A03 today. Unable to boot afterwards (BSOD with message: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE).
    After a call with tech support for 2 hours, it turns out I have to turn off secure boot or do a clean re-installation of Windows.
     
    ccsasuke, Nov 18, 2015
    #2
  3. raiden87

    raiden87 Notebook Evangelist

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    for those of u who got the same error:

    u just have to swap the sata configuration (in bios under advanced) to ahci again. after bios update it changes automaticly to raid, which wont work if u dont have a raid setup.
     
    raiden87, Nov 18, 2015
    #3
  4. Welshmousepk

    Welshmousepk Notebook Consultant

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    I just updated without any issues. 15r2, skylake version.
     
    Welshmousepk, Nov 18, 2015
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  5. raiden87

    raiden87 Notebook Evangelist

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    then u have setup ur system with raid setting ;) its enabled by default if u get the laptop
     
    raiden87, Nov 18, 2015
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  6. Welshmousepk

    Welshmousepk Notebook Consultant

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    wouldn't raid imply multiple drives?
     
    Welshmousepk, Nov 18, 2015
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  7. Tony V

    Tony V Notebook Consultant

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    No, the "raid" setting in bios will work with a single drive and act as AHCI, there is no disadvantage having it set to raid instead of AHCI. Say you have your OS installed on the 1 TB HDD and later on you buy 2 x 250gb SSD drives for the M.2 slots.

    If your bios is set to AHCI and you set it to RAID you will have problems booting your OS unless you change some things in the registry of windows.

    BIOS RAID (recommended) - can be used with single drive, and/or used to setup raid array with multiple drive

    BIOS AHCI - can only be used with a single drive
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2015
    Tony V, Nov 18, 2015
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  8. ccsasuke

    ccsasuke Notebook Enthusiast

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    It was also set to RAID before the flash.
     
    ccsasuke, Nov 18, 2015
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  9. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Alienware-L_Porras, Nov 19, 2015
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  10. Punisher5.0

    Punisher5.0 Notebook Geek

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    Very nice update. I'm glad they fixed some important things. I'm going to hold for now though to see if anything else gets affected.
     
    Punisher5.0, Nov 19, 2015
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  11. CJ.Jacobs

    CJ.Jacobs Notebook Enthusiast

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    CJ.Jacobs, Nov 19, 2015
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  12. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Game7a1, Nov 19, 2015
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  13. mertymen2010

    mertymen2010 Notebook Consultant

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    Update. No issues. AW 17 R3
     
    mertymen2010, Nov 21, 2015
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  14. CountingCrows

    CountingCrows Notebook Geek

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    You do not need to change any registry settings. It is very simple.

    Run msconfig, choose SAFE mode. Restart and change from AHCI to RAID in BIOS. Your drive will work fine and RAID drivers will load. Run msconfig again and remove SAFE mode option. Reboot. That is it.
     
    CountingCrows, Nov 21, 2015
    #14
  15. nelamvr6

    nelamvr6 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I flashed the new BIOS. The flash went smoothly, no issues, but now my boot time has gone from about 20 seconds to about 45 seconds.
     
    nelamvr6, Nov 21, 2015
    #15
  16. nelamvr6

    nelamvr6 Notebook Enthusiast

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    EDIT: I take it back! My boot times were quite slow for the first few times I booted, but now they're back to normal. Interesting...
     
    nelamvr6, Nov 21, 2015
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  17. SlashNLennon

    SlashNLennon Notebook Geek

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    I have just purchase a new alienware 17 r3.. I still haven't touched its bios.. how can I know what bios I am currently running? and is it recommended for me to update to the latest bios as of now?
    do I need to upgrade it version by version until I reached the latest or can I just directly upgrade to the latest available bios in dells website??
     
    SlashNLennon, Jan 10, 2016
    #17