Alienware 15 R2 doesn't recognize the M2 drive

Hi everyone,

I have an Alienware 15 R2. The laptop comes with a hdd bay and 2 M2 connections.
When I installed the M2 drive, the laptop switched on, I heard 8 beeps and then the system booted normally.

However the laptop doesn't see the drive, I'm not talking about windows, I am talking about the BIOS.

The other strange thing is that the drive feels extremely hot, I mean it's impossible to touch, I have to wait a couple of minutes to remove the drive.

It's the second drive that has that same problem, I'm not sure if it's problem with the laptop or just a case of bad batch of drives.

Could you tell me how to tell whether the problem is with the drive or the laptop.

 

Sounds like your mainboard has a short in that port. If something gets REALLY warm then that is typically a short. When opening the mainboard could you make a picture (as detailed as possible) around the m2 slot?

 

Hi,

There is one thing that I should note, I was told that the machine was Alienware 15 R2, but I believe that it is an Alienware 15, R1 or the first version. Either way it was originally purchased in April of 2015.

I have taken photos of the mainboard, as well as the disk and the screw that holds the drive.

Physically it doesn't look like there's anything wrong with any of the parts in question, but I have no experience in the matter.

The screw is the only thing that I can think of, the disk didn't come with a screw, so I took a screw from an old Inspiron machine, it was used to hold the wireless adapter.

Apart from that everything looks good.

Is it possible that the problem is with the drive?

Because the two drives that I have used were the same brand and from the same shop. So maybe it's a defective batch or something?

 

Its a AW15R1 for sure. Easy to see, the R2 has copper heatspreaders underneath the SSD bays.

Regarding the drive, make sure it is not an nvme drive.

 

@okozlovski Your drive is PCIe MVMe drive. Doesn't fit older AW Echo models.

 

So will achi drive work?

 

Any M.2 2280 ssd will work so long it isn't PCIe-NVMe model. Aka Sata 3.0
See recommended SSD'S

 

Ok, I'm currently in Mexico and the choice of M2 SSDs is quite limited here.

Here's a one that I found on a local clone of eBay, will this work:

The seller said that it is ACHI, instead of the
NVME that I had for the precious one

Ssd M2 Adata Axns381e-256gm-b 2280




Also, another question.

Does anyone know where I can find the model number of the laptop?

I only have the service tag and on the DELL website the service tag just says that it's Alienware 15.

And the guy selling the disk needs the model number.

 

Thats the model number alienware 15 R1

 

It will work if Dell's bios accept the model aka it's compatible. The interface is correct.

For definitely compatibility... Samsung SSD PM851 M.2 2280 256 / 512GB. Or ask @rinneh what other options is ok for this laptop.

See above

 

The Samsung SSD PM851 M.2 2280 256 / 512GB would indeed be a good option for this laptop. The Crucial non NVME drives as well.

 

Samsung EVO 850 m.2 is good too and worth every penny.