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    Alienware 15 R3 bootup problem

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Razor2, Jan 3, 2019.

  1. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    Maybe someone has an idea what this could be:

    My 15 R3 is out of warranty, and started to act weirdly 2 days ago:
    - Shutdown did not go through, lights were still on, so I turned it off by pressing the power button
    - Since then, when it is turned on, the lights turn on, but it shows a black screen for about 20 seconds, that it comes to the alienware screen and then tries to load windows. The windows loading takes ages, and sometimes it even freezes.
    - The problem is that sometimes it freezes on the alienware screen doing nothing at all. (not even the windows loading dots)
    - Sometimes it seems to turn off right after power on, and then it turns back on.

    The first guess was that the NVME SSD is dead, but after replacing it with a brand new one, and starting to install windows on it the problems were the same, it also corrupted the brand new windows installation after a bluescreen.

    The bios (uefi) works fine and the diagnostics shows no problems, but my guess is that the mainboard has been damaged. Would this show in the diagnostics?
     
    Razor2, Jan 3, 2019
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  2. cruisin5268d

    cruisin5268d Notebook Evangelist

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    It certainly sounds like something is wonky under the hood. My initial thought was the hard drive but you’re describing an issue before / during POST.


    The ePSA diagnostics don’t actually check every possible component. For some components like hard drives it can run a quick scan but that’s not very definitive. What it does look for is components that have error reporting like S.M.A.R.T. with hard drives.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone post that epsa turned up any useful results other than a HDD failure (which could just have easily been determined from within Windows)


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    cruisin5268d, Jan 3, 2019
    #2
  3. c69k

    c69k Notebook Deity

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    @Razor2

    Did this happen right after a new Bios flash ??? ( I hope not ... )

    I ask specifically, because I have had this issue after a fresh Bios flash and also many other Alienware owners.
     
    c69k, Jan 3, 2019
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  4. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Vasudev, Jan 3, 2019
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  5. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    The BIOS was not flashed. Its still the 1.06
     
    Razor2, Jan 3, 2019
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  6. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Windows update can push BIOS updates as firmware updates.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 3, 2019
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  7. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    No, I checked its on 1.06
     
    Razor2, Jan 3, 2019
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  8. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Try reset to defaults in BIOS and see if that helps.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 3, 2019
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  9. Razor2

    Razor2 Notebook Deity

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    Tried, still the same.
     
    Razor2, Jan 3, 2019
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  10. Muezick

    Muezick Notebook Evangelist

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    Call Dell.

    If its a non hardware related repair, like reflashing BIOS or something (I've seen it before) you basically have to pay the shipping both ways. Can save yourself a lot of hassle.
     
    Muezick, Jan 3, 2019
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  11. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    99% of the time Dell will send it back like it was saying/quoting Works as advertised No issue.
    Doing a BIOS recovery is the best option for Razor2.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 4, 2019
    #11