Mulitiple problems with my m11x

I bought an m11x in September, upping it to the 8gb ram, 256 GB Samsung SSD, and the i7. Recently I've been having an issue where my laptop is trying to boot off the network and I get an error involving Atheros and insert boot disk. Since I don't boot off the network I regarded this is a problem. I called Dell after finding out Dell doesn't offer help for newer Alienware on their website. I got in touch with some genius in India who was insisting that it was my external optical drive and not something wrong with my computer (This guy literally had me restarting over and over again although I informed him getting into Safe Mode just wasn't working and that I'd tried already to select the hard drive from the bios to no avail.) It was during the moment that he put me on hold to get the go-ahead to have my external optical drive replaced that he hung up on me (or God decided to help me out and drop the call for me) that I was glad I didn't pay for the extended warranty since it's apparently useless. Presently the computer is working but I'd hesitate to say for good since it has gone from working to the same problem a few times now. I have reformatted and reinstalled all the drivers during two sessions that were separated by this malfunction.

This is what the problem looks like:
1. Press power button
2. 20-30 seconds later Alien logo shows up and bar loads
3. Black screen with blinking cursor for a few seconds
4. Atheros "insert boot disk press any key" error after the computer has tried to boot off the network

What the computer looks like when it's working
1. Press power button
2. 1 to 3 seconds later Alien logo shows up and bar loads
3. Black screen with blinking cursor for a few seconds
4. Starting windows for a few seconds
5. Log-in screen

When it's working the only problem I have so far is that the lights are permanently stuck on the blue I had it on right before I reformatted. (After I reformatted I installed CC from the disk (Before hearing about the very flawed issue with installing CC on the disk)) Since then I have uninstalled, reinstalled, CCleaned, installed various versions. All of them have the same issue of not showing my keyboard or zones. I don't want to overload so maybe just the main issue for now!

So far these are my notes regarding the booting issue:
1. Time and date are retained in Bios even when I can't boot up completely.
2. Sometimes in Bios and Setup the hard drive shows up and sometimes it doesn't.
3. I haven't noticed any pattern other than that when this occurs the laptop has been powered down for at least several hours. Although today it booted up fine and has been working after being down for 12+ hours.

I can provide any other information regarding my system or the symptoms if anyone thinks they could offer some advice.

I've been visiting this forum (but only recently registered) since I got my computer and admire how everyone helps each other due to the lack of real help provided by Dell. Not that I blame Dell, sadly almost all the computer companies it seems outsourced customer support to India and Dell probably has to just to stay competitive.

Also I've been looking around for a few days just to make sure this wouldn't be a redundant post and also apologize if solving this wouldn't help anyone other than me. I don't know a lot about computers, just more than the guys in India I guess.

Thanks,
Brandon.

 

What country are you in? Are you sure that outsourced support is all you're entitled to?

Did they have you run the on-board diagnostics? Since your drive is intermittently disappearing the first thing I look at is the drive itself. Any chance you can slap it into another system to test it there?

If you can establish that the drive is fine the the next thing to look at is the controller, which is built into the motherboard. Dell should be able to help you diagnose this sort of thing and if they can't figure out what the faulty component is definitively then they should at the very least start throwing parts at the problem - a motherboard and drive. If that doesn't fix the issue then push for a full system replacement.

EDIT: If you haven't already, you need to be very sure that you're documenting every single call, who you talked to, what was said, what steps they had you take to diagnose, etc., etc. By the sound of it this issue is probably going to be a headache to pursue with them due to its intermittent nature. If at any point you feel like they've given up on supporting you properly then take it up the chain until you're getting the service you paid for.

 

I'm in America. I couldn't find an email address and they don't support live-chat for Alienware which led me to a phone number that goes to India.

I have run diagnostics several times which turns up nothing wrong.

Thanks for the advice, I was hoping could solve this w/o those guys because I hate getting treated like garbage and since I've been traveling I don't have the time to sit down with them for days and days while they put me on hold in between sessions of pressing F8 rapidly. If the problem persists then next month I'll have to call them again when I'm back home.

 

I cannot stress this enough. Don't call Dell, call Alienware.

 

Thanks a lot I'll try that number and hopefully get this resolved. What I meant by that is that if you go to the Dell website and try to do live chat, it says they don't support online chat for Alienware and to call the help line.

 

Alienware has its own support channels. You contact them, and not Dell, to get Alienware issues resolved.

Alienware is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell, and not just a brand. That means that Alienware still operates and acts as a separate entity from Dell. They just happen to share the same bank account.

 

Kind of like how the Federation commands Captain Kirk, but Kirk will always take the Enterprise where it doesn't belong and do his own cool thing? ...I love Alienware.

Barl, have you tried running a good thorough ScanDisk on the drive? Maybe try scanning for bad sectors, etc? Or like Slickie88 said, hook that drive up to another computer or laptop and test from there. When I upgraded my drive over the weekend, I noticed there are three main partitions: the OEM one, "Recovery" and my main Windows installation with the boot info. Maybe one of the prior two is messed up.

 

So I just got back from a several day trip and decided to get back to solving some of my m11x issues. You will probably laugh at how I solved the lights problem but here it is:

1. Open Command Center
2. Press theme
3. New theme
4. Problem solved, feel like an idiot.

Now I'm working on the hard drive and found that the recovery partition was heavily fragmented. Hoping I can find more problems to fix and then I can finally rest my head at night with ease. Everything checks out fine in diagnostics, I know it's the hard drive and am going to do everything I can to fix it and make sure it works for me every time I boot up.

 

While I agree that contacting AW support is the way to go for Alienware owners, I'd say that your characterization of the Dell/Alienware relationship is misleading.

Alienware leverages Dell's supply, support, distribution and organization systems in such a way that there really isn't any distinction between them or Dell in these areas. There might very well be some level autonomy going on somewhere, perhaps design to a large degree and certainly in terms of AW having their own management team.

It's a Dell product in terms of the major components that are available to build Alienware branded system. That means LCD panels, memory, CPUs, drives, etc.

It's a Dell in terms of who manufactures and assembles the finished product.

It's a Dell in terms of the support you get. Yes, there are support teams that are focused on the Alienware product line, and that is a very important difference for AW product owners. Beyond that it really is Dell in that support policies, on-site contacted repairs, the quality of training, etc. is all Dell.

Whatever the case may really be when you get down to the minutia, the fact is that the company we've purchased a product from is really Dell in just about every aspect that matters to us as owners of an Alienware branded product.