Alienware Alpha (Steam OS) - Flashing yellow lights

I've been on an HP forum where people are experiencing their machines being "bricked" by Windows 10. I happen to be one of them. After a recent Windows 10 update, one of my laptops now will not boot unless I fully drain the power, remove the battery and wait a day or more. 

I don't know if the problems are related, but I wonder if the yellow flashing light issue is restricted to Alienware machines running Windows 10.

I have not yet received the Alienware Alpha I ordered, but I don't want another expensive brick.

Still not working after repair.  That's bad news.    I just sent mine back to be fixed this weekend.  Sounds like Dell may not really know what is causing the problem.  Either that or you got a replacement motherboard from the same batch as your original one.   Others have reported no longer having a problem after repair, but there are only a handful  reported on this forum, so there isn't a lot of data to go on.

Have you tried disconnecting the CMOS battery for 10mins before plugging it back in? That's what I and several others have done and had no problem afterwards.

Adding to the pile of comments on this issue:

I'm just now experiencing the flashing yellow alien head of death.

It flashes 5 times.

Not related to WindowsAnything, since my steam machine has Linux on it.

the unit is plugged into a functioning surge protector.

I have not tried any of the suggested fixes yet (though I have just now unplugged it from the power source (though i don't know what power drain there is to speak of, if it's a NUC with no battery (beyond the CMOS battery)))

It is not encouraging to read that replacing the main motherboard and reinstalling the OS does not fix the problem. I had my reservations about purchasing a Dell, and I'm loathe to discover my suspicions confirmed.

It is not a good sign that this might be such a widespread problem they are back ordered on parts.

I am expecting a more comprehensive response and resolution about this from Alienware/Dell beyond the copypasta'd Try This™ which periodically gets posted.

This is a good box when it works. I am disappoint.

DELL replaced motherboard in ours, and no recurrences since. It got sent to a repair shop in Poland, but the process was swift once it got started.

Getting it started was a nightmare, but that's been reported to DELL. Basically once I got through to the person who does AlienWare replacements it was fine, so basically use the priority support  number from the website, and make sure you have the right person...

This is our 3rd round of the flashing-yellow light of death.  Nothing, on our own, so far has permanently repaired the issue,  So I guess I'll go the route of contacting Dell Support, dreading that nightmare!

What a waste of time and money the unit is only 4 months old!!! 

Yeah, my system was never fixed. The flashing yellow lights came back about a month or two later. Also, the mouse and keyboard that came with the Alpha completely gave up on me recently. Had to get those replaced. Very disappointed, I love this machine when it's working. Will be sending it back.

Oh and they told me I can't get a refund nor can I get a replacement.

When asked "What the *** am I supposed to do when this thing breaks again in December, when my warranty expires?" they said "We don't know. I don't have an answer for you sir. We'll just have to keep trying to fix it until then".

*** customer service.

This hasn't worked for me. I'm still getting the yellow flashing light.

Is there a fix?

Is there even any information about what the flashing yellow light means? (It flashes 5 times, repeatedly, so telling me what 3 flashes means isn't any use to me). If not, why not?

I'm regretting buying an Alienware now, and should have gone with a self build.

Contact your credit card or debit card people. You may be able to get them to deal with forcing a refund for you.

I found why it five yellow light it link to 2 super speed USB ports in rear system stop using SS usb and the issue will stop.

Not really an answer, but look to You Tube.  That's where I found two videos that had a some what simple repair.  It works until there's a power outage.  Then we have to unplug from the wall as well as from the PC and leave unplug for a few hours.  Then plug back in and the system re-starts operating normally.  I'm always waiting for the day on an explanation from Dell or whomever.   And YES WE DO REGRET OUR ALIENWARE PURCHASE!  How do you take away a gift you gave to someone for Christmas?

@Chouchers.  How did you arrive at your conclusion that the issue stems from the rear "super speed" USB ports?

I've had my Alpha for about 2 weeks and got my first yellow light of death. After unplugging it for about 90 minutes, I was able to get it to boot. It booted to the BIOS and I ran diagnostics. Nothing wrong, but when I went into BIOS settings, the clock was reset. This points to a BIOS or CMOS issue. After booting into Windows 10, I noticed that my ANT+ USB stick plugged into the USB port on the back of the machine no longer worked. Moved it to a front port, and it worked fine. Have to do more testing but could be related to the rear USB ports. I also found a post on another forum about disabling deep sleep control in the BIOS as a fix. Another post mentioned a forced shutdown as a cause of the problem. Interestingly, my machine died after a forced shutdown during a Windows update. Few things to check out.