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Alienware m18x R2 restore -- Respawn porocess completed, but didn't fix the problem.... need a complete new re-install of OS
Anyone experienced this? Or knows the correct steps?
I'll try to get straight to the point, it always seems so easy, but it never works out the way it should ....
I saw the Alienware video on YouTube on recovering the factory image Restoring the image process didn't fix it. New install needs to be done. But, it can't see the hard drive...
Background: I got the Alienware m18x R2 laptop for a few months. Due to getting more and more frequent "blue screens of death" when running any software, I decided to use Respawn to "recover" the factory image. (Of course, I never did a first time back up and setting another restore point.) I was able to select the only available image -- factory image of October 2012. It ran through it's restore process and then during the restart it just goes into an eternal loop. (Seems like whatever slowed down the OS also ruined image that was used for the restore.)
No doubt -- looks like a totally new install of the OS. So, I re-booted and using F12 booted from the Alienware Windows 7 64-bit OS DVD as per this link ...
It went through to end of Step 5. Step 6 is a blank list. There's no hard drive listed. It tells me to click the option "Load drivers". To browse for it, there's only two options: the DVD drive or an "X:" location. I checked pretty much all the directories and none has the "signed" drivers it is looking for.
What do I do now?
CC56
AndrewSi
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January 7th, 2013 16:00
Have you checked to see if the drives are registering in the system BIOS (Press F2 on startup)
If they are, have you tried resetting the system BIOS to default.
Or perhaps check the system BIOS to see what file system it is using (AHCI, UEFI ect) It should be set to ACHI for windows 7 unless you have a RAID config
Also maybe turning off secure boot in system BIOS will help.
If this fails call Dell and drill them, this is an M18xR2 so it should still be under warranty
NataliaatAW
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January 8th, 2013 10:00
Exactly as Andrew is saying, disable the secure boot. Here's how you do it:
1- Go to the Bios.
2- Go to the Boot tab.
3- Verify Secure boot state: enabled should be active
4- Change Secure boot from Enable to Disable
5- Save and Exit Bios
6- Go to finish installation.
CC56
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February 11th, 2013 08:00
Thanks for the suggestions. (Sorry, I took so long to try the solution ... I was busy with my "non-computer" job project.)
I guess this sort of worked...
I changed the BIOS setting. In the Boot Tab, there's only the devices that I can change up and down. The only place where I can change the AHCI is in the SATA in the Advance tab. (It was initially set to RAID. So, I tried changiing it to AHCI.)
As I go through with the Windows 7 Install/boot disk, it now sees the drive (and its various drive partitions). I chose the biggest partition (420+ Gigs) and installed the OS there.
BUT the original was a RAID configuration. Now that I've changed that to ACIH, am I losing out on performance or anything?
Still perplexed as to why wouldn't the the Windows 7 install process doesn't see the drive if the BIOS setting is for RAID?
(Oh, BTW .. in Dell.com Article ID : 439236, Step Four - "Check RAID status" is a dead link.)