Aurora R4 Windows 8 Upgrade

What Intel processor is installed in your Aurora?

Have you tried clean install from ISO file ? ... either DVD-R or bootable USB.

Have you seen this:

support.dell.com/.../document

and this:

en.community.dell.com/.../19472961.aspx

My processor is the intel i7 3930k at 3.2 Ghz. I don't seem to have the option of disabling secure boot in the bios.

My processor is the intel i7 3930k at 3.2 Ghz. I don't seem to have the option of disabling secure boot in the bios.

If you want me to assist, post your e-mail to me in a private message and I'll send you how I got it to work for me. :)

You can disable secure boot in by changing the boot priority from a UEFI to Legacy; however that still won't fix you're problem.  You will also have to delete the partition along with recovery partition and any other partitions on the hard drive.  Once you do that as long as your hard drive is 2TB or less you will be able to install it.  It's a and Dell makes it seem like it's simple to just disable UEFI security boot which it isn't.  If you don't want to lose any of your recovery information etc, than you're best sticking with Windows 7. I hope this helps.

PS - We ended up deleting everything on the 3TB hard drive that came with my system and using another hard drive I had that was 2TBs to install Windows 8.  If your hard drive is more than 2TB Windows has protocols in place that prevent you from installing on the drive.

Good luck!

I had the same problem installing Windows 8, and as above, had to delete the whole drive to get Win8 to install.

I tried all the other methods, ISO,CLEAN and USB boot options.

I suggest trying to disable any hard drive you want to keep ( unplug ) and taking this window ( no pun intended ) of opportunity to add an SSD, even a small one will do, just to install Win8 on to. Or maybe another old "sacrificial" drive?

You will need to install Win7 on the new SSD first, with your old OS backup stuff, so that the sacrificial "upgrade" can be offered :)

Just a note, I haven't tried this method but It seems Win8 upgrade option leaving all your old stuff intact is the issue, not only with this system, I have seen other similar comments when hunting for a solution and I didn't get an answer that worked,so I just took the bull by the horns and let Win8 use my C drive, after 2 days of trying was pretty fed up,I have got an SSD on-board that was booting Win7 OK, I had tried using that, but Win8 wanted my C drive and in this instance I had not labelled the SSD "C"  so I think that was why I couldn't use my SSD, I'm no expert and this is only what I have found, I'm sure there is a proper solution out there, but I didn't find it.

Deleting my C drive wasn't a big problem for me as most stuff was backed up to an external hard drive,the problem is the external drive is obviously a USB one,so there is my problem, which is why I came to this forum, lol.

It seems also the bios AO4 needs an upgrade to AO6,so that maybe my USB issue,as the new USB Win8 driver wont install.

Thinking about it, perhaps the bios needs a AO6 upgrade before Win8 install??  But then it might not work on Win7 before the new install?? lol...no idea...over to Dells experts....Im sure they will work it out eventually?

Hope this is some help anyway :) Good Luck.

ok,I upgraded bios driver AO4 to AO5 then AO6 then my problems really started. DON'T RECOMMEND UPDATE BIOS TO AO6   as AO6 and Win8 is not a happy marriage. AO5 seemed fine with Win8 still,but I didn't try it in depth.

In the end, even after no solution from Tech help, they said will get back to me,as no other suggestions yet, I removed all my old hard drives and used a new ssd 128GB to install Win7 from backup CD,that seems to have got me back  to using computer.

Still issues with USB's but trying to rebuild drivers etc, just wanted to get the notice about the AO6 on here asap.

Oh,forgot to mention the REALLY IMPORTANT bit, it seems you can't, at the moment anyway, roll back the bios from AO6 to AO5 or AO3 and cant even find AO4

so once you take the plunge and install AO6 your stuck till Dell or someone fixes it : (  believe me its so unstable and whatever I do Win8 will not install at the moment.

Yes, ,me to have update my Aurora R4 bios to A06 and this is bugging me up to now. my pc cannot detect the SSD now during boot. I had to run the diagnostics to make it detect and after that its working fine until the next cold boot. I call dell they say the only way is to change motherboard and hope to get the A05 onboards. Before that, A05 is working perfect on Win 7 or 8. I absolutely regret the decision i made to update the bios since Dell web page say its recommended. They do not fully test the bios but why they release up broken thing that not need any fix.

on reflection,it probably isn't 100% Dells fault,there are probably lots of systems running quite nicely with the AO6 Bios update?  The problem is, when your system is running ok, you do not report it on the forum, only when it goes wrong, then you see all the other comments.

I must admit, up until now, my system has run exceptionally well,right from day one, all the comments on here and you tube about how rubbish Alienware was since Dell took over had me worried, but the experience and quality of my R4 has me smiling all the time, even my step son, who is a sworn Apple user, and just bought the new Apple £2000 + laptop had to admit it was a very nice system, and believe me he wouldn't have said that just to make me feel good, he was genuinely impressed, he didn't think it was good Dell actually recommended this AO6, bios but then as I said above, there are bound to be some problems.

im sure Dell will one way or another get it sorted out,its not an overnight fix, so many variables, stick with it.

keep on to them,your not the only one they have to deal with, sometimes the results take a bit longer.

Hi Reefpotato. The only thing dell not 100% fault is the bios is recommended only. if not surely 100%.

I cant agree your conmments as this is not complicated. Im just using the normal aftermarket SSD Crucial M4. I tried other SSD (intel G2) also the problem same. Dell should test this as it is normal these day people with high end desktop owning the SSD. Do you system have SSD as boot drive? do you encounter any problem? if not what model is your SSD?

Beside that, these A06 bios also have disable the overclock CPU multipler. This all changes without details from Dell. The changes on dell bios page is only for Win8 but why these changes also applied.

Dell should know the the BIOS that they upgrade if have any direct impact, they should inform to customer.

I have spend money to upgrade my CPU cooler,fan and etc because i am overlocking my CPU to 4.5 Ghz at all cores. I do that because i upgrade my cooling system and I am happy with the performance. Now suddenly on Bios A06, the OC capability is locked? so now im using dell factory OC that one core (4.1 Ghz) and the rest (3.8) and temp full load is <60 deg C due to mine have upgraded the CPU cooler. What the heck? if this is original, i will not uprade the CPU cooler in the 1st place. What the hell?

You might using all stock settings , no ssd thats why you are running happy (my guess) but there is a customer who is not.

The bottom point is, do you think Dell Has a responsibility to write in details on the Bios change so the customer can know what they are going to do? Instead put a general remarks.

Now im using the system and force it to hibernate (due to not wanting the system to total power down) as I will have trouble when restarting from cold boot.

secondly, im not happy the money i spend for upgrading the CPU cooler to make my aurora running as i want now useless.

This is what i am not happy. With dell communication between me and them, I also did not have any concrete answer. They just want me to call for motherboard replacement and hope my new mobo will have A05. Do dell think my aurora is test beds?

Yeah im thinking right now want to call in them and sell of my system. Im migrating from laptop M17x, thinking of this performance system since laptop is more restrictive in OC and etc. But know what? even in M17x , i can do backflash to what ever bios that i would like. But this big Aurora can not? i couldnt believe it.

what a waste, due to BIOS release issue, this make me so so not happy!

Any or what Dell can answer and give me solution on this???

Hi daddyz

I understand what you mean, better recheck your ssd, as my OCz 128 solid 3 has failed and it is very new, purchased on 13th September 12, so too, strangely has the Seagate Hdd  that came with the system, although this is only since the AO6 upgrade and Win8, there must be a related issue here?

You are correct that I have not oc'd my system for me there is no need, but I have upgraded the SSD as mentioned and also now have a problem,although until upgrade no issues. It did actually all run fine until AO6 upgrade, though the USB issue after Win8 upgrade was the reason I attempted to upgrade bios.

Must have been just drivers as all upgraded now and seems fine.

The new SSD by Crucial, went straight in and completed a Windows 7 install, late yesterday I tried the Win8 upgrade and it installed 1st time with no errors. This one is also 128GB but the slower read/write speed,hence the OCz install.

So, I plugged the Seagate HDD in on power off and rebooted,only to get an error msg saying the drive was non boot-able, so I removed it and Win8 back on.

I also tried my OCZ  SSD on-board last night  and a software tools program from OCZ website and it didn't even see it?

So some how Win8 or AO6 have caused this issue? More likely the bios.

I also understand your cause for concern with Dell tech service,as Saturday I spoke to them and no fix from them at the time with a promise to get back to me, as yet, no response, either to see if the problem is fixed or offer a solution.

That's bad, and they need to get this part of their service fixed as this is a paid for service, personally I expect better.

I had the identical scenario - fortunately I found the answer was just to ensure (prior to upgrade to Win8) the Intel RAID ProSet driver from 3.0 to 3.5 and then the next time I ran the upgrade it went sweet as a pea! ^_^

This thread has been locked due to inactivity. For assistance, with the same or a different issue, please click New Post on the top right to start a New Thread.