Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
24 Posts
0
7726
August 24th, 2017 19:00
Aurora R4 booting directly to black screen with blinking cursor
Okay I'm posting on behalf of my brother, he has an Alienware aurora R4 desktop computer that's been having problems about 6 weeks now.
started with the BSOD popping up and forcing the computer to reboot, I tracked that problem to a dying hard drive so I ordered a new one and installed it a few weeks ago.
had about 3 weeks where the computer was perfect aside from an issue had while trying to restore from an external that lead the thing to say there was two operating systems but it didn't seem to effect the system so I'm not sure it's relevant.
night before last it blue screened again.
according to the crash info I had someone look over for me, it appeared the bios was outdated, there was issue with the amd drivers and evidently the new hard drive was throwing errors.
on top of this when he tried to boot it, it would come to a screen that said previous over clocking had failed (it's never been overclocked) and asked if you wanted to reset original values but if you select yes the computer would freeze.
managed to get to Windows once but it froze solid as soon as I attempted to load the Internet.
i currently have the side off the tower, there's no beeping or Amber light upon start up, sometimes the colourful side lights come on, sometimes they don't and currently the alien head is not lit up.
when I attempt to reboot now the fans kick on, all the lights come on for a moment and it goes straight to a blank screen with a little blinking dash in the upper left hand corner.
no splash screen or anything information is being showed.
i was told earlier that I should reset cmos so I looked up how to do that but try as I might I can NOT find any jumpers, cables or the damn battery that would accomplish this reset.
at an absolute loss here.
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 29th, 2017 22:00
WT64A = Windows-10 64bit
I'm not real-big on repeating myself in a forum (you can clearly read what I said before). Take a moment and answer my questions above.
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 29th, 2017 22:00
Go ahead and let them help you fix it.
If you require further help from me, I will need to know:
- Intel Processor model number installed
- BIOS Name and version
- Exact info from ram DIMMs
- Model of AMD video card installed
A clean install of Windows would be a good test of hardware and will have to done before I can help you much further anyway. You are jumping around a bit and ignoring some of my questions. All I'm trying to do is help you verify your motherboard (and the components installed on it) are good ... while everything is pointing to it being NOT 100% working ... which in my book is BAD/FAILED.
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
August 29th, 2017 22:00
I didn't realize I had ignored any questions.
ive been testing the ram for literally days, in all different combos and the only time it ever finds errors is when al, 4 sticks are in which is what's confusing me because if there was a bad slot then shouldn't it have thrown errors when I was testing the slots one and then two sticks at a time?
I do have kind of an odd question, should this tower not have been upgraded to windows 10? I'm noticing on the drivers page that they all show they're compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 but not 10
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 29th, 2017 23:00
Processor should show in BIOS and also in Control Panel and even programs like CPUz
Memory Info should show in BIOS. A pic of labels might be nice. Also in CPUz (if Windows is running).
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
August 29th, 2017 23:00
The the bios I currently have is A01
the graphics card is an Amd Radeon 6800 HD
how do I get the DIMM info you want?
I'm not sure how to find the Intel processor model number either but I'd be happy to give you the info you can tell me how to get it
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 29th, 2017 23:00
I have run Passmark's MemTest86 on them many times, but luckily, I've never seen it throw an error on either of my Alienwares (or any 100% working machine I own for that matter). Broken machines over the years? Sure it did and will continue to.
Aurora-R1 (Legacy BIOS auto-runs MemTest86 v4.3) : 6 x 2gb DIMMs = 12gb
DDR3 1333mhz Tri-Channel Memory
-
Aurora-R6 (UEFI BIOS auto-runs MemTest86 v7.3) : 2 x 8gb DIMMs = 16gb
DDR4 2400 (2667mhz XMP) Dual-Channel Memory
I have other machines here, but no Aurora-R4 here to test. If it's throwing an error, my guess is something is broken.
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
August 30th, 2017 23:00
So it's sounding more and more like a motherboard issue, that said I'd like to get a replacement and just move on with my life.
is it possible to get the exact same board and just move everything over?
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 31st, 2017 09:00
1. Conceivably, yes. The advantages are:
- A Dell/Alienware OEM Aurora-R4 Motherboard would be "plug-and-play".
- It would come with a free Windows 7/10 licence (worth $100)
2. But the reality is that these-days, this exact motherboard is only available on the used market (eBay, etc.) and there is a good chance that the one you get is only 95% operational. If you fail at the lottery, you will be in the same situation as now.
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 31st, 2017 09:00
I understand your fatigue and frustration, but ...
Are you ever going to tell me what Intel processor is installed and maybe even some info on those DIMMs? A phone-pic of main BIOS screen would be a good place to start.
You are this far into troubleshooting/repair, so I would not be giving-up quite yet . I have some final ideas, but no use posting them if you can't fulfill simple forum requests. I can't lead you without the info I requested.
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
August 31st, 2017 14:00
Does this Help? Windows isn't currently running (when it tries to get there it ends up in the preparing to automatically repair windows section) so I couldn't get a shot of the other thing sadly
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 31st, 2017 21:00
Yes, that is good, thanks.
You really need to get that BIOS updated. A01 is likely very buggy.
If machine is only stable (runs a perfect Passmark MemTest86) with 2 DIMMs installed ... run it with only 2 DIMMs to update BIOS.
I've had good luck flashing BIOS outside of Windows with Rufus-made FreeDOS bootable flash drive. If in UEFI-Mode, you might have to temporarily disable SecureBoot or even resort to Legacy-Mode to get flash-drive to boot:
http://www.howtogeek.com/136987/how-to-create-a-bootable-dos-usb-drive/
I just make one of these USB Flash drives.
Since you are far behind and have many to install, it's best to just install them all ... in order.
Copy all the consecutive BIOS update files needed to the flash-drive for that machine. Do each one in order. Again, be sure to check machine after each one. Goes pretty fast. Don't get it a hurry or get confused. Better to have machine on a good UPS (like APC) while doing this.
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
August 31st, 2017 22:00
Okay, I can do that
I was trying to locate the versions I need between A01 and the newest one, when I look it up on the dell site it only shows the newest version. Do you happen to know of a link or a list so I know what to download?
you're right about legacy mode, I had to turn it to that to get the flash drive going when I first started so I'll probably have to put it back to that to get it working.
does it matter which two sticks I leave in? Like it it better to say put a stick in slot one and four then it is to put the sticks in slot one and two?
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
August 31st, 2017 22:00
Bios files
Product support for Alienware Aurora R4
I would try Bank-1 (Slot-1 and Slot-2). See Service Manual. Should be 2 slots between CPU and back ports.
If Passmark MemTest86 passes, go ahead and use that config to update BIOS. You want it to be perfectly stable or you might brick/kill motherboard.
misspaperwait
24 Posts
0
September 1st, 2017 14:00
Okay working on updateing bios here but I seem to have hit a snag, when I try to launch the update file it confirms what it is, asks if I want to install it, says it's preparing it and then goes "Starting to update bios... Error: Problem Allocating Memory"
and under that I get some red text saying "Invalid Usage"
it then says something about removing temporary files and asks if I want to reboot.
Any thoughts? did I do something wrong?
Tesla1856
10 Wizard
•
17.9K Posts
•
71.2K Points
0
September 1st, 2017 14:00
Good work.
I'm curious, was the Rufus/FreeDOS created flash-drive the one that failed?
If so, what worked instead?