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124550
Help!! Aurora R4 BIOS upgrade, won't post after CMOS reset
In preparation of installing my new GTX970 I decided to upgrade the bios on my Aurora R4. I started at bios a02 and upgraded to a05. On reboot the new bios couldn't find my HDD. I ran the post-diag software and everything checked out fine, my HDD was in the list and was checkmarked as OK. My assumption was that something went wrong with the BIOS upgrade so I decided to reset and start over..
To reset the BIOS I swapped the CMOS jumper from 1-2 to 2-3 and back again after 10 seconds. Now when I try to boot the screen is black and I get the 5 beep error (reseat or replace CMOS battery).
This is what I've done to try to fix it so far:
- Reseat CMOS battery
- Pull CMOS battery, jump reset, then Reseat CMOS battery
- Replace CMOS batter (brand new battery)
- Unplug ALL components except for video and RAM, Reseat CMOS battery
- Uplug ALL components except for video and 1 Ram stick, reseat CMOS battery
After each jumper reset the pc starts boot up, then after a few seconds will reboot. When it reboots I'm stuck at a black screen and 5 beeps.
Update! I reseated everything once more and now I get video and there is no more beeping. But I'm stuck on the Intel Rapid Storage Technology screen and can't proceed.
I tried pressing f12 during boot and couldn't get into boot settings.
Pressing the shortcut on the intel RST screen doesn't do anything.
JohnCStuart
3 Posts
0
January 21st, 2015 17:00
Thanks everyone. Turns out all i needed to do was change the hard drive to legacy mode and it boots fine.
JohnCStuart
3 Posts
0
January 18th, 2015 18:00
Update! I reseated everything once more and now I get video and there is no more beeping. But I'm stuck on the Intel Rapid Storage Technology screen and can't proceed.
I tried pressing f12 during boot and couldn't get into boot settings.
Pressing the shortcut on the intel RST screen doesn't do anything.
dcgtls
940 Posts
0
January 19th, 2015 13:00
Are you still in warranty?
It is never a good thing when a Bios update goes bad. Sometimes there are ways to clear it on some systems but I do not think so with this one. What you need to do is reach out to one of the Moderators on here or call Dell Tech support on this one. I really think that you will need to replace your system board.
Just a bit of advice for the future. Watch for the updates when they are released and see if others have any issues before you download and install them. Try to keep your system up to date on the new releases shortly after they are released. And the biggest thing of all is to do this while you are still in warranty. The Alienware Aurora R4 Bios is currently at A11 and that was released last year Jan 17 2014. When you do a Bios update try not to make large version jumps like you did, the best way is to download all of the versions and do them one at a time because you never know how they wrote the code and I do not trust programmers any more the just take to many shortcuts and miss things. It does take longer but is safer.
Good luck.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
January 20th, 2015 11:00
Try flashing BIOS from DOS (or outside Windows). I suggest you always flash that way.
To get from a BIOS that old to the latest, .
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19405753
Yes, there is a stepped order you should follow
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19565657