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244 Posts
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18960
New Area-51 (non-ALX), Very Slow POST
Just recieved my new Area-51 on Nov 24th... what a sweet machine! Right out of the box I noticed that the POST takes on average about 45 seconds to a full minute before completing and moving on the starting Windows 7. This occurs on every cold/hot start. I talked with Tech Support and they agreed this was not ideal and was also occuring for them on their test machine. They did say that with all the sensors, lighting, etc. in these machines that POST likely takes longer.
Has anyone else expreienced this behavior with their new Area-51s? Hopefully Dell will be releasing a new BIOS in the near future to address this disappointing boot performance. Not what I expected from a new $4000+ machnine.
Doug
b.meerkerk
4 Posts
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November 26th, 2009 09:00
I have the aurora and I have the same problems when booting my machine. It was not $4000 but $2500 but still having the same problems.. I Just wanted to share that I have the same problem.. it does not realy bother me at this moment but I hope that they will find a solution for this with a bios update..
Brian
fookaroo
22 Posts
1
November 26th, 2009 11:00
I have the Aurora, does the same thing, no real big deal though. I'd agree with Dell in saying that with all the extra stuff in there, it could take longer for the post to complete. Once that is done Win 7 starts up in like 20secs tops which is great!
Easiest
12 Posts
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November 26th, 2009 13:00
I have a new Area-51, also received on the 24th and it too takes quite a while get to the "starting Windows 7".
DMiannay
244 Posts
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November 26th, 2009 19:00
Well, thanks to all for your comments. Apparently this is a design feature related to the many sensors, etc. that need to be initiated. I agree this isn't a show stopper but it is a much longer POST than I've ever expreienced with the top end machines I've been blessed to own.
Only issue left to resolve since upgrading the Home Premium I had it delivered with to the free promotional version of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 I had is resolving the problems getting Command Center and AlienFX working properly. I noted Chris here on the boards has an excellent post dealing with this.
Thanks again!
Doug
WastedJoker
25 Posts
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December 2nd, 2009 02:00
Same here but it's not an issue as I try not to reboot that often anyway :)
stafford640
8 Posts
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December 8th, 2009 13:00
I've had the same long POST with my Area 51 ALX. Right now, I'm trying to work through the thermal fan issue. It's on full and the command centre seems to be of little help. There's nothing intuitive about it.
The rig was fine until I did the first hard reboot. Then the Command Centre would fail from the desktop but now that works...but the fan sounds like a 747 on steroids.
The POST length isn't much of a problem although it counters the much faster startup in Windows 7 compared to Vista.
WastedJoker
25 Posts
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December 9th, 2009 04:00
Have you considered resetting your BIOS to default values?
DMiannay
244 Posts
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December 9th, 2009 06:00
Regarding your fan issues... the Command Center software is a bit buggy with Windows 7 (x64 in my case) and this has been verified with several calls to the Tech Support team in Costa Rica. It is likely you have a "USB Device Not Found" (or something like that) in Device Manager which relates to the I/O Card used for the AlienFX features. The fix for me was to uninstall Command Center, reboot, reinstall Command Center (version downloaded from Dell, don't use Resource Disk) then completely shut down and remove the power chord from the box, wait 30 seconds, then plug it back in and reboot. This allows the USB Device to be located with proper drivers installed after which all is well with Command Center and fan speeds.
Unfortunately, about once a week after coming out of Sleep mode the USB Device will show up as "not found" again and I have to go through the entire Command Center uninstall/reinstall scenario again. Sure hope Dell releases a corrected Command Center soon.
Doug
stafford640
8 Posts
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December 9th, 2009 06:00
That must be it because I've been getting the "no USB found" message for a couple of days now. I'll do the uninstall and download the updated command centre.
Thanks Doug!