Windows 10 on Aurora R3

I hear your frustration, it is absolutely ridiculous that nobody at Dell has worked with the bios firmware and found a way to make our computers upgradeable.  This has got to be the only "un-upgradeable" computer I have ever owned and it was the most money I ever spent on one too.  I used to build my own computers and from now on I will also. 

That said,  it is worth the headache of the install if you can sit there and babysit the install and time your hard resets right, once you get windows 10 it is very nice.  I like it more than 7.  You should think about trying one more time atleast.  We can't get back at Dell through passive aggressively refusing to fight with their poor engineering.

there is no secure boot option with Bios Va06 on Aura R3 systems.

Please elaboriate. Did you mean UEFI boot? Nope.

Now this Win 10 problem is not isolated to Alienware or Dell systems, read this thread at MS Windows 10 support.

What they are saying there is a first boot error, which is what I am getting and I assume quite a few others, as after win 10 installs everything ( and hard shut down's doesn't solve this, not sure how other's got that to work) Win 10 fails to boot first time and you will see a DOS Window flash for a second or two.  MS on this thread are saying they are happy to look at some files, log ones to work this out, so far I've not had a reply, but not been even 24 hours since I posted on where one sends these files to.

Really is disappointing that Dell and MS could not of worked this through during Beta stage of Win 10, as this problem also occurs with Windows 8.1, so it is not new problem.

hope this helps others.

I think we are the beta ! 10 loaded right up on my laptop but tried 3 time on my R3 locked up in 1st reboot( I let it sit locked up for 30 min hoping it would load. before I had to shut it off ,with the switch. then when it tried to restart and  got the unable to install w10 reloading win7

Hi, I have same problem, tried it a few time snow, even tried it on a separate Hard drive which I had managed eventually to get Window s8.1 to install, although had to do that as a clean install, not an upgrade to Win 7.

I suspect Win 10 might be same issue. Not sure, but what I am sure of and this happened as well during attempt of Win 8.1 upgrade as well, My R3 lights on box changer to theme I have set for sleep mode, when the spinning circle (that stops spinning) and Blue Windows icon is showing.

This is after Win 10 has reached 30% and should be doing next step of installing drivers and features.

I did get it to 45% when I had everything USB device disconnect except a USB keyboard. Can't get that to happen again. Maybe it was a fluke.

Yet my older and not tested ( per Dell's list) XPS 730 installed Win 10 Pro without a hitch.

So what hardware is different here, Video card yes, Hard drive, although not applicable due to fresh install of Win 8.1, R3 is liquid cooled and then the Alineware FX lighting feature, Anyone tried or know how to disable them?

Actually since Win 10 restored my system ( win 7 HD) back to Win 7, I had to reinstall the Alienware Command Center V 1.31  VApp_DT_AWCC_W7_X04_Setup_TD4C0_ZPE

 ( not sure why) and while I was, I kept getting a Microsoft Net Framework error, ( when it first happened I reinstalled the  latest version of it, V4.52) not sure why as I downloaded the repair software and it found nothing wrong. Command center is running fine.

Us Alienware r3 owners are not alone with Win 10 issues, other manf's HP, Toshiba, etc owners of laptops desktops are reporting same problem at MS Windows 10 Forum.

So check your Systems lights when Win 10 get to 30% or such and this disucsson about baby sitting install and doing hard shut downs instead of letting it reboot, I have found not to help at all.

Cheers

Phil

Hi all, now this is interesting and I would like MS and Dell to explain why.

I used the media creation tool for Win 10, but chose Home instead of Pro and United Kingdom, not USA lanauage.

On my other hard drive I did a fresh clean install without a serial key of course and even though a couple of times, it stopped during boot ups, it did install Window s10 Home 64bit.

Now this says to me Alienware Aurora R3 can have Win 10 installed, so why WHY will free upgrade not work!!!

I did notice the lights on my Aurora changed quite a few time sduring install form last colour scheme I chose ( BTW on other Hard drive running Command centre) from Red to Yellow, Amber is my sleep mode colour.

Surley this cannot be a problem for upgrade not to work.

Anyway I would like MS to tell me how I can do a clean install which would mean I would have to pay over $200 AUD, for what is a free upgrade.

Of course I cannot choose Home version for free upgraqde even with Media creation tool, as with Win Ultimate Sp1, you have to install Pro.

I await an answer form MS or Dell on this post.

Please do not reply that baby sitting install and doing hard shut down works, as it does not!

My post above proves this.

Phil

In the for what it's not worth department I purchased a copy of Windows 10, Home version (I have 7 Ultimate on my computer) and tried clean install.  It failed in exactly the same way that the upgrade fails so I contacted Microsoft and got my money back - but no suggestions or ideas on what they do, or do not, plan to do about our machines.  I guess those of us who were unlucky enough to buy from Dell in the first part of the year (thus the R3) simply are not important enough for the "Big Boys" to care.

TC

I wonder if it is a bios thing? with the R3'S???

but you would think dell would come up with a fix.

According to previous discussion and other blogs it is the Bios, which hasn't been updated since the computer was released.  Many folks indicated they had same issues with 8.1 and that both Dell and Microsoft refused to address a fix - Dell not issuing a Bios update and Microsoft pointing the finger at Dell.  Shame on both.  Seems that the fall release of the follow-on to the R3 (believe the R4) has a setting in the Bios that the R3 lacks that can simply be changed by the user and thus resolve the issue.

As far as I'm concerned this is a prime example of the very poor Dell support.  I've bought several Dell's over the years but when it comes time to replace my current three computers I promise they will not be a Dell unless Dell steps up and does something about the R3 and Windows 10.  By the way, seems that virtually none of the Latitude Laptops from more than a couple of years ago are compatible either.

TC

Thanks for post, but had anyone thought of this.

Even if one tries a clean install using Media creation tool to make a bootable USB or DVD, the drive Windows 7 or 8 is on, is a GPT partition type UEFI, UEFI is just another name for secure boot, I had heaps of issues on my laptop year or so back reinstall Win 8.1, only when I worked out how to turn off UEFI in it's bios, was I able to get it to install.

This artcile covers it.

technet.microsoft.com/.../hh825112.aspx

So far I cannot see how one turns that off in the Bios of Aurora R3, but I did find a way of formatting a drive not to be a GPT type, and Windows 10 installed using clean install and yes one requires those USB and Chip set drivers updates from Dell,  otherwise system reboots it will hang just after bios raid screen goes with the Windows Icon showing and the spinning circle stopped, USB 3 is the issue.

If anyone knows how to get UEFI turned off on the Aurora Bios, let us know, in meantime I keep researching.

Cheers

Phil

I had to jump through all the  boot processes also to win 10 on my Alien R3, got it to work smoothly. I did have to update various drivers to get my system to work correctly that were not mentioned in forums, I had a HD error (widows reported my HD as being a SS drive) and no bang in device manager, after a bit of trouble shooting and googling I decided to update the storage controller driver and it worked for me.

In reference to the post above when I did my win 10 pro install I did the CC (Command Center, for Dell aliens) uninstall/repair to get my lights to work again.

Been about 2 months and all good. Booted up the box yesterday and the fans went to 100% during the boot process and fluctuated from what seemed 10% for a second then back to 100% until booted, then just stayed at 100% lol. I opened CC and switched profiles and it calmed down. I rebooted and it did the same thing, back to 100%. I am not overclocked.

I googled the issue and found lots of drastic measure to take (last resort for most and they all required a system back up before trying), then I came back to this thread and saw this post again (about uninstall/repair) and remembered that is what I did upon install. So I tried it and bam fixed.

Control center>Programs & Feature>Alien CC  highlight hit uninstall, opens the dialog , select Repair.

This is the most benign thing you can do to try and fix the fan at 100% freak out.

my CC ver 2.8.9.0  -

hope my experience helps someone out.

cool nice one mate worked great

mmm.... beer. now, I'm looking forward to upgrading my R3 when I was hesitant before. I'm thirsty. you just made me both happy and crack up at the same time. I was laughing so hard, I almost spilled my current beer on my 'puter. thanks for the detailed instructions, your help, and your post....

Update : Microsoft sent an update out around christmas 2015 which basically proceeded to do what looked like a Win 10 installation again. Again, using same technique to prevent lock up do my power off trick to ensure Win 10 update occurs smoothly. I would suggest a nice cold 6 pack of an Australian Pale Ale or similar this time. I've had trouble free computing since. Even updated some hardware and HDDs also without error. Also from a previous post my OS prior to upgrading was Win 7 Ultimate.

ok. about ready to do this. I'm not holding my breath, though. I've got a nice cold 6 pack by my side (actually more than that if that's what it takes). I've got a bootable windows 7 drive if I screw it up. actually I have a buncha bud light, and no, I'm not a nascar fan if that was your first thought (just watching my girlish figure).can't afford good beer since I paid out the bung for this R3. you figure it'd be supported. thanks, dell. I hope like *** this works. already updated my usb drivers to 3.0. got my finger by the ready at the hard restart button. i'll let ya know. thank you in advance for your help!