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1 Rookie
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5943
August 4th, 2018 10:00
Alienware Aurora - Not recognizing Hard Drive/Boot Device
I'm trying to troubleshoot my son's Alienware Aurora. The problem started when he was in the middle of playing a game - the pc suddenly quit. When he restarted it, he got the error message(s) that there was no hard drive present/no boot device.
I've checked the bios settings, and everything looks good.
I ran the diagnostics, and the system recognized the drive, reported as the correct drive, and indicate that there was no problem with the drive.
I bought a new drive and replaced the old one with the new one - no change in the problem.
I could boot to the bios with the hard drive out.
I tried to boot from the OS replacement disk that came with the pc with no luck. But I'm not sure that's a bootable disk ...
Lastly, I followed some advice I found on this board from a moderator, and tried changing the boot settings (F9). Now the pc displays the Alien Head logo, but I can no longer access the bios or diagnostics settings. I can't get back to the boot settings via F9 any more either.
I'm out of ideas. I'd appreciate any advice I could get as to how I might resolve this problem.
Thx,
-jim
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.1K Posts
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August 4th, 2018 10:00
What Release (version) of Aurora?
What version of Windows are you running or trying to get re-installed?
Sounds similar to this scenario. Read and follow the link I posted:
https://dell.com/community/Optiplex/Optiplex-990-New-hard-drive-not-working/m-p/6127609/highlight/true#M27611
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.1K Posts
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August 4th, 2018 12:00
1. If that DVD is bootable, pressing F12 on boot should bring-up "One-Time Boot Menu". Be sure your optical drive didn't go bad (common after 8 years). Alienware Windows-7 64bit DVDs from that time were black (with white lettering and Alienware logo).
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-windows-8-1-vs-microsoft-windows-8-1.766734/page-3
If it's not actually bootable, you will have to find one that is, or make a bootable Windows-7 USB one. As those links show, Microsoft will create a perfect and bootable Windows-10 USB flash drive. Your old Windows-Key (on sticker) will work and Activate it.
2. Yeah, you likely need a separate working computer to fix this.
3. If you can no longer access BIOS, that sounds like a hardware problem. You might have damaged something inside.
Yes, I still have a working Aurora-R1 (among others). It's been upgraded over the years with a SSD and a Nvidia GTX-1070. It's running the latest Windows-10 64bit now-days.
https://dell.com/community/Alienware-General/Alienware-Aurora-R1-Windows-10-Pro-Upgrade-Smooth-sailing-so-far/td-p/5512004
JCarson1
1 Rookie
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4 Posts
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August 4th, 2018 12:00
Thanks for the response.
It's an Alienware Aurora 1 with Windows 8.
I saw that post, but doesn't really help. I can't reinstall windows because the pc won't boot up. When I put the OS reinstall disk in the drive, the pc won't boot from it - you can see the pc trying to read it, but it doesn't boot. So I can't re-install the OS (and I can't download a tool or software cause I can't get online). And as I mentioned, now I can't even boot up into the bios or diagnostics.
Thx,
-jim
JCarson1
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August 4th, 2018 13:00
Thanks for the link. My disk looks similar to the one shown. Don't know where I'm gonna get access to another pc though.
Not positive that the disk drive is working - I only know that when I try to boot with the Alienware disk the system sounds like it's reading it, but I have no way to know if it's actually able to do so.
I was able to boot to bios or diagnostics before I tried changing the bios setting as was recommended by a moderator in another post. Now I not only can't boot to them, I no longer get the error message - it just displays the alien head logo, then displays a blank screen.
Pretty lost as to what else to do at this point, especially without another pc available.
Thanks,
-jim
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.1K Posts
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August 4th, 2018 13:00
Connect only the monitor and simple wired-USB Keyboard and Mouse to back of the machine.
The first step is to access the BIOS (after the BIOS initializes or Posts). If you are unable to do that, you likely now have a serious hardware problem. Something might have been damaged while you were inside working on it.
Frankly, it sounds like you are ill-equipped to handle this repair. It's hard to learn how to be a computer-technician in a forum thread. :Smile:
If you want to protect your investment in this machine, I suggest you seek-out professional assistance (or at least a friend, co-worker, or family member that knows the insides of Windows computers).