Do you think a BIOS/Firmware Update was installed/failed.

What Alienware model do you have? If it's newer, you can try this:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln300716/bios-recovery-options-on-a-dell-pc-or-tablet?lang=en

and

https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron-Desktops/BR2-BIOS-Recovery-2-Desktops/td-p/6074805

Solution was to do a hard reset.