Aurora R8, suddenly won't power on

Hey, if anyone is out of warranty, I was told to create a service ticket via their email option on the support page.  Just spent 20 minutes speaking with the "out of warranty" department on the phone who had no knowledge of the problem and couldn't look it up in their system.  Normally one-off software support for out of warranty systems is $90 for a consultation.  But not sure why we should pay $90 each for a widespread problem to be fixed.  Also doesn't sound like they know how to fix the issue between BIOS and AWCC/other so not sure what paying $90 would get anyone.  At any rate, letting them know this is a bigger issue via more service tickets may get it escalated more quickly.

Mhmm... lol Honestly, I had a little chuckle when I first saw that PM.

I suppose why not... Might as well plug me to renew the warranty while I'm here. 

Thanks for the suggestion!

For me (alienware aurora r8) it was as the system starts up press

1) F2 set up

2) Go to Security on list

3) Go down on the UEFI Capsule firmware updates

4) Put Disabled

5) Save and reset.

This worked for me. you have to HOLD that little button in the back for longer than you might think, get it to cycle a few times, repeat if necessary.

2019 R8 PC OK I unplug the USB's and other peripheral devices (even the monitor), powered off, unplugged everything, drained power. Plugged just the power, pressed & held that little button in the back, and the main power button. Fan / power cycled a couple of times, and finally it fully powered up. Plugged the monitor back, and other peripheral devices. So far working. Will also try rolling back the Bios. At this point I am afraid to turn if off and will also set power setting to not go into sleep or power off for now. Going to see about rolling Bios back.

I did roll back the BIOS, and that seems to be working. 

FYI I found Alienware_Aurora_R8_1.0.9.exe here 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=ry9kn&oscode=wt64a&productco... 

And 

As Haroldwong noted " you might need to flash it multiple times for it to take"

For me it took several times before I got the flash screen. System would shut down, but not restart. I think for me is was about 6 times before it finally restarted with flash screen.

How is this a warranty issue?  Dell sends an update that breaks the computers they sold us and we are supposed to pay to fix them?  Seems like they don’t even know how to fix it so what good is the warranty…..

Thanks I thought I lost my computer again. I spent 2-3 hours doing the CMOS reset, swapping the cr2032 battery, and a few components, but eventually found this post. I just booted my computer while pressing ctrl+esc+power button while plugging in power in back to even turn on my comp. I tried to downgrade my BIOs to the 1.0.9 but my comp just auto upgraded to 1.0.17 when i checked.....e_e

Hello folks,

First of all, big kudos to Chris. I also tested the PSU and thought the MB is dead. 

Same as everyone, last updates do not work with the BIOS version. Followed the advice and everything works.

Out of curiosity I tried installing BIOS update through the Dell app and indeed it makes my computer unresponsive to the power button.

Hopefully Dell solves it soon and prepares a fix; until then just prohibit your system from updating BIOS, this was mentioned here by a few gentlemen.

I was not able to boot up pressing the power button like the rest of you. Booting by pressing the power button and plugging in the cable works. 

I am currently on 1.0.16. I did not download the latest .17 bios update. However, I did download yesterday:

* KB5006738 Windows Update

* Latest Nvidia drivers 

* 5.4.7.0 Alienware Command Center Suite

I assume the Command Center Suite has messed everything up. Even booted up, the power button is unresponsive and does not shut down the computer. 

Seems like some extremely lazy testing by Dell and they need to address this with some kind of hot fix ASAP. 

It seems the only current fix is to go down to .9 bios to fix the issue? 

I assume rolling back the ACCS would fix the issue as well and be a safer route than rolling back the bios. 

I'll check it out tomorrow as I'm burnt out tonight by this process. Tried to play Guardians of Galaxy tonight and instead spent the night troubleshooting Dell's mess. lol

Yeah its very frustrating indeed when things happen like this.

I lost pretty much all of Monday trying to sort it out. Just happy i got it working again.

For me though i just checked and my ACCS and it was updated but on the 21-10-21 and i know for a fact i switched my PC on on the 22nd & 23rd (in the morning) and the power button was working ok.

In Windows Update History it shows the Alienware Firmware .17 BIOS was installed on the 23rd of October and once i switched my PC off then on the 24th in the morning on Monday it would not power back on.

Its possible that from a combination of certain programs, apps & BIOS is causing the conflict.

My BIOS was not .17 when I experienced the failure the morning of the 25th. I've been following this thread since then because I had the same issue. I thought it was the power cord at first, then power supply. I was fortunate enough to see your post to get it started then I was given the option to update my BIOS to .17. Obviously that didn't resolve my issue.

Its likely there was some long standing issue that's recently been highlighted by some update instigating a conflict. I had to laugh when the first message you got was about renewing your warranty. Because that's the first thing I expected when dealing with an issue they caused.

Anyway, I will also confirm that holding the power button while plugging in the power cord works. Rapidly hitting the power switch can also work. Probably for the same reason. Rolling back to Alienware_Aurora_R8_1.0.9.exe restored proper function of power switch.

By any chance do you have Windows 10 in the Pro version?

If so you can pause updates up to 30 days.

OMG I was sitting on the login screen of windows (did not login) did the dishes and while doing it I noticed it started doing a windows update that then opened an alienware splash screen saying applying critical updates and now I am back on 1.0.17?!?!?!

I encountered this same problem, but resolved it (by luck!) before seeing this post.

I seem to have done this by changing the CMOS battery, which then took me into the BIOS on boot to set the time. I then went into Support Assist to see if there were updates required, and one was a BIOS to version 1.0.17. I went through this (via support assist) and since then my PC has turned on normally (half a dozen times so far over 2 days).

The only other thing I noted was an update sat waiting for OCC control software, which failed when I tried several times (through support assist). Now reading this thread I went back into Support Assist to check the exact download and it is no longer listed, my PC reported as up to date.

So, I am running BIOS 1.0.17, did not manage to do the OCC update after changing the battery and flashing bios, and now that update is gone.

Maybe my experience will help someone. I'm not sure what the conclusion are, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed the problem does not resurface and thank the OP for the thread, which I've saved in case it does!

Same interaction for me too

For those wondering, I did a system restore downgrading ACCC from 5.4.7.0 to 5.4.3.0 and tried installing BIOS 1.0.17 again and the power button *still* did not work.

Hopefully this gets resolved soon.