Aurora R9, Windows update, won't post

Question

I had a Windows update pushed through to my Aurora R9 Monday, and since then it won't POST after a cold start unless I pop it open and remove a pair of DIMMs, boot to the memory confirmation screen, shut down and re-install the removed modules. Once I change the memory config, it will default to the 'memory changed' screen.  If I run the diagnostics, everything passes fine, but it powers off and I have to reverse the process to get it to POST again (ie, put back the 2 removed modules).  If I simply accept the memory change, it boots to Windows fine, but I have to repeat this weird ritual every single time I shut down or restart, or it just hangs with no display and no apparent power to the wired keyboard after pressing the power button. I've tested it by going through the full self-test with every combination of memory config I can (2x 8GB Fury DIMMs from factory + 2x aftermarket 8GB Fury DIMMs), and it never returns a fault.  I've re-flashed the BIOS (1.0.14), but the same problem persists. Anyone else having the same problem?

fireberd · Answer

There was a Dell Support Assist issue that was similar, but not the same, a couple of months ago that affected certain Alienware and one Inspiron laptop. An updated version of Support Assist fixed it.

Suggest uninstalling/reinstalling Support Assist as a first step. Here is the instructions:

SA uninstall/reinstall - Dell Community

Astrotuna · Answer

Thanks Fireberd,

I'd already reinstalled support assist and it didn't fix the issue.

I've spent this morning swapping out components convinced one of my DIMMs or the GPU was bad, but I finally found the culprit - XMP was enabled by default in the performance options in the BIOS. I honestly don't recall if that was there prior to 1.0.14, but now that I've disabled it I'm able to boot fine.

The solution is always the last thing you look at, right?

fireberd · Answer

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll keep XMP in mind.

Alienware Desktops

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