X51 R2 Unreliable Boot

Question

Hi. My first time posting on here. I've owned an Alienware X51 R2 since 2014 and it has worked a dream until recently when it has become somewhat unreliable

1. Sometimes when booting it hangs before getting to the Windows start up screen - turning it off and on generally fixes the problem but I'm wondering if this is symptomatic of some other issue?

2. Three times this year I've seen a blue screen of death, after which the machine refuses to boot. I've followed advice on the Dell forums to reset the CMOS by moving the jumper. This works, but as this has now happened 3 times I'm wondering if there is a root cause that I can fix? Should I change the CMOS battery, is it a PSU issue or some other cause?

In case it helps the specs are:
i5-4460 processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 745 with 4GB DDR3
240W power supply

Any help/advice gratefully received. Thank you!

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

if it hangs before Windows page, if it takes forever on Dell or AW logo page with progress bar not moving to end, it is stalling in POST, suggesting one piece of hardware not passing test. This is before you get to the pre-boot stage. it does not sound like a psu issue so far.

Does your bios complain that there is a checksum error or date/time is incorrect? Those would be symptoms of bad CMOs battery.
BSOD is non specific and can be due to motherboard chipset or memory instability.

I had a Dell non-AW pc that intermittently refused to POST and needed repeated CMOs jumper resets. Just a note that motherboard does get old and fall more frequently depending on model.

Doghouse Reilly · Answer

'Should I change the CMOS battery?' I would try that first and see if it fixes the problem.

speedstep · Answer

Duracell DL2032 batteries are easy to find and not expensive. however your system uses battery with wires attached so you have to fix this yourself or get an exact replacement

0J313. is the Dell part number

https://www.impactcomputers.com/0j313.html

X51 battery

ivinyl · Answer

Thanks for the helpful response. I have not seen a checksum error message. I just ran the Dell Support Assist system test and interestingly the hard disk failed the test so maybe that is the cause.

ivinyl · Answer

Thanks Doghouse Reilly

ivinyl · Answer

Thanks speedstep. Appreciate the response and the link.

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X51 R2 Unreliable Boot

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