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34019
October 6th, 2014 18:00
Alienware Aurora R4 Stuck in a reboot loop
Hello, I would first like to start off by saying, I am no longer under warranty and I really can't afford to replace anything that may be currently faulty.. so if there is any work around to my issue's then that would be very much appreciated.
Computer Specs : Intel i7 3960x 6 core Extreme Processor
16gb's ddr3 ram
1tb HDD, and 1 512gb SSD
x1 NVIDIA Geforce GTX 680
2gb
Here's the problem I am currently running, I was on my computer earlier today everything was working fine at this point, just chatting with my friend on Teamspeak, and starting up my Arma 3 launcher. I then receive an error that was to quick for me to read, and my computer blue screened! I'm assuming it was a physical memory dump blue screen because I had one 2 days prior to this incident, but everything worked fine after that. My computer now boots up, but there's no post, no display, but all the lights and fans are running fine. I am very upset because I have had countless problems with my computer since I bought it, that includes they gave me the wrong parts completely when I ordered my computer, I've had so many dell technicians come and fix my computer it's almost overwhelming to the fact that I spent over 3-4 thousand on this computer to have it constantly fail on me. I have tried unplugging everything, reset my cmos, take out the battery and put it back in, the PSU light is green, and the only other issue I can think of is either my hard drives failed, since the technician that came to install them didn't do what he was supposed to do, which was setup my ssd to run as my main boot drive, and have my HDD as my storage for all my games, music, etc etc. He never ended up doing that, I had to figure it out on my own, which I guess didn't work properly because I had my entire hard drives wiped about a month ago, with similar issues, resulting in me having to attempt to put them in Raid 0, which apparently I wasn't able to do because after I attempted that, my 1tb was never able to be used, I'd have to set a partition on it for it to show up in my computer which was very bizarre for me. I would love to give you all the information regarding my last blue screen, but I can't get the computer to post, I know for a fact my monitors are working but it doesn't seem to wanna work. As I said I am out of warranty, and I cannot afford to replace whatever malfunctioned, I've gone through a lot with Dell and I have been disappointed everytime they attempted to fix the problem. I have posted other topics regarding my alienware problems but this is something that I didn't wanna have to do for a long time. Especially since my CPU cooler was just replaced a few months before this. I realize it's a shot in the dark to ask if there's anyway I can get a replacement part for whatever is broken, seeing as I haven't done anything to technically void the warranty if I were still in it, I just don't know what else to do, I'm completely stressed now, because I've lost all my work data that I had stored on the computer, until I can turn it on and make a backup of it all. P.S I have an aurora r4, I have the service tag and express service code if needed, but I have had all the parts completely changed from Dell themselves awhile ago, so whatever is on the receipt is no longer what's in my system. Thanks! Hopefully a quick simple fix haha!
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Lebby27
5 Posts
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October 6th, 2014 18:00
Link to my other account, and the old problems I had, http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19482621/20259622#20259622
Lebby27
5 Posts
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October 7th, 2014 12:00
I don't mean to be pushy, but bump? Also, now for some reason when I attempt to turn on the computer, the power button doesn't work, only when I plug the cable into the PSU the computer turns on for a few seconds, then it shuts down and restarts, it's like its in an endless loop, there's still no beeps upon starting up, just fan spools up and lights come on, except for my USB and mouse which are plugged into the back of the tower, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Lebby27
5 Posts
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October 7th, 2014 21:00
Sorry for the spam of replies, but I'm starting to narrow it down to a few things, I've taken out my hdd and ssd just to see if the computer would post, no luck. I tried removing the ram sticks, trying each individually, and no luck. I have also switched my graphics card to a different pci slot and still no luck. I'm thinking it may be a motherboard issue, or something to do with my MIO board, the only way to turn my computer on is by plugging the cable into the psu and waiting a few seconds for it to turn on by itself. The power button is not functional at all, but the bizarre thing is, the computer boots up with lights on and fans going, but then 15 seconds later it turns off and restarts again, endless loop. It's weird, but now my other question is how much would it cost for me to get a new motherboard, and thermal paste for my cpu? This has been very frustrating as I've been out of warranty for awhile now, I've sadly had nothing but problems with it, ever since I bought it. Stripped screws for the cpu, no screws holding the graphics card in place, and just all around very disappointed, seeing as I spent a lot of money on this computer, hoping it would last me a good few years, but it seems to have lasted only a few months of actual working time. I can't get any work done with this, but I hope I can get some kind of understanding from someone at DELL, as this is not the first time I've had issues with this, even when I was in the warranty.
Tesla1856
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October 8th, 2014 12:00
In response to your Private Message ... Ya, I was waiting for Dell to respond, but since you are well out-of-warranty they likely didn't because without a warranty, their hands are tied.
1. This can be tested with an ohm meter. Power Supply can be tested with Digital PS Tester. Using a special procedure, the MIO-Board can be temporarily disconnected.
2. Who did this ? and is the Asetek cooler "hold down screws and under mounting plate" still stripped-out or not being held down properly?
3. Then, install the proper screw.
IMHO, your best course of action now, to protect your investment, is to hire a trained computer technician to:
1. Diagnose the machine and try to determine what parts are required to make operational.
2. Possibly recover any data files that you assume are lost. With the problems you have had over the years, not sure why you didn't have a backup?
3. Repair and/or replace the required the machine hardware (without doing any more damage).
4. Install Win7-64 to proper drive (SSD), install proper drivers, check operation, help with getting required programs reinstalled, restore data files to proper drive (HDD).
5. Advise and/or implement a proper backup routine.
Without proper training and experience repairing computers, it's very easy for minor problems to turn out to be major ones ... even to the point that the machine is totaled or not financially reasonable to repair.
Lebby27
5 Posts
0
October 8th, 2014 13:00
2. Stripped screws for the cpu,
3. no screws holding the graphics card in place,
These 2 have been fixed awhile ago, but this was when I first got the system that they didn't have this installed properly. Currently, I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue, but I can't post it to do a motherboard test, I might have to call someone to take a look at it but I'm not sure what they can do, cause if it's the motherboard how do I go about buying a new one? I am very confused about this whole situation. The reason I couldn't backup is because I honestly haven't had time too, if the computer hasn't been working I've been trying to fix it, and when it worked, I've tried catching up on my lost work. It's just a complete pain. I'm thinking about just building a whole new computer but I can't really afford it atm, I'm pretty sure all my parts work properly ex, GPU,CPU,RAM,HDD,SSD, I'm thinking buy the little things I need, like the cpu cooler, case, fans, and optical drive, but other than that I don't really know what else to do, I'm sitting here with a dead computer.