Alienware X51 restore

Question

Hi all,

Wanted to do a factory restore on an Alienware X51 because the recovery partition seems to be corrupted. I can't use respawn because the machine only works in safe mode. During a chat with Dell I bought a restore USB drive, and I can't get the machine to boot to the USB drive. I have tried F12 while booting (as in the instructions included) but I do not get the "USB Storage" option. I have tried setting the BIOS to boot to USB but the option does not appear in the list (http://i.imgur.com/jV3sgWu.jpg). The drive is recognized in explorer (http://i.imgur.com/4IIjSBU.png). I have tried all the USB ports on the machine just for kicks. I don't know what I'm missing here, I did make a point of asking in chat if this drive will really boot and was assured that it would.

I have also tried simply booting to a known good Win7 install DVD and it would not, then found that the machine will not boot to any optical boot disk I have except GParted. (Tried a few other Linux boot disks to no avail.)

FWIW I tried getting back into chat at www.dell.com/support/incidents/us/en/19/Chat/Chattagentry but it is not an available option anymore for me it seems.

I'm out $40 for the restore USB key, not willing to pay more just to get this thing back to factory. I'm no guru but I've restored a few computers over the years and this one is turning into a real bear.

Thanks for any help,

Joe

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Hi Joe! Run an ePSA diagnostic to check for hardware errors. If nothing comes up, try following the installation instructions on this video. Let me know how it goes!

Tesla1856 · Answer

Not sure what is wrong with your optical drive, but prepare this on a working computer.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/700545-convert-dvd-boot-disc-usb-boot-stick.html

Use a new/different 8gb or larger USB flash drive.

tubeguy · Answer

Thank you. I ran ePSA and it passed, then ran it again with the thorough test and the machine rebooted during the test. This had happened before while logged in in normal mode but not in safe mode so I assumed something was wonky in software. However after further testing it now reboots randomly in both normal and safe mode and reboots are happening faster. Obviously there is something else wrong. I have opened the case and made sure the fan is clean and unobstructed, also I reapplied thermal paste to the processor, and I still have random reboots. I also reseated the ram, no help. It does seem like a thermal issue but I don't know where to go from here. I guess the machine was never operating long enough when trying to boot to the USB drive to exhibit the reboot problem to such an extent.

BUT...none of this points to why the recovery stick won't boot. Which doesn't matter now if I can't keep the thing running long enough to do diagnostics. I could start replacing parts but frankly it doesn't seem worth it.

tubeguy · Answer

More on this...just got an interesting email from Dell:

"I would like to apologize up front for the fact that a representative sold you that USB key. Those generic USB keys don't work on these computers because they don't recognize the embedded product key in the motherboard.

If the USB option is not listed on the boot manager (F12 menu) then the best way to get this resolved is by having you use a regular CD/DVD installation media.

We'll honor the fee you paid for to send you the disks you need, the Windows disk and the Resource DVD (contains the drivers for your computer)."

Still don't know why it is randomly rebooting but I'm going to try booting the DVD and see what happens. And while I'm at it, embedded product key in the motherboard? Seriously?

tubeguy · Answer

Will do!

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Alright, please let us know when you get a chance to test the discs.

tubeguy · Answer

Got the disks, the Win7 disk booted just fine and installed. About halfway through installing drivers the machine started randomly rebooting again. I noticed the power supply was pretty warm, almost hot but not too hot to hold in my hand. Could it be a thermal cutout in the PS activating? It does seem heat-related, as the reboots happen more frequently the longer I use it.

Certainly the original issue has been solved. Since ePSA won't run itself out before it reboots I can't say it passed but it gets through everything then reboots during the extended memory test. Could be this is because of bad memory or it just ran long enough to trigger the reboot. At this point I am not inclined to start swapping parts and don't know what else to do.

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Is the computer still booting to Windows? If so, try monitoring the CPU and GPU temperatures using HWmonitor to determine if the system is overheating. Try running an AlienAutopsy test on the memory or the Windows Memory Diagnostic from the Control Panel.

tubeguy · Answer

Guy who gave it to me to work on said he thinks he may have given me the wrong PSU, took a look and lo and behold it is an HP that just happens to fit. Never occurred to me to check, this is my first time working on an Alienware. I got the correct PSU and all is well. No wonder the little brick he gave me was getting so hot.

FWIW the Win7 disk worked fine but the driver disk did not have the wifi driver, got it online using another machine.

Sorry for wasting everyone's time!

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Glad to hear the system is working, let me know if you need anything else!

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Alienware X51 restore

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