Area 51 boot problems

USB devices can cause slow boot to no boot at all. Did you unplug everything and try to boot the system?

 On mine I can count to 100 before it boots past the bios. It's slow but it does boot. I have a version 2 motherboard. Is that what you have? I have this one year old Lexmark printer that will prevent boots. If I have it powered on when booting it wont go past the BIOS. It works just fine once the computer is up and running.

I know you're thinking that since you have had the motherboard and system replacments that the only thing left the same on all that was the BIOS. What about your mouse? Has it always been plugged in? Same with the keyboard. If so try booting it once with nothing at all plugged in but the monitor and see what happens.

Thankyou! I will give that a try. I have a RAT7 mouse and a logitech G15 keyboard attached as well as a HP D7500 photosmart printer and a WesternDigital external HD.  If that is the problem, I just hate to have to disconnect everything everytime the system requires a reboot!  I have a Dell Studio 9100 which doesn't have this problem.  It seems to be unique to Alienware for some reason.  How do i tell which motherboard version I have?

Thanks again!

Well if you disconnect everything and it still wont boot then you are looking at a hardware or a BIOS problem but you need to rule out the USB stuff first.

Seems that people are now running into boot issues since the A10 release. I have the version 2 board with the A10 and it works fine. I was thinking that maybe they released a new version of the motherboard and only that one has issues... just a guess. For all I know there is still only the version 1 and 2 boards. Easy way to see is look on the board around the pcie slots. It will say what version it is in big white letters. If it's a 2 then we know it cant be a new type of board they are using.

If it's the BIOS then there aint much you can do. I guess you just need to keep on Dell about it if thats the case.

Just for info,

I have a version 3 board which was deliverd with BIOS A09 - Nov 2010.  Updatting it to A10 in Feb 2011 went without a hitch and the only problem on this replacement system is my heat problem with my Dual ATi 5970's.

See my profile for Specs.

morblore, I checked the motherboard and I have a version 1.  Do you know the difference between ver 1 and ver 2?  This is a brand new computer just delivered July 5th.  Also, how can I tell the wattage of my power supply?

Thanks,

Steve

The version one board is the exact same board that was used with the XPS 730x systems. The version two board came out back in march of 2010. The only change I was able to tell was the version 2 had the Alienware writing and logo on it which the version 1 didn't have since it was a rehash from the XPS line.

Since Spamfighter has a version 3 board running A10 we can rule out the version 3 board as being the cause.

You can pull the power supply out and read the sticker on it. That will tell you everything about it.

Thankyou!  I have the version 1 board.  Still haven't checked the power supply yet, but I'm hoping its the 1100 watt that I ordered.

Correction: Sorry Moreblore and Stevep397.  

I used the info as reported by CPUID-CPU-Z which reports for the mainfoard A03.  (as my original system reported but when the motherboard was replaced it showed A01).  Thus, when reciving the replacement system  I checked the replacement system to ensure I again had A03.

Weil, looking, while re-installing my 2nd ATI card, at the actual board it states MS 7543 Vers. 2.0 but it has a sticker which reads Rev A03.  Seem the latter is all CPUID-CPU-Z reports.  So I guess I have a Version 2.0 board with an A03 revision, whatever that means.

Hope that didn't mess up your investigation into Stevep397 problem.

Just go by whats printed on the board and not the stickers. They wouldn't make a new board and stick a sticker on it. They would change the print..i would hope so anyway. Easy way to tell is not only the alienware print but the colors used.

The ver1 board is multi colored. It has purple SATA ports and Green PCI-e slots and is the same board used in the xps 730x. The ver2 board has black SATA ports and black PCI-e slots. The chips around thre CPU are also black and there is Alienware writting on it. I tried to find a picture of it but with no luck and I dont want to take mine apart just to post a pic so I posted one I already had.

This is the Alienware Area 51 ver1 board.

This is the XPS 730x motherboard

ver2 board. See how the sata and pci-e slots are black? And behind that middle card it says something like Alienware ver 2.0 You will also see the font Alienware uses on the board.

I definitely have the ver 1 board.  Now that has peaked my interest.  I want to find out what the difference is between ver 1 and 2, since I just recieved my Area 51 and should have the latest motherboard.

Another question about the power supply.  I notice that the area 51 has a handle on the power supply on the outside of the case. I want to check the wattage on it, but am afraid to pull it out.  I'm worried that I will pull out all the wiring with it.  I'm not sure whether its inserted into a socket or has the wires built in.  Can anyone help?

I too was trying to "verify" that I had the 1,2 Kw PSU, but while I have no problem with installing drives, memory, cards, etc,. I didn't wish to move around the MIO board, given it is also difficult to work at due to location so after seeing the sockets and the fixed power wires to the graphic cards (which I have no problem to disconnect from the cards), I didn't try to unplug those those other connections and just hope I have what I paid for. - Great pics, Moreblore. N.B. updated my specs to show version of Motherboard.  Anyone know what the Rev. Axx  impact on Motherboards are and it's effect on other parts - similar to "firmware" perhaps if such is on motherboards?

I'v been trying to figure out whats different between them too. I seem to recall one of my XPS systems had a JMicron controller and I know the version 2 board uses a SiI controller. I can't remember if it was the XPS 730 or the 730x. I just checked the SATA drive download section and Dell has both the Jmicron and SiI drivers listed.

So maybe one of the changes was going from the JMicron in version 1 to the SiI in version two. I also noticed the chips around the CPU are black on this board that I have now. It's the five grey ones on the left side and the grey one on top of the CPU in the pic.

That PSU is kinda easy to pull out and it only takes about a min to do it. Just open the case and unplug the wire harness from the PSU and then pull it out of the back by the handle.