Skip to main content
Sign Out

Welcome to Dell

My Account
  • Place orders quickly and easily
  • View orders and track your shipping status
  • Create and access a list of your products
  • Manage your Dell EMC sites, products, and product-level contacts using Company Administration.
Sign In Create an Account Premier Sign In Partner Program Sign In
Contact Us

Article Number: 000177709

Clear the BIOS Settings on Alienware Systems

Summary: Resetting the system BIOS on your Alienware can help resolving issues such as no power, system not booting, not starting up and even issues with your integrated device. Follow the instructions on this article to learn how to perform this on your Alienware system ...

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content

Instructions

Your system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) software is stored in a chip on your system’s motherboard know as the CMOS. The BIOS controls multiple settings of your system’s integrated devices and resetting these settings can help fixing power, boot, and other problems.

BIOS is also known as the Real Time Clock (RTC)

Supported Systems:

  • All Alienware Systems

The process to reset the BIOS settings varies depending on your system model. Follow the corresponding instructions for your system from the list below.

 
After the BIOS reset it is normal to receive error messages such as "Amount of memory has been changed" or "Time and date has not been set". These are expected and you can disregard the error the first time it appears after the reset.
 

Alienware 13 R2, 15 R2 and 17 R3

For detailed instructions on how to perform a BIOS reset see Alienware 13 R2, 15 R2 & 17 R3: Systems Not Powering Up.

Alienware M15, Alienware M17 and Area 51m (All revisions)

For detailed instructions on how to perform a BIOS reset see How to Reset Real Time Clock (RTC) to recover your Dell Portable system.

Alienware Desktops

The BIOS is able to keep its settings while the system is off thanks to am internal battery commonly known as CMOS battery, RTC Battery or Coin Cell Battery.

On desktop systems this battery is user accessible and normally has a jumper near it. This jumper cuts power to the BIOS and resets the settings to the default values.

For instructions on how to perform this on you Alienware desktop you can see your system's manual at Dell Manuals Page

Other Alienware Systems

 

The following steps may require extended disassembly of your system. It is recommended that this process is done by a trained techinician to avoid damage to your system.

  1. Remove the coin cell battery

  2. Wait 1 minute

  3. Put the coin cell battery back in place

Back to Top

Additional Information

Recommended Articles

Here are some recommended articles related to this topic that might be of interest to you.

Out of Warranty support  Out of warranty? No problem click here, enter your Service Tag and view our offers. 
 
Currently, offers are only available for US, Canada, UK, and France PC Customers. Server and Storage not applicable.

Article Properties

Affected Product
Alienware 13, Alienware 13 R3, Alienware 13 R2, Alienware 14, Alienware 15, Alienware 15 R3, Alienware 15 R2, Alienware 15 R4, Alienware 17, Alienware Area-51m, Alienware 17 R4, Alienware 17 R2, Alienware 17 R3, Alienware 17 R5, Alienware 18 , Alienware Alpha & Alienware Steam Machine, Alienware Area 51, Alienware Area-51 ALX, Alienware Area-51 R2, Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition R3 and R6, Alienware Area-51 R4 and R5, Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition R7, Alienware Aurora, Alienware Aurora ALX, Alienware Aurora R2, Alienware Aurora R3, Alienware Aurora R4, Alienware Aurora R5, Alienware Aurora R6, Alienware Aurora R7, Alienware Aurora R8, Alienware Aurora R9, Alienware M11x, Alienware M11x R2, Alienware M11x R3, alienware M14x, ALIENWARE M14X R2, Alienware M15, Alienware M15 R2, Alienware M15x, Alienware M17, Alienware M17 R2, Alienware M17x, Alienware M17X R2, Alienware M17X R3, Alienware M17x R4, Alienware M18x, ALIENWARE M18X R2, Alienware Alpha R2 & Alienware Steam Machine R2, Alienware X51, Alienware X51 R2, Alienware X51 R3 ...
Last Published Date

26 Mar 2024

Version

8

Article Type

How To

Back to Top