Alienware 17 BIOS Bricked

Hello,

I bricked my BIOS. Yes, please hold your applause. I removed the CPU and kinda removed the CMOS battery (it's barely in there) yet I get 7 beeps and not 5 after a power drain. Many say removing the CMOS is futile and unnecessary. So what's the verdict? And why am I not getting 5 beeps? Perhaps the CMOS matters and mine is still somehow making contact with the MOBO? Any help? I just get 7 beeps indefinitely, no reboots.

I really don't want to dismantle the whole thing just to fully remove the CMOS.

Thanks

 

Update: CMOS is fully out. CPU and RAM are out. 7 beeps indefinitely.

When CPU is in, and RAM is out, 2 beeps until it eventually shuts off. Is this because I don't have the heatsink on? The fans gradually get louder then it shuts off.

Any ideas? I really need this POS to start working ASAP.

 

I will move this to the Alienware 17 sub-forum.

You are sort of on the right track, but need to tweak the technique a bit. Put the CPU back in. It does not need to be removed.

Follow this technique: Alienware 17 (Ranger) /18 (Viking) Owners** - How to 'Un-Brick' Your Mobo

 

Mr. Fox. Thanks, I will try it and report back.

 

OK, look forward to hearing. The only Haswell-powered Alienware system that this has not worked on with a 100% success rate (for me) was an AW17 (Ranger) with 120Hz 3D display.

 

Mr Fox method it's hard to do BUT it works.

 

Mr. Fox, it finally worked. I have several things I'd like to say now. Hopefully you can address each of them.

Firstly, why is your method the only one that has worked? Taking out the CPU, both the CPU and RAM, etc. have resulted in beeps but no reboots (despite the other individuals that have claimed success with these methods). And why is the CMOS actually a factor here? I thought because of the NVRAM storage that it would be irrelevant?

Secondly, why did Alienware just make me have to dismantle my entire PC (and almost take off the damned mainboard) just to take out this stupid CMOS battery? This is absolutely ludicrous. The battery is right there by the RAM! But it just won't come out. I feel like I can assume that most individuals did not have to do this, as they would have surely complained as well...Because after tampering with the battery without disassembling the unit, apparently my tinkering was a bit excessive (I beg to differ), causing the CMOS enclosure to break off a bit. As a result, I had to use tape, folded over multiple times, to get the battery to stay snug....(put it in between the top of the battery and the plastic elements through which the Wi-Fi wires run. I am also stuck with 2 extra screws lol. Funny thing is I marked where I got every screw. Dell really needs a better disassembly guide. And Idk why there aren't adequate video guides on the internet.

And perhaps it is because I am extra paranoid after having disassembled this laptop, but I hear a high-pitched whirring noise coming from the CPU/GPU sometimes. I usually have my CPU loaded a bit due to my work, and thus the fans tend to be on, so I suppose this is just me hearing what is normal when the computer is completely idle. Or perhaps this is a BIOS thing?

And lastly, after updating the BIOS, turbo boost seems to work quite oddly. I set the A14 BIOS to defaults and even when idle my CPU is running at 3.1-3.4Ghz. I don't recall this being normal?

And do you have any "foolproof" configs in XTU for a 4800MQ? I don't want to bother experimenting again after this whole fiasco but I do want some kind of settings to work with. I recall the BIOS failure occurred when I lowered the dynamic voltage by -100mv and the core voltage by 0.05 volts. I kept the turbo settings the same. Funny thing is, I ran stress tests for 10 minutes and then decided to reboot. You would think a failure would occur during these tests.

And thanks for your help so far

 

They are trying oh so hard to get people away from overclocking. Now they've started providing inadequate power supplies & HQ processors.

 

That's a damn shame. Gonna have to choose someone else then if they keep this up.

But now I have other problems, ffs.

Three issues so far:

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error
Processor ID: 0

And:

The description for Event ID 7 from source IntelDalJhi cannot be found.

And:

Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.


I get these errors on both of my bootable drives. No BSODs.

I reflashed to BIOS A13 and uninstalled Intel XTU. Still getting these errors. Any ideas? I also noticed that my CPU is running at 2.7GHz without turbo boost after installing A13 and loading optimal defaults. I'm confused as all hell.

Edit: Hit F12 and ran Diagnostics in thorough mode. Everything passed. I'm even more confused now.

 

I broke my cmos battery support...to get it out .
With this bios A14 also mine doesnt work perfect...but a unlucked procesor will do the thing.
It's good that you manage to make yours work.

 

I wonder if your error message is similar to the recurring problem this person was having: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ed-my-event-id-18-cpu-errors-windows-7-a.html

I don't know what settings work best for 4800MQ because I do not have a machine with that CPU. Setting CPU voltage too low will trigger this failure to POST every time on the Haswell-powered Alienware machines.

The method to revive it removing the RAM works because it forces the system to dump all of the information stored in non-volatile RAM (NVRAM). Removing the CMOS battery does not work like it does on older machines because the BIOS settings are cached and survive a power loss event. Even removing all power from the motherboard and letting it sit for a few days will not flush out the corrupt settings. Using NVRAM to store BIOS settings (in my opinion) is an absolutely horrible idea. Resetting the BIOS to factory defaults should be simple and painless.

I had an Alienware 17 for a little while. I removed the motherboard and carved away a half-circle in the chassis directly above the coin cell CMOS battery so removing it would be simple. It looked nice (clean job and I painted the raw metal black) and it was difficult to tell the chassis was not that way from the factory by just looking at it. It was only after I went to that trouble that I discovered removing it has no effect as far as resetting the BIOS is concerned.

I am glad that this worked for you. This should not happen again unless you try setting voltage too low or manually setting memory timings the BIOS does not agree with. If you stay at or above 1.165V you should be fine. I have not tested that particular value on the 4800MQ, but that value does not soft-brick the 4930MX in my Alienware 18. There is no reason to try using voltage set any lower than that, but bear in mind the offset comes into play and 1.165V would include a calculation for the offset value.

 

Using a new copy of Windows on the same disk (didn't format) and I installed the first 2 drivers on the list. I still get the same damn error.

Update: I'll be damned. Son of a gun. I've been seeing Event 18 since I got this laptop in early Jan 2014. Since then Error 18 is throughout my system, on two different drives, and on varying dates....wayyy before I even overclocked or tweaked anything. Yet I've never had stability issues....YET.

I just feel like I'm missing something...there has to be a reasonably specific answer...But yet there is no information concerning Cache Hierarchy Errors (event 18s) aside from the same spewed BS answer on PC forums. If this was really a big concern (as this error type seems to be) then my PC should have failed on me a while back. There's no way I've been running for a couple thousand hours a "dying" CPU or Mobo. I'm even more confused than before. I'm willing to bet so many other AW 17 owners have this error but don't even realize it.

And I talked to Dell on the phone (warranty ended May 2014 sadly) and the techs think that you can reset A17 BIOS the same way you could reset M17x BIOS. LMFAO. I'm starting to learn more and more that Alienware is a joke and so is the PC industry in general.

 

Have you tried to send pm to Ferris ?

 

Talk to Ferris if what he posted is confusing and I am sure he will be happy to provide some suggestions to resolve.

Ferris had CPUs replaced and a system exchange before he found the solution. Alienware isn't going to help you because they don't know what is causing it.

This is not unique to Alienware. Ferris found other people posting on the web that were running into the same thing that did not own an Alienware system. I think it's a glitch with Windows and Haswell. My Alienware 18 does not have this issue.

 

Just tried to overclock through the bios to oc lv1 now my laptop lights come on, but a black screen. No beebs just black screen.. How do I setup back to defaults? Sad my 4700mq can't even oc to level 1

 

Have not talked to Ferris but I'm going to send him a PM now. Thanks everyone for the responses.

To solve it, follow Fox's method:

1. Unplug laptop and battery
2. Power drain for 30 seconds
3. Remove all RAM modules (if you have 16GB you need to access underneath the keyboard as well
4. Connect AC adapter, turn on laptop without RAM modules in
5. When the laptop beeps (4 beeps) it will eventually turn off
6. The moment it turns off, insert 1 RAM module
7. The laptop will beep 5 times, then you can turn it off
8. Insert RAM modules and turning it on should bring you back to normal

 

I followed the instructions but I'm only getting 2 beeps repeatedly.. not the five beeps and restarts, yes the cmos and battery is out

 

Last step is the hardest... You shood try until you get 5 beeps... That's what I did ... So now you guis understand me that is not our foult this bios is broken?

 

Due Dellienwares brilliant engineering. :laugh:

 

just let the 2 beeps repeat itself over and over and it finally restarted after about 30 seconds of beeps, got the 5 beeps restarted slapped in the mem stick and it was up and running.. HOW FING stupid alienware?! Why would you design the cmos battery so hard to get to. I believed I flatted out one side of the prongs on my cmos socket, wondering if anyone could take a pic or find one? ill post pictures of what I have

 

cant post a picture of the cmos battery socket, failing to upload any ideas on how to get a pic up on here..?

 

I replace mine cmos battery socket.

 

got any pictures? did you have to soder a new socket in?