M17x fails to boot after formatting to factory state

Okay, so my Alienware m17x was working fine and all I wanted to do is format my pc to factory state to just start all over. After formatting my pc, I restarted it. As it starts to boot, a blue screen error quickly appears and then disappears in a split second, leading me to the options of start windows normally or launch startup repair. I tried the first option but it would just repeat what has just happened. So I tried option number 2. Startup repair fails to fix the problem. Even after trying to use system restore or restore to factory state via f8 doesn't do the trick. I am really frustrated and bummed that I cannot get this fixed. I am afraid that I cannot do anything to fix this problem. Any suggestions?

 

If it crashes right after the windows flag tries to load, press F2 at the splash screen under the advance tab, there should be a option for the HDD it will read either raid or achi, change it to the other one that is not selected. IF you had installed windows under raid and you change it to achi or the opposite, that exact same error happens.

 

Try booting with the windows disk, and choosing Repair option.

 

Hello, we have an article with the main troubleshooting steps whenever the computer doesn't boot. Follow these steps to get it to work

 

I would say boot to F12 and run the diagnostics. If you have a bad drive, no matter how many times you reimage, it could have a problem.

 

This gets my vote. Been there done that. FYI, If you install windows in ahci, a bios reset will default to raid and this will happen as well. First time I reset my bios after a tech had installed windows (in non raid for some reason) it bsod'd during boot every time. Good luck!

 

I'll back that up as well. Had the bios reset after a chat with tech support when my video card was failing without either of us noticing and ended up having to reformat twice to get back to ahci (once to figure out it had installed as raid, the other to program back to ahci).

 

You didn't need to do the second reformat. You could have simply changed some lines in the registry, then reboot and change the settings in the bios to AHCI. I ended up doing that a while back and found some guides online. Although it's a little late in your case, but if needed for others, I can search for them and post links.

 

I tried that but it wasn't taking. Kept getting the same BSOD on boot whenever I'd switch from raid. Finally I gave up trying and reformatted, which was fine because it gave me another time through getting used to installing the drivers.

 

It does seem to be a little temperamental - no hard rules. I found in testing that I could install in ahci then switch to raid and the machine started fine. Install in raid though and you're stuck with it (never tried the reg mods).