Alienware M17 Arrived...No Opperating system Help please

So it just arrived today, I let my wife open it up as she is as excited as I am. Upon initial Boot it said "no operating system found" I grabbed the recovery DVD and started re-installing windows but I'm wondering what could possibly happened

I have raid 0
and
Vista 64 bit Ultimate.

 

Possible problem:

1. MBR screwed up.
2. Raid screwed up.
3. Awesome AW quality check.
4. Changed new hard drive and forgot to install windows.

 

any idea for possible solutions?

 

Make sure 2 hd drives are install physically, and check raid is correct.

Then reinstall windows.

 

How many hard drives did you see during the Installation setup screen when you reinstalled Windows?

Edit: if you saw two hard drives of equal size, that means that RAID is disabled in the BIOS. You would have to enter the BIOS screen (I'm not sure what key it is on the Alienware BIOS, but it's usually F2), and there should be an option under SATA/AHCI mode, which should be set to RAID.

If Windows saw 1 hard drive that equals roughly the capacity of the two hard drives you ordered, then it could be anything from a corrupt RAID array or a bad Windows Install.

 

1 for 483G (i have 2 Raid 0 250's)

 

so I installed windows, loaded up then I grabed the support CD and started installing all my drivers. Although still not letting me connect to WIFI. I opt'd for the improved network card, yet I loaded the drivers and still no internet, Do i just need to install the onboard intel drivers instead?

 

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused, regarding your wireless card, make sure it is turned on, use FN + F2 keys to enable/disable the wireless card. Also make sure the drivers are installed under device mgr. Please let us know.

Thank you.

 

I'm installing all the drivers now, just trying to figure out what I"m doing really...Not that familor with setting up drivers and installing OS's. Hopefully I can get it all up and running here in a few and post it.

 

This is the "order" that you should install the drivers, basically this is a good way to keep track what drivers you need to install and basically make sure that you installed everything. You can find your drivers under My hive in AW site

 

200 point quality check FTW

 

where do i get, Camera Utility, and function key controler, I cannot find those drivers.

 

I cannot get my camera to work, any one know wehre to find the drivers?

 

Camera utility's link seems to be down in AW, google for CyberLink YouCam 2.0 worked for me. No idea about the function key, never installed it, no issues so far

 

I have cyberlink youcam 2.0 seems to be an application note a driver. I get the rainbow screen of service out on a TV when I run it. Just multi color'd bars
no actual picture.

 

Yea but for some odd reason the camera seems to work after installing Youcam. Even in programs like Skype/msn. So as far as i can tell Youcam = drivers

 

Hi

Sorry to hear about Your problems. Where do U have Windows from?

I have just been told that Alienware does not ship their laptops with OS DVDs

Cheers

 

Well they did with mine So they probably do now (not exactly an OS dvd, something like a recovery, but can be used to basically format the pc and reinstall Windows).

 

Yah I used a recovery CD. I have youcam installed but the cam does not work still.

 

Thanks for reply Coolmine.

Is it the one that U have to pay 40 quid? The so called AlienRespawn 2.0 Recovery DVD?

Cheers

 

Basically what i did is, installed Youcam (dont forget to press FN + f4 to enable the camera), after that it worked without any problems.

 

Nah its the one you are "forced" to buy

 

I still don't get it... If they provide a basic recovery DVD with every system, what is this AlienRespawn DVD for?

Cheers

 

I just called to confirm, and I was told that my order ships with Vista64Ult Recovery.

 

Great! Thanks!

I guess AW is decent enough not to install any bloatware on our lappies.

But if U really want some, U can get it for 40 quid and its called AlienRespawn

Cheers

 

Id guess that it restores the pc as AW shipped it (windows + drivers + some software), basically like restoring an image.

 

Thanks a lot Coolmine! U just sold M17 to me

 

Hehe its a nice laptop, just make sure you want a desktop replacement for gaming and not a laptop to carry around all day

 

I am swaping M570RU so I think I know something about it...

I like to have the OS reinstallation DVD. It makes me feel the power over my system So far I was always getting one separately, or Dell was so nice to ship Vista DVD with their systems.

It was a puzzle for me with AW since they don't do it, and sell this Spawn thing on their site.

Cheers

 

Nah spawn is just an "extra" since you can buy some time instead of looking for drivers, installing them etc. But in my case id prefer the clean install since i will be able to install the newest drivers after that

 

Yeah I do the same.

Speaking of which... Could U please tell me if this AW OSD and Command Center is neccessary or is just some sort of bloat?

Cheers

 

The Restore CD does not Include the correct drivers for your PC. Another disk ships with it that says M-17 Support that gives you a really easy ineterface for installing many drivers. Only drivers left out are those for, webcam and quick link keyboard that I can tell.

 

Never installed Command centre after my format, i find it useless Not sure about OSD but since some people said that the newest version fixed some stuck pixels i installed it. Its just a service running which doesnt use any cpu usage or a large amount of ram so i dont mind having it there

Yea an empty cd in my case (and a lot others...) at least My hive is there

 

I like having the OS disc as well. I'll just image it when I get it just in case

 

Thanks for info

I was just browsing OCZ page looking for drivers, and I noticed that there are two drivers for Radeon: VGA_AMD_M88XT, and VGA_AMD_M98XT.

Which one is more recent?

Also which version is AW stock driver?

Cheers

 

Ocz's drivers are newer but still older than ATI's latest. Think AW uses 8.5 (8.12 is the latest).

Most people are using the 8.12 now (you can modify them to run on laptops).

And E-wrecked managed to get the scalling issue fixed which helps

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=329941

 

Do You really believe that there will be any updated driver released?

I contacted all three of them regarding the driver (ATI, OCZ and AW)

ATI told me that they don't and will not support mobile platforms, and I should contact my OEM.
OCZ told me that as long as everything works fine there won't be a new driver.
and guy at AW said that it's an industrial secret and he doesn't have such an information.

Cheers

 

Nah rarely the companies are in the mood to update their drivers every one month. Thats were the driver modifying comes in

You download the newest desktop drivers, mod them to work for a laptop and install them, same way as the nvidia drivers. The only difference is that ATI releases a new driver every month and nvidia releases 4 drivers every month

 

any ideas on my cam driver? can sombody put a sceenie of theres

 

This is what mine shows.

 

Yeap that what mine shows too.

 

and yours works?

 

This is what my webcam shows in all aplications, MSN, cyberlink, ETC ETC ETC

 

Hm thats really odd. Double checked mine again to make sure that it works and it does. And the only thing i installed was the youcam. Try do a reinstall just in case. Btw you get the same screen in youcam too ?

 

yup same screen in every application.

 

Try uninstall youcam software, uninstall the camera drivers from the device manager, restart and try reinstall youcam.