Saddled with Alienware BIOS problem

Hey everyone, first time visiting here, and looks like this is a place where intelligent lifeforms live. I'm a former computer geek, which means I barely know anything anymore, but I have a nephew who just bought a used Alienware notebook computer, bright bright green, weighs about a ton. "Here Auntie Barbs...could you make it work for me?" Ummmm...I'll try.



From what I've been able to determine so far, the BIOS cannot keep time, there is no hard drive found in the system setup, and therefore it cannot find an operating system. The CD+DVD drive does allow me to boot a Windows Operating System, but that's where it stops.

My gut feeling is to start with the BIOS...but how? Where do I start? Yes, I have set it to the system defaults, but no it still doesn't pull in hard drive info. Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm supposed to be the smart aunt....but feeling pretty dumb. Now, if he had asked me a question about no load mutual funds.....

LOL

Thanks in advance for your help. (I'll come back tonight and give you the model number and all that stuff....I recognize "bright green" is not very helpful.)

- Barbara

 

What Alienware notebook is it? Try changing the CMOS battery (doubt that will work though).

 

If you can grab the account info, you may retrieve the latest updates (including BIOS) off the MyHive page on our support.alienware.com site.

Regarding the loss of time, this is usually due to the CMOS battery losing charge. Judging by the 'bright green', this is the 766 laptop model, 15"

 

Thanks both of you very much. Replacing the CMOS battery is a good first step....
Now, where can I get an online manual for this machine, and where can I get a CMOS battery? Circuit City?
- Barbara

 

Hi...I'm back. Here's an update....First, this is a model 5620P Notebook computer. I followed the instructions in the knowledge base to pop the keyboard, hoping to see the battery right there. Nope. I talked to alienware support and they let me know that this model did not have a customer replaceable battery. People used to have to send it in. That's not an option in this case, so I figure that I'll pop the case, and look for the little silver battery. However, I don't have any manuals...

Can anyone post either where the battery is located, or how the case comes off? I certainly appreciate it.

- Barbara

 

To get to the CMOS battery, you remove the battery then remove a sticker on the battery bay center, then you can see the CMOS battery by cutting the wires and re-soldering them to the new CMOS battery so there is no need open the unit to replace the CMOS battery.
2 pictures file attached.

 

I can't view the pics .....and I AM logged in.

 

They're attachments. Download the attachment and then extract the contents of that file to view the pictures.