Hello,
I have been given this alienware laptop as a gift from my brother after it failed with him (And he threw it at the wall...amazingly nothing was cracked or broken..sort of). I managed to start it up and turn it back on(which was the reason he didn't want it anymore) but I'm having some issues with it still.
I have opened the laptop and basically took everything apart and reseated all the same hardware back into the laptop. So far everything worked except the hard drive and the monitor. I believe the monitor is a cable or fuse issue, and the hard drive is another post in itself.
What i did to solve my issue was replace the alienware hard drive with another hard drive from another of my laptops. Though it wasn't the same performance, it had the same connector type, so I assumed it would work( I will get the spec. details for the hard drive if that helps as well, though I've read posts that say RAM is a BIOS issue). I was right, except it was missing the drivers for all the hardware in the laptop, so I basically could only turn it on and run the OS (which is Windows 7 Home Premium, which I installed myself when I put the new hard drive into the laptop). I managed to access the internet and download the wireless card driver for the laptop, which allowed me to basically download all the other drivers that were available through the dell website for the cpu. If you want to look at the website, the link is connected
here. (Hopefully that worked cause preview isn't working right now) Nearly everything on that site I have downloaded and installed into my laptop.
This is the list of what I haven't installed, going by category first then the items:
Application+++
--Dell Custom Desktop Themes, A-02 Alienguise Theme Combo-Win7
--Alienware Command Center, v.2.5.54.0, A07
--Dell DataSafe Local Patch/Upgrade
Audio+++
--IDT 92HD83 Audio, v.6.10.0.6241, A01
Removable Storage+++
--TSST TS-T633C 12.7mm Slotload 8x DVDRW, v.D900, A08
--HLDS CA 10N 12.7mm SATA Slotload 4X BD-Combo Firmware Update
Serial ATA+++
--Seagate Momentus 2.5",SATA,3Gb/s,7200,512e Firmware Update
--Seagate ST95005620AS Firmware Update
--Intel Intel Rapid Storage Technology, v.9.6.0.1014, A00
System Utilities+++
--Alienware Alienware Wallpapers, A01
Video+++
I installed everything AMD Radeon since that was my graphics card. I left everything else alone.
Also, I did make the .Iso disk from the boot tab and installed that version bios into my laptop. I'm not sure if it finishes cause it'll say that the EC flash completed and then another screen will pop up asking me if I want to flash the EC, but when I put "y" or "Y" it doesn't go through and just says it's an invalid command. Idk if i need to install some of the other drivers, or if I need to change the bios, or if there's something specific about the RAM. They both work and the seats for them work( since the computer detects both of them, and the BIOS does too).
Any tips, advice, or even step by step instructions would be very appreciated. I ship for basic training on Oct, 7th so I won't be able to respond to any posts until April, 2015. Any help before and during my leave would be completely appreciated. Thank all who reply to this post and if you need any more information please ask and I'll do my best to provide it. I apologize if this is alot of text, I didn't know which detail was more important to know.