Bios Alienware

[Lacy Tortelli]

Hiin the past 2 weeks I faced many problems with my x17 R2 keyboard. The last Friday I thought I got the problem fixed after doing a clean install of Windows 11 and a fresh install of every needed driver / firmware / BIOS (1.9.1). But today the problem reoccurred and I wasted my whole working day trying to find again a definitive solution. I need my working computer functional as soon as I can.

They replaced keyboard and motherboard on my X17 R1 to resolve the same issue and it re-occured after a couple days. I'm going to install Windows 10 and then install the Keyboard Firmware patch that was released specifically for this issue. Sadly, there is no patch for Windows 11 because Dell seems to have trouble seeing that it is still an issue. That happens when your head is in a certain orrifice.

Let's be real, we are paying big money for a top end laptop, in my case it's just 6 month old, of course you should expect a top end service and a replacement if you would call ANY hardware failure, I'm not paying this much money for a refurbished computer that this one is going to become after being "fixed".

Even after all this mess I'm quite convinced it is a firmware / bios problem, at the moment I just bought another keyboard that I'm placing above my palmrest, quite stupid for what I spent, but.. Meh, I guess that the only thing we can do is wait for an update / new computer (that anyway as far as I am concerned will be needing the same updates sooner or later)

When integrated keyboard works in BIOS and not in Microsoft Windows visit Device Manager and delete keyboard's unknown USB device, then Restart (not Shut Down). During Restart, windows should replace missing keyboard driver.

With external keyboard, please phone Get Support using number within SupportAssist (Freephone), click on Get Help Now (onscreen icon), visit your online Dell account to create Service Request, or click on Dell Technical Support to get online session to fix software problems.

You;re not the only one, I own x15r2 and met this problem after 2 months usage^^, I also make many topics to get help and figure out a resolution, but no hope. And now my laptop out of warranty, and they never realeased or do anything to fix this, very bad serivce, we waist our money, this is the first and will be the last I use this brand

After using the laptop for a little over a year, I noticed that the keyboard was not functioning properly. I contacted Dell customer service to inquire about getting the keyboard repaired, but I was informed that I would have to pay for the repair, as well as for shipping costs, even though the laptop is less than 2 years.

I was extremely disappointed to hear this, as I had expected better from a company like Dell and a premium product like the Alienware XPS x17 R2. I paid a premium price for this laptop and I believe that it should function properly for a reasonable amount of time without requiring repairs.

I would like to request that Dell provide a resolution to this issue. I would appreciate it if Dell could repair or replace the keyboard at no cost to me, or offer a reasonable solution that will allow me to use my laptop without having to pay additional fees.

I am also having this issue on my X17 R2 (also with cherry mechanical keyboard). I'm not sure exactly when it started as I typically use a separate mouse and keyboard, but I noticed it about a week ago when I was packing up for a trip (I ended up having to bring a keyboard with me).

I'm not sure I agree this thread should be flagged as 'Solved'. Everyone around the web seems pretty much in agreement that this is a software/driver issue. Replacing hardware is not a solution for software issues.

I encountered this issue on an Alienware x17 R2. It was brought into us because the keyboard suddenly stopped working. The keyboard completely passed the Dell Diagnostics in the bios and worked flawlessly before any kind of OS boot.

I reinstalled Windows 11 with a fresh install and was able to get the keyboard to work (albeit strangely) until some series of updates ran and it ceased to function again. I was then never able to get it to work again.

As a means of troubleshooting I decided to try installing Windows 10 (again a fresh install) and test it there. I was unable to get the KB to work there (this was all done with an external) but after running all the Dell updates (namely the Intel HID drivers etc) I ran an in place upgrade to 11. This allowed for the keyboard to work from the start. Even during the setup the keyboard worked flawlessly (during a normal fresh install you have to use an external because there is no driver available for the keyboard).

I suspect that there is some very horrible driver issue going on with the Intel HID device stack that is associated with this keyboard that needs to be resolved and Dell needs to investigate this. Considering how many people there are with these issues (based upon internet searches it's thousands) this problem is going to get worse, not better. Replacing the keyboard is likely not the answer. I suspect that might be fixing the problem in some cases only be changing the GUID in windows and performing a clean device reinstall.

"I'm experiencing an issue with my x17 r2 keyboard: it doesn't work with Windows 11, but it does work in BIOS. This is a serious inconvenience. Regrettably, because I'm located in Ukraine, I can't access full support or a replacement. So now, I'm forced to use my old MSI ge75 laptop and 16" MacBook. Thank you for your 'elite' product.

agree with you, this thread shouldnt be flagged as" Solved" , nothing solved here, and I been wating more than 1 year for the update to fix this problem and got nothing from Dell, very very disappointed

So I went to update my BIOS from A09 to A12 and it froze my pc right away. Then a long time with no progress and I couldn't get any response I forced shutdown by unplugging. Now it is stuck in a boot loop and nothing will show on the screen, fans will kick on.

Thank you so much for that link!! I realize now that uBlock stopped that popup... I cannot access the BIOS at all, the screen just stays black. How can I set up the USB as a BIOS recovery? and use the hold END - plug in AC/PSU - recovery mode?

@crimsom unfortunately not... just a black screen no matter what. currently I am trying the CTRL+ESCAPE with my usb stick but cannot get to the recovery menu. I am not sure that it is even on my pc. I am following the Dell's recovery instructions specific to alienware

Hi @Capn_Duck here is the information you requested on how to use the END key to re-flash corrupted BIOS from USB. Please read the updated web page that has useful instructions about how to get it to work before watching the video. Advocate printing the instructions and ticking completion of the steps so that you get this method right first time.

So I have tried many different combinations of file names for the recovery drive and all the usb ports.. Nothing so far. I have used BIOS_IMG, AMIBOOT and using AAP20 like I found in this post and also here

Ok, I know that there is -boot-ubuntu-14-04-and-windows-7-on-fakeraid-installation-error-question-m#new-answer?newreg=f2b8bde40c8947f8ac8e3cedec0d1964 and that that post has some answers for me, but I don't know if it exactly matches what I need help with. I am running on a RAID 0, not sure if it's a Fake RAID or not.

Just to start I am running an Alienware (Dell) M17xR3. It came with Windows 7. Have a RAID 0 array, I think it's a "Fake" RAID, but I know I also have a hardware RAID controller. Previously partitioned and had Ubuntu 13.04 installed, had no issue installing it, creating the partition and installing GRUB. I have since upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro, lost GRUB during the installation, but from the HDD partition size of Windows, I knew my Linux partition was still there. Should have just reinstalled GRUB, but instead tried reformatting the Linux partition and doing a clean install of Ubuntu 14.04 x64 and also tried Mint 16 x64 Cinnamon. Exact same installer, and exact same error message, happened after the custom partition section, got just ??????. I don't know if Windows 8 created an EFI/UEFI install, but I'm pretty sure Windows 7 didn't have it.

Secure boot, dell tpm, alienware bios, intel optane and windows boot manager just start stepping on each others toes. Sometimes they accept the changes to dis, boot one time, but then, not allow them to boot ever again. All sorts of weird stuff.

I dont have the answer for you, other than, start with windows, dont RAID, and consider using two disks, no secure boot, UEFI, There is also an option to Raid, or not in bios.... almost to many variables to keep track of. I settled on using WSL2 with GWSL for my Alienware R7, it works great when you work out the kinks. But its to much work to have to recovery from disk based problems.

If you want to dual-boot, you probably need to create two software raid partitions on each disk (one using Windows software raid, one using Linux) and then create logical volumes as needed within those.

The above information isn't very helpful in figuring out the issue. So to be frank, I just skimmed it. And most of it isn't really relevant to the issue at hand to be honest. Ill tell you what I have learned doing this for years, and just cover the biggest things people miss. Its actually very complex to get it to work like you want, and even I struggle to keep it stably dual booting.

You essentially need to make something else grab control of the BIOS before the 'Windows Boot Manager' does. This can be quite difficult. The Windows Boot Manager is designed to make sure most peoples computers (average Joe) always boot into Windows, so it acts a bit like a worm. Well need another EFI boot partition, and to set that as higher priority in BIOS. That boot partition is probably though not necessarily separate from the /boot/ ('partition') in Linux.

You must do this because otherwise the partition will be marked 'dirty' and you cant open other partitions on the drive except the dirty one. You can dump the 'dirty' bit and ignore it, but Ill leave that out as well.

3a8082e126