Hey, so I own an Alienware Aurora (I know, rather overpriced to say the least, but I didn't have the confidence to build a system from scratch myself when I got it 3 years ago). Since the initial buy I have upgraded the main storage to a 120 SSD (which I've had a tiny bit of bother) and today upgrading the GPU after dealing with issue after issue with the original.
Anyway, I installed the new GPU and all seemed well. The computer booted (and restarted a couple times when needed) without issue. Played games with good quality and fps, so all seemed well.
At this point I have obviously done something silly, because my computer now refuses to boot. However I don't know what I've done or (more critically) to what part (I fear I've nackered the CPU).
Bascially I went into BIOS and had a look at the built in Alienware overclocking options. Before doing this I had checked the CPU temp and it wasn't high (I meant it wasn't cold either, about mind 40s core temp) after having been playing a few games for a bit. I changed one setting (I believe it was the clock speed, not 100% on the lingo!) but decided I didn't know what I was doing with it so I restored it to what it was without exiting BIOS. I then enganged the built in "Level 1 OC" feature. I proceeded to restart the PC however about a second after reaching the windows loading bar the screen had a tiny flash of BSOD and then rebooted.
I immediatly reentered BIOS and restored defaults. However upon restarting it did the same thing. I turned off automatic restart to read the BSOD and it was the one which mentions "Check for viruses on you computer. Remove any newley installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /f to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer."
Having had issues with my SSD I hoped it was that playing up again and first tried to run CHKDSK, but it didnt seem to want to run and so I decided to take the HDD from another PC and try and boot from that (thus taking all the drives originally in the pc out). Still it kept failing to boot.
I have used the built in memory test and that found no faults.
I have tried removing my new GPU and putting one of the old ones back in, however this also didnt work.
I briefly wondered if my PSU wasn't sufficient, but then though that surely I wouldn't have been able to use my PC this afternoon playing games, etc.?
I am now at a loss, with my only thought being I managed to fry the CPU in that second when it tried to boot with the built in OC settings.
Anyone able to assist me in trying to trouble shoot this? If all else failts I'll take it to a PC repair bloke I know to try and find out if it is the CPU or not. But incase I have to shell out for a new CPU, I could really do with avoding this added cost.
Specs available on request.
Any help is really appretiated"
Anyway, I installed the new GPU and all seemed well. The computer booted (and restarted a couple times when needed) without issue. Played games with good quality and fps, so all seemed well.
At this point I have obviously done something silly, because my computer now refuses to boot. However I don't know what I've done or (more critically) to what part (I fear I've nackered the CPU).
Bascially I went into BIOS and had a look at the built in Alienware overclocking options. Before doing this I had checked the CPU temp and it wasn't high (I meant it wasn't cold either, about mind 40s core temp) after having been playing a few games for a bit. I changed one setting (I believe it was the clock speed, not 100% on the lingo!) but decided I didn't know what I was doing with it so I restored it to what it was without exiting BIOS. I then enganged the built in "Level 1 OC" feature. I proceeded to restart the PC however about a second after reaching the windows loading bar the screen had a tiny flash of BSOD and then rebooted.
I immediatly reentered BIOS and restored defaults. However upon restarting it did the same thing. I turned off automatic restart to read the BSOD and it was the one which mentions "Check for viruses on you computer. Remove any newley installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /f to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer."
Having had issues with my SSD I hoped it was that playing up again and first tried to run CHKDSK, but it didnt seem to want to run and so I decided to take the HDD from another PC and try and boot from that (thus taking all the drives originally in the pc out). Still it kept failing to boot.
I have used the built in memory test and that found no faults.
I have tried removing my new GPU and putting one of the old ones back in, however this also didnt work.
I briefly wondered if my PSU wasn't sufficient, but then though that surely I wouldn't have been able to use my PC this afternoon playing games, etc.?
I am now at a loss, with my only thought being I managed to fry the CPU in that second when it tried to boot with the built in OC settings.
Anyone able to assist me in trying to trouble shoot this? If all else failts I'll take it to a PC repair bloke I know to try and find out if it is the CPU or not. But incase I have to shell out for a new CPU, I could really do with avoding this added cost.
Specs available on request.
Any help is really appretiated"
