M17 wont boot up from 2nd h/d

[Ianm63]

it's an ssd Agility 250gb....I've been into the bios god knows how many times and the dam thing just will not boot up from it....it's allways from the 500gb "ordinary"......maybe something simple but I dont know.....how is it done?


Also.....how do you (or can you) scroll from the finger pad instead of having to use the up/down arrows all the time

 

[AeonSoul]

Well I'm assuming you have an OS installe on your SSD, to start with.
Then if so, into the BIOS you go to the boot section and using the + and - keys arrange the voices in the list there so that the Secondary Hard Drive is set as the first item of the list. Save and exit and that's it.

But, if you have an OS intalled and it's setted as I told you up above, then what's the issue? You get a BSOD or what?


For the scroll thingy you can sent it up in the command center, under the touchpad options.

 

[Ianm63]

Sorry meant to say - yes it's also got 7 home on it

As for "arranging the voices" that's what I've been trying to do but it just wont "move" to the top and boot from it....so no, that's not it..

What's a BSOD?

As for the scrolling....I've been in there too and buggered if I can see the option for that, I'll look again though

 

[MattyB]

With the scrolling, in command centre you go into AlienTouch then Virtual Scrolling and then you Enable Vertical Scrolling. Should be easy as pie.

 

[MattyB]

With your boot-up, do you have your Windows 7 installed on the 500gb HDD or the SSD or maybe both? I think if you set it to boot from the SSD but your windows is installed only on the HDD, your bios may automatically select the drive with Windows to boot up. Not sure but just an idea.

 

[AeonSoul]

Sorry meant to say - yes it's also got 7 home on it

As for "arranging the voices" that's what I've been trying to do but it just wont "move" to the top and boot from it....so no, that's not it..

What's a BSOD?

As for the scrolling....I've been in there too and buggered if I can see the option for that, I'll look again though

You arrange them with + and - keys.

 

[Ianm63]

You arrange them with + and - keys.

As I said...that's what I did and it didnt work....still boots from the 500


Matty.....yes got it on both, but just want to use the ssd that's all........I'll have another look for the scrolling thing

 

[CJohnny]

Ianm63.

In order to Boots from your SSD, or the Drive youhave installed the OS.
By "Default": The Drive has to be install at Module0/Bay0.

Meaning: If when your SSD/OS is installed on Module1/Bay1. (Not going to happen. To boot form Bay1)
The 1 and only way to go around to 'boot from Bay1'. Is to >>Take out the drive from Bay0.
And you don't need to re-install your OS. It will automatically change it for you. Just need to restart.

By doing so. You will also to 'Roll Back' your BIOS to A08.
In Order to 'Achieve Maximum and Constance' SATA 3 Speed.

Take a closer look when you check on those BIOS Versions.
A08 is Alienware BIOS
A10 is Dell BIOS

This is a "Well Known" issue with M17XR3.
Just search on Google.

PS: Some Driver's not exactly up to speed with Win7-64-SP1. Major course of BSOD.

 

[MattyB]

I can confirm this.

I put a new SSD into my M17x R3 a few weeks ago and used this technique. I removed both of my 750GB HDD's and put a 256GB SSD into Bay 1. Once I had everything up and booting from the SSD, I put 1 of the HDD's back into Bay 0 and reformatted it to wipe it clean. Now I have my SSD for Bootup/Windows/Games and the HDD for everything else. It is best to make a system image disk before you do all this though.

As CJohnny said, you will have to run BIOS A08 to get top speeds but there is a modified A10 BIOS out there which will give you SATA 3 speeds. Probably just best to stick with the legit one though.

 

[AeonSoul]

Oh yeah I thought that was a given. When you installed Windows on your SSD did you removed the HDD from Bay 0? If not, do so and either check if it boots without the HDD plugged in or make a clean install of Windows on the SSD without the HDD plugged in.

 

[Ianm63]

With the scrolling, in command centre you go into AlienTouch then Virtual Scrolling and then you Enable Vertical Scrolling. Should be easy as pie.

All I get is alot of symballs in the centre of the screen that dont make sense and cant be clicked

 

[MattyB]

Is that in AlienTouch? That's weird. can you post a screenshot of it? Have you tried reinstalling Command Center?

 

[Ianm63]

Yep....dont know how to do screen shots, yes everything's reinstalled from the oem disc

 

[Ianm63]

When doing a screenshot I take it it's the "print screen" button next to f12, as I dont have the "prt scn sys rq" button......but when I press alt + print screen, nothing happens


Y'know...this maybe a so called top notch laptop but even since getting a new motherboard installed, it's stil not right, infact my main pc (as I call it) which has less ram ie 8gb as opposed to 16 in the M17, ssd h/d (M17's got 2...500 ordinary and 250 ssd) also has the oem W7 home from Dell installed (fresh/clean).....there's still alot of times and sites that either just dont open or very slow compared to the desktop.....why is this?

 

[MattyB]

Not really sure about that last problem. Are you using the same antivirus software on each? Not 100% but that could slow it down a little.

For a screen print you are best with a third party program like Fraps. If its not right I would suggest to uninstall your Command Center and jump on Dell and reinstall. That's pretty much the only solution I could think of.

Sorry to hear you're not having a great AW experience. My ALX desktop just had a major problem but Dell fixed it within 2 days so that kept me pretty happy.

 

[DDuB420]

15 posts and no one recommended hiting F12 (boot menu) instead of F2 (bios) and selecting secondary HDD?
That works for me.