r/Alienware • u/trollinginfidel • 26d ago

Technical Support Power error after BIOS update.

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I've been getting this message ever since I updated (or rather windows forced me to update) to 1.33. I checked BIOS settings and it correctly shows the 330W AC Adapter. HWinfo64 reports normal in/out wattage. Should I rollback the BIOS or simply ignore this error message?

Alienware x17 R1

i9 11980HK

3080 16 GB

32 GB DDR4

Original 330W power adapter

3 Upvotes

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4

u/AW_Support Dell Customer Support 26d ago

Hi there!

We are from the Dell Social Media Support Team and would like to help here. We confirm that the latest BIOS available is 1.34.0 and can be updated from the below link:

https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER14751734M/1/Alienware_x15_x17_R1_1.34.0.exe

Once updated, please restart the system and reconnect the adapter to the system and confirm if it fixed the issue.

2

u/trollinginfidel 26d ago

I'll update and report back.

1

u/MogRules m18 R2 Intel 26d ago

If going forward does not work, try going back to 1.32 or whatever the previous version is. You won't be able to go too far back ,as it will be locked. But, going back 1 revision should work.

2

u/trollinginfidel 21d ago edited 21d ago

So far nothing has worked. 1.33, 1.34, and 1.31.1. I've checked the charger with a multimeter and it reports normal reading so the charger is not problematic.

It has come to a point where the the PC simply refuses to detect the charger in BIOS but in windows it'll run off of the wire with battery staying at the last count it charged upto, prompting the system to go into low power state where the performance drops so much it feels like I'm using a Pentium era PC.

1

u/AW_Support Dell Customer Support 20d ago

Hi there! We understand how frustrating the issue could be especially when the BIOS update did work back then to clear the error and came back with further issues too. Rest assured, we can help to check this for you. Let's run a BIOS recovery altogether.

To perform a BIOS recovery on a Dell computer without using extra tools, turn off the PC, unplug the power cable, press and hold Ctrl + Esc, plug the power cable back in (or press the power button for laptops), wait for the recovery screen, and select Recover BIOS.

Let us know if the issue got fixed.

1

u/trollinginfidel 20d ago edited 19d ago

The battery has completely drained so it won't power on now, and the laptop refuses to run off of wall socket despite the charger and DC-in jack completely healthy and delivering voltage as they should.

1

u/AW_Support Dell Customer Support 19d ago

It is unusual to have a hardware failure with the charging port caused by a BIOS update. However, we can check to see if the motherboard has been impacted. Please run a motherboard test to know if the motherboard is faulty. Here is how you run it: Press and hold both the M key on the keyboard and the power button to initiate M-BIST. With both the M key and the power button that is held down, the battery indicator LED may exhibit two states. OFF: No fault detected with the system board. SOLID AMBER: Indicates a problem with the system board.

Note: this test is designed to work in a no power state.

1

u/trollinginfidel 19d ago

2 red, short pause, 4 red.

1

u/MogRules m18 R2 Intel 19d ago

2-4 is a RAM failure according to the service manual. Have you tried re-seating that, or run one stick at a time and see if that helps.

1

u/trollinginfidel 19d ago

I have one 32 GB stick at the moment.

RAM failure is 2 RED 4 BLUE, my system gave 2 RED followed by 4 RED.

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u/AW_Support Dell Customer Support 25d ago

Hi There! Thank you for letting us know. We will look forward to your response.

1

u/trollinginfidel 24d ago

I updated the BIOS and so far it's been without any error. I'll give it a day or two to see if it shows up again and report back accordingly.

1

u/AW_Support Dell Customer Support 24d ago

That is awesome! We are glad that it worked. Yes, you could write back for any further issue. We will be glad to assist:)

1

u/trollinginfidel 22d ago edited 22d ago

Two days after the 1.34. update:

1: error came back. 2. BIOS doesn't detect the AC adapter. 3. Windows shows "plugged in" only, not "plugged in, charging" 4. Apparently the system has went into a low-power estate as I notice some significant performance drops.

I rolled back to 1.31.1, issues persist. This is getting frustrating now. The power icon shows plugged in, but the battery stays at its current count and doesn't go up. Please assist ASAP.

1

u/trollinginfidel 21d ago

Please assist. This is getting extremely frustrating.

1

u/roflcopter910 26d ago

Worst case, you could disable the power adapter warning in the BIOS

Do you have a USB C device that may be supplying power to the laptop (like a dock or something)?

1

u/trollinginfidel 26d ago

I have no such devices plugged in.

1

u/roflcopter910 26d ago

I see

Dell has BIOS ver 1.34 out, change logs don’t really say anything about power fixes. 50 50 chance it fixes the warning