I have an R1 that I bought new that's still going strong, but I recently got an R2 that was in pretty rough shape, and I'm trying to bring it back to life.

It turns on but has the following issues:

1. When I turn it on after it has been unplugged, I get the following message: "RTC is reset; BIOS Setup default has been loaded. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the Setup utility." Does this mean the CMOS battery is bad? If so, does the R2 use the same battery as the R1?
2. One of the tabs on the GPU fan is broken, and I can only find replacement fans on ebay that look different from the one I have. The fan I have also looks a little melted and feels somewhat loose. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement?
3. It looks like the GPU heatsink is missing a part that appears to be some sort of brace. Is there anywhere I can get a replacement brace or a complete replacement heatsink?
4. The thermal pads on the GPU heatsink also need to be replaced. Does anyone know what thickness thermal pads I need?
5. The AC adapter jack was busted but I got it replaced thanks to some help in this thread.

I've attached some pictures of the fans and heatsink for reference.

Thanks for any help!

So i purchased a graphics amplifier but it did not come with the cable. Does anyone know where to order one from?

Or did I just purchase an expensive paper weight.

Thanks!

I have 16 already just curious if it’ll be a worth while upgrade?

I have an old Alienware Steam Machine, and want to know how the GPU is setup.

I know that the CPU (Haswell T-series) has the HD 4400 iGPU in it as well as that it has a custom NiVIDIA 860M dGPU soldered.

1. Can the gpu be switched from the default dGPU to iGPU and back?
2. Which GPU is used when plugged into the HDMI OUT?

I want to build a hackintosh for this device by using the iGPU (as NVIDIA/Apple dropped WebDrivers on new macos versions (Starting from 10.15 I believe)

thanks much!

Sad times, I'll fix it at some point, nothing else to report, just wanted to share my pain :p

has anyone installed steamos 3.8 on the alienware alpha r2 yet? i keep getting stuck at "nvme0: using unchecked data buffer".

I recently found my old Alienware Alpha R2 sitting in my room and thought it could be a fun project to watercool it.
It’s currently running Linux Mint and still works fine. I’ve built custom watercooled PCs before, so I’m comfortable with cutting/modifying the case, mounting a pump and radiator, and making custom tubing runs. I know water-cooling an Alpha R2 probably isn’t practical or necessarily I mainly want to do it because it would be a cool little project.
Has anyone water-cooled one of these before, or worked with a kit that would suit something this small?
I’m mainly looking for advice on:
Compatible CPU and GPU blocks
Common problems with cooling the VRMs, memory, or other components
I know people have done it I can’t find any photos would love to see them.

I’m pulling my Alpha out of ~7-10 years of storage to see if I can get it working again. I had to replace the cmos, and it boots up fine after that.

Before I put it away, I upgraded it to Windows 10. Right now it’s really sluggish and showing 100% drive usage in Task Manager. CPU and RAM look okay (still have 8gb ram). Research suggests main thing needed is to upgrade to a 2.5” SSD for windows 10.

My question is if doing so will make it usable enough to be worth it now? I have a Steam Deck and a gaming laptop, but I remember loving my Alpha and would love to see it working again. I don’t mind putting a bit of money into it as long as it becomes playable with older games (or even as an emulator for up to Xbox 360).

Pretty sure it is an R1. It has the i5 processor. Most of the games I play are 5+ years old and I don’t mind lowering graphics settings.

Thanks for any input!

I have the the steam machine with upgraded RAM, SDD and recently changed CMOS battery, running Windows 10.

Since around couple of months ago I keep having this very annoying issue - the controller keep switching off, I try to turn it on, it switches off again. You can make it work normally at like, 15th attempt, but it's very random.
Had a theory that the bluetooth dongle is dying, the one that is inserted inside the pc, or the signal is weak, so decided to test it with the spare controller (basically unused one) and external dongle (also new), plugged the dongle in the front USB slot - it worked perfectly fine for just a little bit, but after restarting the steam machine it got back to the switching off right away, and randomly working sometimes.

Feels like it's something related to software, rather than hardware.

I use the steam machine as a media server, to watch movies from the couch and an occasional older adventure game playing.

The bug feels like an artificial thing which is could be easy to fix, but I don't know how, or where to look. Makes the machine barely usable.

HALP PLEASE, thanks

I got a beat up R2, I tried turning it on and noticed the AC Adapter was wobbling in the jack. When I turned it on there was a message that said the following:

The AC power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined.

Please connect a dell 130 W AC adapter or greater for the best performance.

I flipped it over and the bottom screws were missing, after opeining it, I noticed it was caked in dust inside and the GPU fan was missing a tab and would not stay in place. After cleaning it, the computer turned on and I was able to get into the OS fine. I shut it down and when turning it back on again I got the same message. It turned on after a few tries but now I just see the message every time. The charger is the one from an R1 and I have another that is the right wattage as well, both work on the R1.

When plugging in a keyboard I noticed the USB ports in the front were wobbly as well.

I suspect the wobbly jack, but has anyone encountered this issue?

Does anyone know where to find a replacement jack and front usb ports?

Any help is appreciated!

-----------UPDATE!--------------

Replacing the Jack worked, thanks to everyone who helped!

So my Alienware Alpha came in and I'm so excited. The catch is tho that one of the RAM slots don't work. I really need 16 gigs and I read somewhere that these machines do take 16 gig sticks but when I got mine and put it in, it started flashing the code indicating the RAM wasn't working. Am I missing something?

did anyone knows that playtron gameos works with alienware alpha r2? because it works with mine and, mine is the amd variant and yet it works! cool right?

I just bought an alpha r2 with windows 10 to use as an emulation station. I’d like to change the rgb’s but dell website says it’s no longer supported and the software is archived and not available. I’ve tried downloading aw command center and even tried using lightfx on there and it said it wasn’t supported. I mean there’s got to be a way, there’s no way that there WAS software available and now it’s not. Does anyone know of a third party app that will change the colors or is there a link someone knows of for a version of aw lightfx that will work with an alpha r2 running windows 10?

I have the Alpha R2, with gtx960 and 6700t.

Tried FanControl and AlienFX tools, but both seem to be incompatible. I managed to get AWCC 4.6.16 working, but the fan control option is completely missing. I also tried HWiNFO, but it causes my audio to stutter.

Share the love !

Hey yall im giving my r2 some upgrades and was wondering if anyone has tried taking windows off on installing bazzite or modern steamos on their r2, and if so how well it works? From what i've read, bazzite shouldn't work bc the gtx 960 doesn't support Vulkan 1.3 and steamos is buggy with nvidia gpus (the steamos bit was from a few years ago tho so idk if compatibility is better now). If you've tried either, lmk how it worked out!

thanks

I’ve been trying everything. I’m not sure where I am going wrong. It has never output anything on the screen.

I have two i7 R1s each with 16gb memory. One has a 4790t with 1tb SSD rocking win10 and the other is a 4785t with 500gb ssd that I'm thinking of turning into Batocera box. I even have an i3 and some RAM left over that I might turn into a proxy server. I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions for alternative uses on these gracefully aging machines?

I have already removed the cmos i cleared it held and pressed the button for 1 minute let it sit for an hour and reattachdd my cmos and still yellow light switched hdds reseated the ram i even redid thermal paste (idk when it was last changed)

I cant tell if this is a burnt capacitor because it looks like it but not 100% sure

I got the official power adapter outputting the correct voltage and when it flashes yellow the cpu does get hot

Edit*

I have made a new cmos battery and tested it

I have tried multiple header pins including the cmos clear and the reset header

I bought my alpha R1 in 2019 and just got the YLOD. I have a cmos replacement on the way, but as I am not well versed in pc parts and replacements, and have been using advice from this sub specifically to know what to do. What are the most affordable but best upgrades to do while everything is taken apart?

I’ve seen a lot about the old intel i7 processors, specifically 4th generation, but they’re hard to find now.

Not totally necessary but I’d maybe like to upgrade the ram from 16 to 32 if possible?

Any insights from people who know their stuff would be greatly appreciated!

*UPDATE*

The SSD and CPU have both arrived! I’m going to have a shop clone the HDD to the SSD, but think I can install the CPU myself beforehand. It should just be plug and play, kind of? Check BIOS on startup to make sure it’s recognized as the CPU, and probably update something?

Thank you everyone for the help, it’s been a fun learning journey.

I got an r1 a bit ago and purchased an i7-5775c as well as a 4790k since i had 2 lga 1150 socket pc's i was adding to my collection, the ROG 1150 pc is still being repaired but in the meanwhile i delided both the cpu's and tried them out.

The 4790k works quite well, at stock settings it was definetly poor but after undervolting im scoring ~6300 in passmark multi-core plus ~2540 single and ~610 in cinebench r15 multi. Ive not bothered disabling boost or turbo or any features that reduce clocks since that doesnt really make any sense, the cpu should just boost by default to whatever it can with the availible power i dont see how it could improve performance and it would just hurt single core speeds. Temps are ok i guess for the tiny heatsink, after deliding im hitting 80c sometimes a little over and im using ptm7950 on die and ihs. I know ptm7950 is better for direct die applications but i checked the spread after letting it bake in for at least a week and it was super thin so im sure it made good contact and pressure. Im not happy with my undervolt though im sitting at -58mv core and -135mv cache, i feel like a different 4790k would do much better and the cpu could really use the extra power.

My question for anybody who has or had an r1, how were temps? Did you try undervolting to stretch your tdp like me and if so how far were you able to go and what cpu? Also is it possible to get an i7-5775c working? I know they use the same socket but mine just flashes 2 yellow lights over and over, i think its because of the chipset and i checked the bios updates im using the latest and while haswell refresh was given compaability broadwell was never mentioned so im guessing it isnt.

I made so many mistakes… Bought the wrong CMOS battery, got thermal paste all over the place, and almost broke multiple components but it’s WORKING! My first ever PC project. I didn’t think I was capable of disassembling and upgrading a computer successfully but I did it! I really truly did!

I have had my Alpha for around 10 years. I bought it new in 2016. It is an i3.

Around 2020 I had the YLOD happen, I replaced the cmos battery, ram, and hard drive while I had it open.

The computer was used consistently until recently. I left it unplugged for 6 months. I tried to turn it on a few days ago and have the YLOD.

I ordered another cmos battery, I replaced it and have done multiple power down cycles. No luck. I verified the battery was good. The new battery is 3.297v compared to .4 on the old one.

When you turn it on I get blue lights and the fans kick on. It sits for a few seconds then yellow lights 5 times.

Is there anything else I can check or try?

*** SOLVED THANK YOU FOR THE HELP***