Aurora R6 selected boot device failed

Hi ‌,

Send me a private message with the service tag, so I can assist you further.

Let me just throw some stuff out here in case you haven't read it.
 
First, NO ... my options on my working Aurora-R6 are not set like that:

https://community.dell.com/thread/19729

And it's definitely working because it boots fine and can do 3051/1633 r/w transfers.

For initial setup, I think it helps to have only the one SSD connected. I feel it helps insure that the main boot record ends up on it.

With new Win-10/64bit Creators Edition ... on new machines (capable of the features) I think it really wants you to run UEFI/SecureBoot and a GPT disk. I don't think all those are required but some might be. Also, switching an option off in BIOS might not help it ignore it (especially if in UEFI mode).

Finally, I don't run Linux, but I thought the popular ones worked with SecureBoot = ON now-days.

I'm having a similar problem when I try to boot my system to ubuntu.
I've tried different combinations (legacy/uefi bootloaders, security on/off and sata raid/acpi) but i couldn't find any way to boot linux. I'm having 'Selected boot device failed. Press any key to reboot system.' error

Is there any working linux configuration for R6? And also where can I get help from? 

Thanks a lot.

I also have tried a lot of things, but I am still unable to boot windows on the m.2 ssd when SATA operation is set to 'AHCI'.
I noticed that in 'RAID on' mode it shows on the 'Main' page of the BIOS:
M.2 PCIe SSD PC300 NVMe SK hynix 512GB-(S4) 512GB

while in 'AHCI' mode it shows:
M.2 PCIe SSD PC300 NVMe SK hynix 512GB-(S0) 0GB

This seems to indicate that it is a UEFI BIOS issue/bug, motherboard incompatibility or maybe even a SSD firmware issue.

I have never tried to install Linux Ubuntu or otherwise boot it (with Live-DVD/USB-Flash) ... on my Aurora-R6.

However, I do remember this post from a few days ago ...

https://community.dell.com/message/128858-alienware-aurora-r6-booting-linux-on-pcie-m2

And as I've posted before ... the Aurora-R6's PCIe-NVMe "on-motherboard" M.2-SSD really prefers that BIOS setting left set to RAID. I'm not sure why, but I know it works (with Windows-10 anyway).

Does the Ubuntu Live-DVD/USB-Flash ... boot and work on your Aurora-R6?

Yes. Boot from usb (for linux) works fine with both raid/acpi configuration but installation is only possible when it's set to acpi since HW raid is not supported by linux kernel.

In this case (I didn't try but probably) I will be able to install bootloader for installed linux to a usb drive.

waLLkie wrote:

Yes. Boot from usb (for linux) works fine with both raid/acpi configuration

Ok. good. I just wanted to make sure it ran on this hardware. So, you just have a drive or install problem.

Linux (more specifically ubuntu server 16.04.2) installation succeeds but grub2 bootloader (tried both uefi and legacy) is not recognised by system. 

poeh wrote:

while in 'AHCI' mode it shows:
M.2 PCIe SSD PC300 NVMe SK hynix 512GB-(S0) 0GB

Good catch.

You know what I've been wondering about ? ... The RAID/AHCI setting should really only apply to SATA drives (not NVMe drives like the M.2 in the PCIe-slot on the motherboard).

From my notes ...

SATA or PCIe interface and finally
AHCI or NVMe protocol.

Most older M.2 SSDs are SATA (most using AHCI, but I think RAID protocol is also possible)
Most newer M.2 SSDs are PCIe (using NVMe protocol)

Hey, I just found this ... I wonder if it works?

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN299303/loading-ubuntu-on-systems-using-pcie-m2-drives?lang=EN

apparently R6 bios is unable to load bootloader from nvme drive when sata operation is set as AHCI.
the only way is to put EFI (or legacy) bootloader to non nvme drive. So if you create an EFI partition in your spinning drive and install Linux bootloader there, bootloader will successfully load it. In my case I also put rootfs to spinning drive and mounted ssd as /home after kernel load. 

This Aurora R6 "can't boot with AHCI if you have an NVMe drive" issue is driving me crazy. I have an Aurora R6 with an SSD that I boot Windows from, and a separate HDD that I've successfully installed Ubuntu on (with a separate EFI partition and bootloader on the HDD, as waLLkie suggested).

Unfortunately, if I try to boot into Ubuntu with AHCI on, I immediately get a boot failure, so I'm forced to switch to "RAID on" mode in the BIOS. Now I can get to the GRUB screen and select Ubuntu, but it can't see the HDD (I assume it requires the AHCI setting?), and the boot fails with "gave up waiting for root device".

I'm at my wit's end, so if anyone has actually figured out how to dual boot Linux on an Aurora R6, please let me know! Again, I successfully installed Ubuntu on my HDD, it's just that Ubuntu can't see the HDD when I boot in "RAID on" mode ... I think!

I wonder if one solution would be to simply unplug the SSD ... then presumably you could turn this AHCI setting on and not have the boot fail. But that's not exactly convenient!

PS: Apologies if I got any of the terminology wrong ... this is my first attempt at dual booting ...

See above. I think poeh‌ identified the problem.

When the Aurora-R6 is in AHCI mode, the M.2 NVMe SSD is seen as 0gb (zero gigabytes) in size. You can't install ANYTHING to a 0gb disk.   Even I know that.

Seems it's broken somehow. I have recently reported it to Alienware Engineering. You will have to contact them about status of a fix (I'm thinking it might be in the form of a BIOS or firmware update).

That makes sense! In the meantime I guess I can just run Tensorflow on Windows

It would be great to get guidance from the Dell folks on this. Hopefully not too hard a fix (especially since the Aurora R5 didn't have this problem)

By the way, I'm also seeing the NVMe SSD at 0GB when I switch to AHCI mode.