Alienware Alpha - Won't turn on, 5 yellow flashes

Already tried it, still doesn't turn on and flashes 5 times. Do you know what the series of 5 flashes mean? I would like to fix it myself if possible but if not then what do you suggest?

Hi, 

We recommend sending it in to our repair facility. The 5 flashes indicate a CMOS battery failure but it could also be a motherboard failure. If your system is in warranty, send me your Service Tag in a PM for assistance on this. 

My son got one January 2016 and this has happened to him several times per week since using it.   Seems like a capacitor drain issue since it will start up after A/C adapter is disconnected for a while.

Quite Infamously, the Dell Inspiron M5030 had the "7 beeps of death" problem.  Thousands of owners were burned by this problem and Dell, to my knowledge, made no attempts to recalling this product for a proper fix.  Dell never made it right with M5030 owners.

Since problems like this just don't magically, patiently or delicately go away, electrically speaking,  there must be a proper fix engineered before people starts sending in these units to the repair facility.  One owner on another thread already had their unit returned only to have it happen again. 

A recall notice must be sent out.  Will this happen?

-Eric Wood

CTO

International Plastics, Inc.

Sorry for being a noob but I can't find a way to request my alienware alpha to send to depot on the website (Dell website isn't too user friendly). Could you show me how step by step?

Hi,

Send me your Service Tag in a PM so we can help you with that. 

Hi, all.  My Alienware Alpha recently developed this problem.  I haven't received any replies from emailing Dell tech support (can't do chat during the week at work).

Any other options for getting this fixed?  I tried the power drain option and changing RAM, but no luck.

Thanks.

I was the same problem.

My alienware alpha has developed the 5 yellow flashing lights issue and had been doing so for a few weeks. I have tried the power drain and it worked at first but now does not seem to do anything anymore

I'd ask a rep to set up an RMA, Alienware-Rodrigo helped me out. They'll send you a box with a prepaid label to ship back to their depot. I had the same problem and they replaced the logic board under warranty and everything runs well so far.

We are having the same issues as others. Five blinks of Death.

We tried all of the suggestions to no avail. I have a PM into Rodrigo with the hope we can get a RMA in order to get the machine sent info repair ASAP. 

They replaced my logic board as well and I am still having the same issue with the lights flashing yellow.  If its an issue with either the motherboard and/or the CMOS battery they should have replaced both to be safe.  I havent had this pc 3 months now and already on the phone with tech support yet again.

My son's machine was repaired and returned about a month ago. So far the system is working as expected. The total turn around time was less than a week and all of the data that was on the machine remained.

I am happy with how Dell handled the situation. They sent a return label and box. All we needed to do was drop it off at FedEx. 

Fingers crossed that the issue has permanently resolved and the machine will give my son years of enjoyment.

Same here. My son's machine was also repaired about a month ago and all is working so far.  But there could be another system board failure coming in the future depending if the bad component strikes again.   If it does just outside of the warranty, then I will be extremely upset.    Dell should extend the warranties for these lemons and also perform a courtesy call to each person that needed repair to see how things are going.  

I'm disappointed in Dell not at least reaching out.   As an engineer, I would behind my product and would demand my customer service team make contact.

Idk if this will help but I had the flashing lights and found that the problem was one of my ram sticks wasn't installed right. I just reset it and the problem went away