Alienware laptop - Cannot enter bios

[kozman]

Hi People,
I have an Alienware M17-R1 laptop. I get the first screen with F10 Boot Options and F2 Enter Setup. Pressing the buttons many times at reboot but they never work. I then get the Startup bios, shows bios name...next screen is the option screen to run in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with networking.......selecting any option does not do anything, That screen will time out. The last screen has on it cannot find sfsync04.sys Error 0x0000428.
I cannot get into the bios. Tried all the function keys at startup that the manual suggested. I unplugged the cmos battery. No help. When I did receive this laptop the battery was unplugged but I do not think that would matter.
What would be wrong if I cannot get into the bios setup. BTW: I cannot boot from CD either.
Peace,
kozman

 

[kozman]

Hello Friends,
Well I figured out the laptop keyboard is bad. Many keys do not work. The ones to enter the bios, the "enter" key.... I found out by pressing the keypad "enter" key which worked when selecting items from the safe mode menu. KISS when starting to trouble shoot. :;O)
Now I just have to find out why it won't boot into windows.
Peace,
kozman

 

[kozman]

Hi guys,
Well update on issue. I cannot boot into the computer restore disk nor another Vista disk I have. I have the boot options right in bios. I even can go to the boot menu and select the cd to boot. I keep getting the safemode screen and no matter which I select I get the screen tell me there is an error....insert the OS disk and do a repair. There is an error with file sfsync04.sys error code 0x0000428.
This file has something to do with StarForce Protection Synchronization Driver. I copy protection program for games. I must tell you this is a computer I received from one of our troops that was in Iraq. So I do not know what was done installing games. I will have to find out. Plus clean out the fine dust from inside the unit. Looks like this computer went through a war. Wait it did, hehehhe
Well I cannot boot from any windows disk. Even the restore disk. I am booting from the UBCD but it is taking for ever. 45 minutes so far. I have read that protection software will slow down a cd to 8 bit transfer.
Sounds like the best bet would be to remove the hard drive, image it, wipe it, install in laptop, and then do a clean install.
Peace,
kozman

 

[mailpup]

I wouldn't be surprised if the dust you describe is covering the laser lens of the optical drive preventing it from reading anything properly. Either try to clean it or just replace it.

 

[kozman]

Hey mailpup,
Your my hero. That was it. That dust just adheres to everything. I doubt I will be able to blow the rest of the computer out. Only moves with a brush.
I was able to run disks now from the cd drive. I tried to do a repair with the Vista disk. Did not help. I ran UBCD disk but I could not navigate as my usb keyboard did not work with it. The last thing I did was press the F8 key rapidly after the boot splash screen. This brought up a different menu screen where I could disable Vista from only using certifies drivers. But I have to do it every time I reboot. I see on the net there is work arounds for this.
Well thanks to you all. I was thinking to complicated. Check the obvious first. Now I can boot and find out how to get rid of that sfsync04.sys problem at startup or able to uninstall the game that must be doing it in the first place.
Peace,
kozman

 

[mailpup]

Great! At least one problem fixed.

 

[kozman]

I got rid of the boot problem. Star Force program was keeping me from booting unless I used the F8 key at startup. I found a tool on Star Forces site to remove the driver. It is here at this link, all the way down to the bottom of the page.
http://www.star-force.com.cn/support/drivers/
Peace,
kozman

 

[mailpup]

Thanks for the update.