Question Random Crashing (BIOS/CMOS Reset Issues)

Aug 30, 2019
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I was being dumb and accidentally disabled the graphics card/GPU on my laptop, so I attempted to reset the CMOS by the battery method. This fixed the issue of the graphics card being disabled, but now the laptop started randomly crashing. I think it has something to do with the CMOS reset because the date and time keep reverting to 12/31/2012, even when I change it.

I thought that resting BIOS from the menu might work, but on the A05 BIOS version it seems that all of the options to load the defaults are disabled. There is an option using the F9 key to "setup defaults" but all that does is make the screen flash for a half a second. There is also an option under the "Exit" tab in BIOS that says "Load Optimal Defaults", but that option is greyed out and cannot be selected, as with most of the options in BIOS.

I apologize if this issue has previously been solved, I could not find the answer to my problem elsewhere.

*I've tried replacing the CMOS battery, and the problem persists.
*The computer does turn back on after it crashes, but things like the date and time have been reset.
*I re-enabled the GPU when I turned it back on for the first time
*Update: tried a factory reset, the problem is still occurring.

*Update 2: BIOS Reset is no longer a problem, but the random crashing is still occurring.

-Alienware 17 (R1)
-BIOS Version: A05
-Intel Core i7-4700MQ CPU
*(I'm not good with computer specs so I'm not quite sure what to put here)
 
Last edited:
Aug 30, 2019
2
0
10
When you replaced the cmos battery did you reflash the bios to newest one? Which I believe is a16. https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-17/drivers
Thank you for the link, it finally let me load the defaults. However, I still have the issue of it randomly crashing, should I try to reset the CMOS again?

I also just noticed that my secondary graphics card has disappeared from the device manager list, could this have something to do with the crashing?