Dell Alienware Aurora R4 User manual

www.dell.com | support.dell.com/manuals
Alienware Aurora-R4
Owner’s Manual
Regulatory model: D01M
Regulatory type: D01M004
book.book Page 1 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better
use of your product.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or
loss of data, and tells you how to avoid the problem.
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage,
personal injury, or death.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.
is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™ and the DELL logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. Alienware®is a
registeredtrademarkofAlienwareCorporation.Microsoft®,Windows®,andtheWindowsstartbutton
logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/
or other countries.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming
the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and
trade names other than its own.
2011 - 12 Rev. A00
book.book Page 2 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Contents 3
Contents
1 Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Turn Off Your Computer and Connected Devices . . . . 13
Safety Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Recommended Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 After Working Inside Your Computer. . . . 15
3 Technical Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Front View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Back View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Inside View of Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
System-Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Master I/O Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Top Lighting-Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4 Left Side-Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Removing the Left Side-Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Replacing the Left Side-Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
book.book Page 3 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

4Contents
5 Hard Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Removing the Hard Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Replacing the Hard Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6 Hard-Drive Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Removing the Hard-Drive Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . 33
Replacing the Hard-Drive Fan Assembly . . . . . . . . 34
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
7 Optical Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Removing the Optical Drive(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Replacing the Optical Drive(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8 Media-Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Removing the Media-Card Reader. . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Replacing the Media-Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . 43
book.book Page 4 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Contents 5
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
9 PCI Shroud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Opening the PCI Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Closing the PCI Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10 Drive-Bay Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Removing the Drive-Bay Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Replacing the Drive-Bay Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
11 PCI-Express x1 Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Removing the PCI-Express x1 Card . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Replacing the PCI-Express x1 Card . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
12 PCI-Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
book.book Page 5 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

6Contents
Removing the PCI-Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Replacing the PCI-Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
13 Graphics Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Removing the Graphics Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Replacing the Graphics Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Installing Dual Graphic Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Connect the Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
14 Memory Module(s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Removing Memory Module(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Replacing Memory Module(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
15 Memory Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Removing the Memory Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Replacing the Memory Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
book.book Page 6 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Contents 7
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
16 Processor Liquid-Cooling Assembly . . . . 71
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Removing the Processor Liquid-Cooling Assembly. . . 71
Replacing the Processor Liquid-Cooling Assembly . . 72
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
17 Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Removing the Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Replacing the Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
18 Power-Supply Unit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Removing the Power-Supply Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Replacing the Power-Supply Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
19 Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
book.book Page 7 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

8Contents
Removing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Replacing the Coin-Cell Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
20 Theater-Lighting Batteries
(ALX Chassis Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing the Theater-Lighting Batteries . . . . . . . . 93
Replacing the Theater-Lighting Batteries . . . . . . . . 94
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
21 System-Board Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Removing the System-Board Assembly . . . . . . . . . 95
Replacing the System-Board Assembly . . . . . . . . . 96
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Entering the Service Tag in BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
22 Master I/O Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Removing the Master I/O Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Replacing the Master I/O Board . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
book.book Page 8 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Contents 9
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
23 Top Lighting-Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Removing the Top Lighting-Board . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Replacing the Top Lighting-Board. . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
24 Right-Side Top Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Removing the Right-Side Top Panel. . . . . . . . . . . 107
Replacing the Right-Side Top Panel. . . . . . . . . . . 110
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
25 Right-Side Middle Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Removing the Right-Side Middle Panel . . . . . . . . . 113
Replacing the Right-Side Middle Panel. . . . . . . . . 114
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
26 Right Lighting-Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
book.book Page 9 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

10 Contents
Removing the Right Lighting-Board . . . . . . . . . . 117
Replacing the Right Lighting-Board . . . . . . . . . . 118
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
27 Right-Side Bottom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Removing the Right-Side Bottom Panel . . . . . . . . 121
Replacing the Right-Side Bottom Panel. . . . . . . . 123
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
28 Top Vent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Removing the Top Vent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Replacing the Top Vent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
29 Front Bezel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Removing the Front Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Replacing the Front Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
book.book Page 10 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Contents 11
30 Back Bezel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Removing the Back Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Replacing the Back Bezel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
31 WiFi/Bluetooth Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Removing the WiFi/Bluetooth Card . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Replacing the WiFi/Bluetooth Card . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
32 Top I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Removing the Top I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Replacing the Top I/O Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Postrequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
33 System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Entering System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
System Setup Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
System Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
book.book Page 11 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

12 Contents
Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Clearing Forgotten Passwords. . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Password: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Clearing CMOS Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
CMOS:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
34 Flashing the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
35 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
book.book Page 12 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Before you Begin 13
3
Before You Begin
Turn Off Your Computer and Connected Devices
CAUTION: To avoid losing data, save and close all open files and exit all open
programs before you turn off your computer.
1 Save and close all open files and exit all open programs.
2 Click Start and click Shut Down .
Microsoft Windows shuts down and then the computer turns off.
NOTE: If you are using a different operating system, see the documentation of
your operating system for shut-down instructions.
3 Disconnect your computer and all attached devices from their electrical
outlets.
4 Disconnect all telephone cables, network cables, and attached devices
from your computer.
5 Press and hold the power button, while the computer is unplugged, to
ground the system board.
Safety Instructions
Use the following safety guidelines to protect your computer from potential
damage and ensure your personal safety.
WARNING: Before working inside your computer, read the safety information
that shipped with your computer. For additional safety best practices information,
see the Regulatory Compliance Homepage at dell.com/regulatory_compliance.
CAUTION: To avoid damaging the computer, ensure that the work surface is flat
and clean.
CAUTION: To avoid damaging the components and cards, handle them by their
edges and avoid touching pins and contacts.
WARNING: Disconnect all power sources before opening the computer cover or
panels. After you finish working inside the computer, replace all covers, panels,
and screws before connecting to the power source.
book.book Page 13 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

14 Before you Begin
CAUTION: Only a certified service technician is authorized to remove the
computer cover and access any of the components inside the computer. See the
safety instructions for complete information about safety precautions, working
inside your computer, and protecting against electrostatic discharge.
CAUTION: Before touching anything inside your computer, ground yourself by
touching an unpainted metal surface, such as the metal at the back of the
computer. While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface to
dissipate static electricity, which could harm internal components.
CAUTION: When you disconnect a cable, pull on its connector or on its pull-tab,
not on the cable itself. Some cables have connectors with locking tabs or
thumb-screws that you must disengage before disconnecting the cable. When
disconnecting cables, keep them evenly aligned to avoid bending any connector
pins. When connecting cables, ensure that the connectors and ports are correctly
oriented and aligned.
CAUTION: To disconnect a network cable, first unplug the cable from your
computer and then unplug the cable from the network device.
Recommended Tools
The procedures in this document may require the following tools:
• Small Phillips screwdriver
•Hexnutdriver
• Flash BIOS executable update program available at
support.dell.com
book.book Page 14 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

After Working Inside Your Computer 15
4
After Working Inside Your Computer
After you complete replacement procedures, ensure the following:
• Replace all screws and ensure no stray screws remain inside your computer
• Connect any external devices, cables, cards, and any other part you
removed before working on your computer
• Connect your computer and all attached devices to their electrical outlets
CAUTION: Before turning on your computer, replace all screws and ensure that
no stray screws remain in the computer. Failure to do so may damage your
computer.
• Turn on your computer.
book.book Page 15 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

16 Before you Begin
book.book Page 16 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Technical Overview 17
1
Technical Overview
WARNING: Before working inside your computer, read the safety information
that shipped with your computer and follow the steps in "Before You Begin" on
page 13. For additional safety best practices information, see the Regulatory
Compliance Homepage at dell.com/regulatory_compliance.
Front View of Your Computer
7
1
8
11
910
2
3
4
5
6
book.book Page 17 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

18 Technical Overview
Back View of Your Computer
1AlienHead/drive-panel open button 2optical drive
3optical-drive eject button 4optical-drive bay
5media-card reader/optical-drive bay 6drive panel (open)
7headphone connector 8microphone connector
9USB 3.0 connector 10 power button
11 USB 2.0 connectors (2)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9
10
11
12
book.book Page 18 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

Technical Overview 19
Inside View of Your Computer
1coaxial S/PDIF connector 2optical S/PDIF connector
3USB 2.0 connectors (4) 4network connector and network
lights
5USB 3.0 connector 6audio connectors
7expansion-card slots 8power connector
9power-supply diagnostics button 10 power-supply diagnostics light
11 security-cable slot latch 12 security-cable slot
1memory module(s) 2PCI-Express card(s)
3optical drive(s) 4hard-drive(s)
1
2
3
4
book.book Page 19 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM

20 Technical Overview
System-Board Components
15
9
14
15
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 12
6
23 4 7 8
10
13
16
11
17
book.book Page 20 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:37 PM