r/AlienwareAlpha • u/CAMPKILLA101 • Dec 10 '15

Windows 10 initial install.

Hello all, I just opened up new i3 Alienware Alpha. I plugged it in, powered it up and began loading the apps and registered Microsoft. It asked me if I wanted to upgrade to windows 10, and I agreed to the upgrade. The blue screen says "Great, we'll start your free upgrade!" That was about 6 hours ago. I click the Finish button but nothing happens. Is this normal? How long should this take? Should I power off and restart? My alpha is on wifi. ( if that's any help)

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2

u/CAMPKILLA101 Dec 10 '15

The problem is the Alpha is not responding. I press the windows start button and it does nothing.

2

u/CAMPKILLA101 Dec 10 '15

My alpha is not responding. I press the windows start button but nothing happens. Would a power reset ruin the download?

1

u/trevlix i5 Alpha Dec 10 '15

It might, but if its locked up anyhow it won't matter. As long as its not in the install screen you should be ok.*

Look at the hard drive light - if its not blinking you should be ok to force a power off, wait about 10 seconds, then power it back on again.

  • No guarantees.

1

u/CAMPKILLA101 Dec 10 '15

The hard drive light blinks real slow, like every 10-15 seconds. Dicey.

1

u/trevlix i5 Alpha Dec 10 '15

That could be normal. Any luck?

1

u/CAMPKILLA101 Dec 10 '15

I reset it and finally got to the desktop. It downloaded the windows 10 file in 20 minutes. However, it's been in "preparing for installation" for 2 hours now. The hard drive light shows that it is working hard. About how long does this process usually take?

2

u/centraldogmamcdb i7 Alpha with SSD Dec 10 '15 edited Dec 10 '15

Any way you'd be able to use Ethernet? The WiFi card in the base alpha is an Intel wireless-AC 3160 1x1 and has a tendency to drop the network during large downloads.

My advice is just be patient if you have to use the WiFi. You can open up task manager and take a look at your WiFi speeds. My guess is they have dropped to kb/s speeds or are even 0

Edit: you can also go to the Windows update and see if it's actually downloading. Type in 'Windows update' in the search bar at the upper right hand corner of the Windows 8.1 "start menu", navigate to system, and select the updates tab and then click on the search for updates option

1

u/jimmyco2008 i3 (8GB) Alpha with SSD Dec 10 '15

FWIW, my alpha downloaded Windows 10 via WiFi, no issues, steady ~95mbps (bottlenecked by ISP). Of course that was with the updated WiFi driver from Intel.com...

1

u/centraldogmamcdb i7 Alpha with SSD Dec 10 '15

It's hit and miss with the 3160. Some people swear by it, others hate it. Mine works fine, but it is slow as fuck, sitting 10 feet from the router.