Solved! Alienware14: Can't boot into USB or CD with new HDD. Regular boot just gives me BSOD.

[Febro51]

So I am at my wit's end in trying to get this to work. My laptop is an Alienware 14 (2013) and before I replaced the HDD, it wouldn't let me boot into windows since it would always get stuck on the Alienware screen and freeze. A few seconds later, a BSOD would pop up, with "DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION" and would restart the computer, becoming into a never ending loop. I tried wiping everything from the HDD and tried a clean install of Windows 10 with both USB and CD, but it would always get stuck on the windows screen. Soo, I bought a new 2TB HDD to try again and replaced the old one. It still gets stuck on the windows screen and I am back to square one. If you need any more details, I would be happy to comply. Please help.

 

[TerryLaze]

On which windows screen does it get stuck?
You boot from usb/dvd it loads a while and then get's stuck before giving you any options?
You will probably need a installation media that has the alienware drivers integrated so that it does see all the hardware correctly.

Have you tried running ubuntu from a usb stick just to see if it would reach the desktop?

 

[Mark_1970]

I bet if you went back to the original windows with drivers from dell for that windows/laptop model, all would be well