Is this machine area-51 ALX or not

Several ways to tell, I suppose there's always been the matter of having it there in front of you or trying to buy one online based on pics (& true or false seller description)

Service Tag, Panel Colors (Ext/Int) & MIO type can ID ALX vs Cosmic

Method 1) Service Tag, enter it into support page, view system config, scroll down & find chassis section: it'll either say Lunar Shadow, Cosmic Black, or ALX Space Black - Anodized Aluminum Chassis

Visual ID: See Exterior & Interior Side Panel Doors, Matte v Shiny | Black v Bare

Method 2A) Matte Space Black ALX is a true pure jet/onyx black w/ no reflection while standard Cosmic Black on closer inspection is in fact a deep deep purple-black w/ metallic flakes (sparkles) in it that casts a reflection (semi-gloss)

EDIT: PHOTO

Method 2B) ALX door is anodized (electroplated) on the inside & out, therefore the doors are black inside while Cosmic Black has a paint job on the outside of door but not inside, where inside it's bare aluminum (silver/grey). If judging by photo, if owner has door open & it's black inside it's ALX, if bare aluminum it's Cosmic Black

• head to eBay / google: search P685R or P686R, see black door interior
• head to eBay / google: search X493R X494R, see bare aluminum interior

Method 2C) Push Alienhead, door should motorize up/down. If not > open door panel > open PCI shroud -inspect MIO board- only boards w/ motor & switch headers 'work'

• ALX MIO has motor & switch header connector (+ x2 cables plugged in)
• standard MIO has neither header (& front panel has no extra cables etc)
• eBay/google: MIO 604GC (ALX w/headers) vs FMDKG (standard no headers)

In otherwords, if an owner ever obtained an ALX motor they can install it into a CosmicBlack or Lunar front panel, but they'd also need the correct MIO w/the motor-switch headers for it to work (& need the Alienhead micro-switch for it too)(either solder in a switch or take the ALX ribbon cable out of panel etc)

tip, for ODD motor projects:

• Converting Area-51 to ALX, ODD Front Panel Motor Install
• ABOVE TOP SECRET: Uncovering Area-51's Biggest (& best kept) Secret of All

Last question:

bare bone ALX case vs non-ALX case without main board, cpu/cooler and power supply, in grade A- to B condition, what is the worth respectively ten years after release?  

Is there still a fan group following these cases?

is there anything else higher end in ALX than non-ALX?  Is there difference in cooling components?  Can non-ALX take i7-975 extreme too?

No, they're identical otherwise, all run same CPUs. 980x 990x were factory options that require Bios A08 or higher. Should be tons of old info when searched here (& the read-only archived forum here)

bare bone ALX case vs non-ALX case without main board, cpu/cooler and power supply, in grade A- to B condition, what is the worth respectively ten years after release? Is there still a fan group following these cases?

Any eBay completed items search can help as to prices, within reason (Sept - Dec were better times to check completed items than this month is = fewer results)

You have to take each on its own merits & condition (works vs there but non-working vs stripped)(all good exterior panels vs some ok / some not vs all bad & need replaced) but I'd be ok paying (US) $175 - $325 / shipped as u described it (prices can depend on the seller's need for $, low vs hi). Normally when several are for sale prices can go down vs when only one's for sale it can go up

If on eBay for example, bare chassis, if an owner had done a 100% panel-resto on ALX & a Cosmic so they were both in same restored condition, I might pay $75 extra or even charge $75 extra for ALX chassis, since the front panel & MIO tends to cost more than standards do

In a perfect world you bought a ~$200 case & performed a total-panel-resto on it for $200, or, bought one that needs no resto (or just a door or lower etc) & payed not more than $325. If paying more than 350 u want the mthrbrd/cpu/gpu/psu so u can sell them to recoup, if your intent was to have a bare case & put in new aftermarket gear (or attempt an old stock system that works but needs an update someday)

Sometimes, what you pay & what it's worth depend on how many or how few are for sale & then what resto parts it'll need need & what they'll cost at any given time

Google: ALX Files: Alien Autopsy | Area-51 R1 Part # List for a Full Restoration

*Note the (X504R W558R R841R) front panel bezels are getting harder to find, a case that doesn't need a front panel might be 'worth more' than one that does (scratches/dents etc). Value has to be ascertained on a one-by-one basis where everything's considered though

Not many people interact on any of the forums anymore. Interest has dwindled since about 2017 but u can find peers on AlienOwners forum or find old posts there

Google: Area-51 R1 installing a new master I/O board, see pics of owner mthrbrd swaps done recently. If yours has no mainboard, look into 9700k / Ryzen 3900x type mthrbrd project. If you're buying the factory J560M or XDJ4C mthrbrd with a 975x CPU, try to pay as little for case as possible -or- play eBay waiting game & wait for a working system to be listed. Buying a working original system may turn out cheaper than a bare case that needs everything ...

In a stripped down case where all left behind wires are supposedly intact, what is the quickest way to test all LED lights are working?  Assume I got a U662D Dell psu to replace the stock.  Can I just install a simple old working ATX motherboard with a simple cooler master evo 212 cpu heatsink fan oriented to blow air vertically up?  No plan to install OS yet, just use bootable usb to start the system.  Would that be sufficient to power up the chassis lights?  I also wonder whether the LEDs would turn on as long as the MIO is powered on, regardless of motherboard boot status?  Is there a default setting in MIO that turn on the lights, even when there is no USB communication w main board?

Post contains edits

Top left powerboard looks ok; is possible to eject cooling caddy & straighten it out

I dont know how to get stickers off trouble-free (w/out marring finish), I have a steamer here, would consider that unless google-uTube produced better options. Attack it w/water & softest cloth I had til it rubbed off (gentle brute-force). Babyoil maybe, lemon juice, dunno. With a solvent I'd worry about inducing an anomaly into the finish (looks ok at all angles but turn your head 4inches & u see a rubbed spot). If after rubbing, you can see the spot at certain viewing angles or in a certain light, I might hit the whole door lightly w/Meguiar's qwik detailer, or a spray wax in hopes it blended things in. Can't prove it'd help or work though. I don't have an answer for stickers, lol

What I do here on a pair of cases is the doors look ok enough to suffice for daily-use, I then buy new doors & keep 'em boxed; that way, no worries about what becomes of the daily-user door, it's on there to get used w/out much anxiety

As for LED case lights, It's been too long, I don't 'member if lights come on if just using a USB stick to boot off of or not; however, if memory serves, I've seen a few for sale on eBay (with original mthrbrd of course) where seller has system powered on (lights on) to prove it works, & also claim no hard drive's included (HDD bays empty in pics etc)

W/ an aftrmrkt mthrbrd, one w/ a hard drive & Windows installed, there's already a 50/50 chance the lights won't come on, so if u install a non-alien-mthrbrd & lights don't come on w/a USB stick etc, tough to say if that's normal (luck of the draw) or not. Get an HDD, load Win7 & find out (see below)

To your question: put some hardware of your choosing in there w/an original 1000w 1100w 1200w & it's possible you could do a preliminary lights test. They might turn on then turn right off. No default setting can get them to turn on, no. MIO needs PSU 10pin power & the USB cable (USB_3) hooked into mthrbrd USB2.0 header, that's it. Any retail board can go into these cases & lights will work. If they don't turn on we'd do an MIO jumper reset procedure which usually fixes it. Original mthrbrd is never a real issue, just w/ retail boards the MIOs can get fussy half the time & need some help

A51 R1 installing a new master I/O board (contains links which try to rescue case lights & get an offline MIO back online etc) & see ALX Files: Area 51 R1 Motherboard Swap Asus … scroll to section w/ jumper reset (+ power drain) procedure I use here

Your Win7 product key is on a sticker on the rear of case, just load up SP1 on an HDD, drivers/chipset etc then CmndCntr 2.8.9 or 2.8.11 ... then upgrade it to W10      

*What we do want is to unplug MIO USB_3 cable-connector from mthrbrd during a Windows install, then plug it back in after install is done (windows install might soft-brick MIO = no lights turn on, lol)(doing a jumper reset trick a few times might help though)(disconnecting USB_3 & leaving MIO out of the install process side-steps the issue)

The top cooling caddy can accept triple 120mm fans, so if u orient heatsink fans 'up', it can exhaust out the top if desired. Or caddy fans can blow down & use rear 92mm fan to exhaust out

Thank you.  I acquired an A51 out of curiosity for lights and fins.

The good news is all stickers removed successfully w peel and 91% rubbing alcohol.  The cosmic black tolerates rubbing alcohol well.

The bad news is I took off left side door and now for 2 hours could not put it back properly.  When I think I line up grooved ends of door hinges with two cylinder pins and let them engage, door front edge sticks far out, and back edge would not close at all. If I some how push the  hinges further in, back edge can close, but there is a gap between front edge and chassis skeleton.  I really don’t know how the door hinges work.  I can not figure out how to solve this problem.  Is this a common problem for naive first time user?  The right side door, on the other hand, works very smoothly.

I'm in the US, so when I talk about getting parts it's because most are a clik away. If you aren't in the US, say so

A type of 'sloppy action' can happen w/doors, it's usually what we'd call the door hinges get bent out of original shape

Forgive this if I say: to understand the left-door (mthrbrd) action's on & off, remove & replace the right-door & reverse-engineer how doors go back on

If your right-door works, you can 1) attempt to bend the left hinges into same orientation & see if that helps 2A) remove the front panel (bezel), place door hinges onto pins, close door & if need be then attempt to re-bend the hinges to an appropriate angle that allows smoother action 2B) &/or if need be, attempt to align the top &/or bottom hinge pins (there's a small bit of play, barely, even negligible, but unloosen hinge pin screws, close/open door to yoiur satisfaction then tighten screws ... replace front panel & retest open/close action 3) buy a new door in hopes the state of the factory original hinges corrects the on/off open/shut action (no longer sloppy)

(photo: top activent assembly & front panel removed w/hinge-pins visible)

Remove front panel:

• Remove both doors, remove battery shroud
• Disconnect front panel wires/connex from MIO (Alienhead & FrtBot)
• Behind mid-PCI-fan, find & unclasp the factory ferrite-core ring (small box, EMI Shield etc, that opens like a clam-shell) that's clamped to front panel harness --> "there's a clip on it, it's skinny plastic, there's a faint pair of ridges that helps outline it & defines the seal; the ferrite core box opens up like a clam shell, use your fingernail (or a tool) to prise it open. I never put mine back on, but if you choose to reclamp it on after a reinstall, be careful not to pinch the wires when it clamps shut"
• See uTube 'Legacy Area-51 Disassembly' = :40s door / 4m15s front panel

If you buy a new door, you can transfer its hinge onto your old door, if that corrects things then u can use old door & keep new one in box

Removing front panel may be a project best left for some other day; note it has 'bottom' base clips pairs underneath also; & when it does come off, use an air-duster

Best Initial Bet: Attempt to bend hinge(s) until action isn't sloppy

My 4th & 5th cases (both Cosmic Black, both local owners, both empty but w/PSU) #4 was $200 & needed full resto on all panels = $450 to get it new, #5 was $100 + full resto = $350 to look new ... so how much did u pay for yours (heheh), (local pickup or payed extra for delivery)

Thanks a lot.  I bought an empty case w all original wiring and psu from local owner pick up involving some long distance drive.

Side door panel has some light scratches but only noticeable on close look.  one pin size dent on bottom panel.  not planning to restore.

I can feel the hinge pins with my fingers, and when I line up hinges w pins they seem engaged and hinges no longer wobble.  but that leaves front edge of door considerably ajar from front bezel.  The back edge clearly would not close.

quite frustrating that my Area 51 first challenge is to be a cabinet door hinge engineer, not something I expected from a computer case.

Not daring to take right door off now after got bitten by left.  I will look at your good panel hinge pictures to see what the normal hinge bent curve should look like, if you have such.  Thank you.

Post has new edit at bottom 

To assemble these, the factory's taken a type of epoxy glue, glued-bonded x4 (~2" wide)ABS-type plastic 'fillers' to the aluminum, then screwed x4 aluminum pieces to those (front hinge / back 'clasp' etc). On someone else's, they discovered the bottom rear plastic filler became separated - re-epoxy- & back in business. When inspecting rear/inside of door, make sure your plastic parts are all held secure & not starting to separate. I say that since you said the front was ok but the rear didn't want to close. If the epoxy-glue fails, the door action is known to get clumsy

With left-side (mthrbrd) door open, u can inspect the door's latching mechanism, the top rear 'fin' that lifts/closes & acts as a spring-latch. If the rear of door didn't want to close, look for general 'weirdness' with rear-fin latch. 'Normal' operation can be referenced against the right-HDD-side latch & how it works

Since the right & left doors are mirror-images, the correct bend to the top/bottom hinge for the left-side is the working right-side door hinges as reference. I'm not sure if my pics will help. Also not sure I can explain what a working rear-fin-latch mechanism looks or acts like. And if you get the front to align, not sure I can explain 'how' to get rear to close. Advice is if this gets futile, purchase x493r. If you go that path, if after it gets there & if after 1st attempt to install new 'perfect' door & it too fails to go on & open/shut correctly (relative to right-side door), I'd be inclined not to blame new door & instead wonder if the case needs addressed instead. Without being there, I'd be hard-pressed to advise what the true fix would be if a new door failed to work

If new door did work, I'd transfer its hinge onto old door - check action - & if ok, store new & use old. For that matter, old hinge might be 'shaped' into close-replica of new hinge & re-tested.

Tip: from memory, one owner claimed that installing a rear 92mm case fan into rear grille area 'fixed' or helped the door shut better than not having one, no idea why 

Make sure all x4 filler pieces are glued down (grab metal braces in places & pull-tug away / if plastic moves then the glue-bond's no longer ok). Separation of epoxy might tend towards clumsy shutting but more-so a difficult experience opening of a door

If the day comes & you remove front panel, you might brute-force the front door / hinge(top &/or bottom) to comply to a shape you can live with

To pull the front panel off you should remove both doors 1st. After panel comes off, you could install right door & 'see' what a proper fit is when looking head-on, then try to duplicate on left door. In a perfect world that works & when front panel's reinstalled you're back in biz

Do contact prior owner, ask if door was ok at time of sale or was it wonky at times

edit: The top rear door brace & bottom case chassis sill have multiple copper bands ('shims'); for best open/shut action, check that none are missing nor damaged

Thank you.  I did not know new door x493r is available for small $.  I wish there were a P/N for just the hinge.

Looking at mine and good hinge picture, I think my hinge tip is way bent away from close to the inner surface plane of door.  A good hinge tip should be no more than 3 mm elevated from that plane, which abuts the left chassis body when panel is neatly closed.

best temporary solution now is removal of hinge.  Door now snugs nicely to case.  Back latch works nicely.  The front is not fastened but not loose either.

PS by using the detached hinge alone to diagnose issue without the cumbersome weight of door, I finally see what is wrong.  When manually bending top hinge, flat base metal got slightly warped. So top hinge no longer truly coaxial w bottom one.  The fit of hinge and pin not smooth. the fit is thus incomplete (unless forced). top hinge sits a few mm higher than designed level. It then rams into case front metal skeleton when turned in. what a mechanical pain.  I will need a table vice to attempt correct the warp. for now all energy spent on the hinge.

I did try connect power without main board.  No LED on except MIO board light.  I have only ASUS board now which does not take standard USB type front panel IO plug.  Will put a vostro or gigabyte LGA755 board to test next time.

Lastly, found two drained rechargeable AA batteries in good physical shape in theater light power capsule. I am not certain they are still rechargeable now.