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108805
September 13th, 2015 02:00
Area 51 ALX command centre for Windows 10.
Hi guys.
Just quick a question - has anyone successfully got command centre working on an alienware area 51 ALX system using windows 10? Having just upgraded mine to windows 10 I have to say I am really impressed with it - just a slight problem with the command centre which doesn't seem to be 100% working correctly. I know this model is no longer supported by Dell. I am using version 2.5.46 which worked flawlessly for windows 8.1. However, with windows 10 the vents do not always open or close when I go to the command centre and change their position, and they never close when I shut down the PC, they just stay open. (not once have they gone down on shut down). I have also noticed that the lights do not always change when I change them in command centre. They just stay the same colour that the PC booted up on. (Maybe the board is bricked??). I can upgrade to 2.8.9 but was wondering if anyone had any advice before I do this, as I don't want to make the situation any worse. Thanking you all in advance, Insanity.
Cass-Ole
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September 13th, 2015 12:00
Insanity, good 2 c u back here without any major problemos. My ALX KingJeremy_theWicked is on 10.
However, he hasn't been online since Aug1st, he's not allowed to get online until the Treshold Wave2 major update to 10, due out in November-ish. My install is troublefree right now, however a lot of people on 10 who have updates newer than Aug1st, fans (pci & hdd) might go to 100% in all Area 51 Aurora, especially if they're set to 'auto', sooner or later CmndCntr/fans flip-out from boot til your desktop, about 20-30 seconds:
I've archived fans at 100% issues, but I'm not affected by it so have no hands-on experience in the cure:
Pointers to use across the life of your Alien; find fast startup in 10 & disable it if u have an issue, re-enable it if issues isn't fixed. 10 probably has .netframework 3.5 as a window feature to turn off & on, where we might or might not want .net3.5 as a subset running CmndCntr. Uh, if you want, find the actuall CC.exe (60-70Mb), launch it, clik 'repair' 1st b4 trying an uninstall/reinstall. The safest way to flash an mio is to uninstall CC 1st.
Ha ha check this out, I used my Aurora to install CC3.0 on KingJeremy's hard drive, then flashed the mio w/a 'repair' & it survived it, works like a charm. 3.0.26 yes, but has same firmware version, 2.02:
note that windows startup vs manual startup is a troubleshooter to try over the lifespan of your ALX
Insanity1984
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September 16th, 2015 05:00
Hi Cass-Ole.
Good to hear from you again and hope you are all OK. I've spent the last couple of days following your advice and I seem to be getting somewhere. Here's what I have done and discovered to be the best solution so far. You might be able to ignore the whole of part 2 and go straight to part 3, but I had already changed the power plan settings before trying part 3 first so I have no idea if the power plan settings have any effect or not.
1) Upgrade to command centre 2.8.9
2) Changed the power plan settings to the following:
a) Sleep After - Never
b) Allow Hybrid Sleep - Never
c) Hibernate after - Never
d) Allow Wake timer - Disabled
e) USB Selective Suspend Setting - Disabled
3) This was where things got a bit weird. In order for the fans and lights to work when I first booted up the PC, I have to open the command centre. If I don't double click on the command centre shortcut icon on the desktop, the vents stay down and the lights stay off. So what I have done is enabled the thermal controller in the windows start up (go to run, msconfig and startup). This now means that the thermal controller starts running as soon as the desktop screen has loaded and the vents open and the lights come on. Now to get the vents to go down when I turn off the PC I have to leave the thermal controller running. (this is shown on the bottom right of the screen in the taskbar tray). If I right-click the thermal controller and click exit and then shut down the PC the vents stay open. This is why I don't know if changing the power plan options in part 2 have any effect or not, because it all appears to be to do with having the thermal controller running.
This is what I am doing at the moment but I can give no guarantee it will work for everyone and I have only been using it for a couple of days myself. If I find out anything else I will keep you up to date.
Thanks again for the advice, Insanity.
Tesla1856
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September 16th, 2015 12:00
Good idea making your Power Profile simple.
Did you also Turn-Off "Fast Startup" yet? Try it.
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-10-a.html
Cass-Ole
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September 16th, 2015 15:00
Cheers mate,
One wonders over the notion of 10 being the 'last' version of Windows released, 'ever-changing', always evolving. Should be fun. Anything I did here with the tech-preview or the June29 release to 'fix' top vents, your Windows 10 of today is probably different from my 10 of Aug 1st.
Windows 10 is shaping up to be the most unstable release since Millennium Edition (ME)
Recent murmurings: "On my Windows 10 machine, this is how I've come to start my day: I slowly open my laptop lid, cautiously peer at my screen and wonder what is no longer working like it did yesterday. Some days, I'm pleasantly surprised and things seem stable. But in the past couple weeks, the opposite has been the case. As a result, part of my new morning routine is checking my Windows Update history and my Windows Store app installation history, hoping against hope for clues as to why my machine is not running right".
If 10's a hybrid of 7 & 8.x as we're told, what I've learned is there are a few different versions of the master i/o filter driver; w7 approved in 2.8.9 & w8 approved in 2.8.11, so do try 2.8.11 for testing:
A trick to 'member for now or for later (as 10 evolves), how about trying an install of CmndCntr in Compatibility Mode? No one's tried that yet; I don't like random installs / uninstalls of software, so I clone my drive 1st; I attempt fixes on the cloned drive:
Regarding all the changes you made in your power plan, I made those very same changes & it cured the vent not closing on power down, but darnit, someone messaged me in the past 6weeks & said only one change in the plan had to happen & I can neither find the message nor 'member the solo-tweak that was advised. *shrug* the process was discovered through trial/error making one tweak at a time to the plan, restart, pass/fail etc. sooner or later the tweak worked, at least on that owner's ...
keep us posted & try to 'member all the times I drop the hint to have a working 7 install on its own drive for test-purposes so that CmndCntr & your MIO can have a proper environment to run in
Cass-Ole
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September 18th, 2015 18:00
Insanity, regarding my comment: 'have a working 7 install on its own drive for test-purposes so that CmndCntr & your MIO can have a proper environment to run in'. I said that for a reason, because you asked outloud if it was possible your mio board was bricked; when issues arise on 10 you'll want 7 on its own drive to test exactly for proper operation of the mio board to rule it out, & I've also suggested while in 7 to launch CmndCntr.exe and clik 'repair', reboot, check AlienFx, shutdown then go straight into 10 & see if the repair job on 7 fixed the issue in 10. That's advice in the event you need to troubleshoot in 2 months or 10 months or whenever.
Also, I was on both 7 & 10 today, I sniffed around in the power plans & the msconfig app & noticed a slight difference (note that my 7 runs CC3.0 & 10 runs CC2.08.11):
note the loss of the AlienFx On/Off in the 10 power plan, nothing I can do about that I suppose, however my CC version when I upgraded to 10 was 2.08.11, the 'AlienFx on/off' didn't carry-over?
on 7 the default boot setting is normal, in 10 it's defaulted to Selective startup; my ALX has no CmndCntr issues to speak of, but for troubleshooting a person might set theirs to Normal Startup, check operation, then revert back to Selective Startup if 'Normal' had no beneficial impact
above: while you're in there make sure the AWCCStartupOrchestrator is in fact enabled as the required app as it should be; in 10, startup now resides in Task Mngr