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September 2nd, 2015 02:00
Aurora 4 Fan/MIO Problems
Hi everyone,
I have an Aurora 4. It's probably about 5-6 years old now. It's had the MIO replaced once by a Dell engineer.
I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and no problems. However yesterday I installed the latest Windows patch and since then the HDD and PCI fans have been stuck at 100% and causing a right noise.
The MIO is functioning to the extent that the lights all work, temperatures are measured and I can control the fan speeds via the Command Centre. I've currently locked them both at 15%.
It's only when Command Centre isn't working now that the fans go nuts; so when I start the PC and shut it down.
I'm pretty sure it's the MIO and not the fans because when either of them are plugged in they're always stuck at 100%, and I doubt -both- of the them have gone funny at the same time.
I just wondered if anyone could recommend a better solution to the problem? I've had a Google around and it looks like this model suffers from fairly regular problems with the MIO, but wasn't quite sure what to try.
Would a hard reset help? (is that even possible?) Are there any side effects to a reset I need to worry about? I wondered whether I could control the fan speeds in the BIOS, but I couldn't find any settings.
Should I just get a new MIO?
Could I really be the latest Windows 10 patch, or is that just a coincidence?
Thanks for any help.
Alienware - Rodrigo
9 Technologist
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September 2nd, 2015 09:00
Hello,
Try doing a power drain (turn off system, disconnect power cord, disconnect all external devices, press and hold power button for 40 seconds). Also, make sure your system is running the latest Bios firmware. Click here for the download link.
Cass-Ole
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September 2nd, 2015 19:00
To the R4 owner with fan issues, let us know if the basic advice given has worked or not; otherwise navigate through the links I'll provide you which represent our combined tools and efforts to combat this new problem found in W10; I feel it is a W10 update that's causing this lately. The links are about the only help I can render since mine isn't on 10 yet.
@Aware-Rodrigo: I'm archiving a list of all the Aurora R4 owners who come to this forum to report that after their Win10 install, their system fans are racing to 100%, ostensibly as the result of or from some form of 'new windows update'; this issue of fans going to 100% on Windows 10 is affecting R3 owners & apparently Area-51 R1 owners also; this seems a natural development given Aurora R1-R4 & A51R1 essentially all share the same master i/o boards; if we pay attention just to Aurora R4 since it comes under the Dell Windows10 support umbrella:
ty A-Rod
Various Issues w/Alienware Systems on W10: Bios CmndCntr Fans etc
dhorner
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May 8th, 2016 09:00
Does Alienware have a fix for this yet? It has not worked properly since Windows 10 and this PC should be fully supported. It seems everyone with a Aurora R4 is having this problem and doing a full power drain is obviously not the proper fix. If it was hardware issue, then Windows 10 would not have caused the problem, so clearly its a Bios/OS issues. Please advise.
Thanks,
Dave
Cass-Ole
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May 8th, 2016 14:00
Try Cmnd Cntr 3.5 or 3.6 in W8/W8.1 compatibility mode, & follow the tips/links below. My fans have not acted up yet, so I do not know the fix. At the very bottom, (Fans !00%) Itziar gave it ***, his is a comprehensive outline of what can be tried, however I'm not sure if he tried CC 3.5/3.6. Good luck.
'From Cabinet Fans'
on p.2 of this post, Itziar offers this advice, describing a possible fix, taken from this post: Windows 10 Aurora R4 Fans ... more tips attached, perhaps on p.2 as well. This isn't an easy issue to pin down & fix; as of 3.5.16 all 5 of my Aliens do not experience 100% fans on W10; I don't know what causes it, I've grasped at straws since August of last year. Frustrating issue if ever there were one.
Alienware Command Center Windows 10 , fan speed issues. Mostly cabinet fans
"Things went even worse yesterday. All temperature sensors went mad. In the Thermal controls panel, one sensor indicated 0º and the other 64º ... as a result, fans were running again at 100% speed even after logging in into Windows. I then tried the following:
1.- Remove Command Center and remove Support Assist
I did a complete uninstall of the 2.08.11 version of Command Center and Support Assist following these steps posted by Cass-Olé:
1. Uninstall Alienware Command Center, Dell Support Assist Agent and Dell Support Assist from the Control Panel > Programs and Features.
1A. Go to C:\ProgramData\Alienware and delete Alienware folder (if it is there)
1B. Go to C:\Users\xxxYour Account Name Folderxxx\Appdata\local\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)
1C. Go to C:\Users\xxxYourAccount Name Folderxxx\Appdata\roaming\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)
2. Restart the computer
3. Download and Run CCleaner's registry cleaner to remove left over keys from the old Command Center uninstall. {http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner }
4. Open Regedit (Winkey + R...Type Regedit), press control + F. In find what type Alienware and make sure the keys, data, and value is checked and click find next. After deleting each object (key, value, or data) related to Alienware press F3 to find the next Alienware location and delete. Repeat until done. DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM INFORMATION FOLDER WHEN YOU GET THERE.
4. Verify that the device manager doesn't have any unknown devices under Universial Serial Bus Controllers. If there are unknown devices see note
5. Shutdown the computer.
6. Drain the power for 1 minute.
Note: If there are unknown devices on the device manager, or no device is detected please do the following: a. Verify the Master I/O board USB cable is properly connected to the motherboard and to the Master I/O board. b. Drain the MB power for 1 minute.
After that, all problems with the fans speed were gone.
The fans were behaving normally at startup, inside windows and during shutdown (i.e. always).
After that, I reinstalled again the Command Center (not Support Assist).
2.- Install Command Center
Install version 2.08.09 of Command Center (the old one I had) without any compatibility mode, I just installed it for Windows 10. I left the fan control to default (automatic) inside the Thermal controls options, and everything works fine for now. Normal temperature values and normal fan speed at startup, inside Windows and during shutdown. I hope this situation lasts longer than last one, at least one month before fans turn mad again ...
edit 12.26.15: two users have had success, guidelines here: the jumper reset, & windows 7 or Win8 compatibility mode may work. For win7/8 mode, see p.2 of this thread, bamster's on 12.25.15
Mimi, your CmndCntr link was for 3.5, the latest CC is 3.6 actually & it isn't known yet which works better or worse on W10.
R1 R2 R3 can try the latest CmndCntrs for their platform - 2.08.11 & 3.0 as a test against 2.08.09
Since fans in my R4 & A51 R1 are ok, I can only guess at solutions, be it W7/8/10:
Aurora R4 Windows 10 Upgrade Success Command Center 3.5.10 & AlienFx
Area-51 R1 Windows 10 Success Command Center & AlienFx 2.8.11.0
@Alienware-Rodriguez: A-Rod. Aurora R4 Windows 10 Fans 100% fix? ... any word yet on a fix?
At current there is no Master Post describing a cure-all; troubleshooting is spread out over multiple posts. Some posts include info where others describe their own personal cure; each cure seems to be a tad different from the next. Feel free to gripe over on Arena also so they can hear you; use twitter / facebook / youtube also, public shamings can't hurt, only help.
If you're displeased anymore you might look into a fan controller for either the floppy bay or a dvd bay; fan extension harnesses when needed; note the stock radiator (& pci fan in Area-51) are high-power ~1.5amps & would require a fan controller with 18amps minimum per channel, 30w per is better (NZXT Sentry Mesh for instance).
A friend experienced 100% fans on Win7 last September; the only cure I could pass on was a clean 7 install & the advice to uncheck 'Give me Recommended Updates the Same Way I Receive Important Updates' > 7 should be stable enough in most instances not to need from that category of updates; when given a choice between hair-dryers for fans or not, I only install important updates personally. Your mileage may vary.
When we clean install 7 SP1 & do the 1st update check, these days there are 200+ that await (see note). It has always been the advice to only install Security Updates 1st in one fell swoop & leave all other updates behind for the next go 'round.
*note: it is advised to download & apply these two stand-alone updates 1st before doing your 1st online update check; these two updates may dramatically improve the time it takes for checking/downloading your 1st batch of updates:
Clean install of W7 SP1 is always followed by a your Drivers Suite, .netframework & CmndCntr: win updates follow, at least here they do. Once all security updates (& my basic apps) are installed I make a system image (clone to a spare drive). If my system were to wig-out, I may call on that spare clone drive (where I know my fans & hence CmndCntr work), boot up into it & check operation; I may launch CmdCntr.exe & do a 'repair', restart / power down again, boot into other drive that had fan issue & see if it induced a change in fans there also (did it cure the issue).
That is a basic outline that would occur here if I had this issue which I don't.
A case can be made where ZERO windows updates reside on a cloned drive; if we're looking to blame updates for wreacking havoc on our systems then simply clone your install before applying updates.
Why, you might ask?
We live in a world where master i/o boards do not need CmndCntr or Windows in order to function, ever; on a working system, power down, eject your hard drive, power up, enter bios screen or simply don't; note the lights come on & the fans are calm:
I would power back down & boot into my clone drive, for starters, & attempt a fix there.
Since most of this post is now an edit, I note on p.2 turning off Fast Startup; another try is to turn off auto fans in CmndCntr/Thermals & enable manual fans. Then there is this:
A copy/paste of my page2 post; follow correct procedure to uninstall CC at top of this page:
Reinstalling CmndCntr is the most basic process we're taught here:
Now substitute will with 'may':
Uninstall the Alienware Command Center
What if Command Center is not working properly?
This process consists of:
Fans at 100% speed
I upgraded my system to Windows 10 in January. I've been running it for a month and a half without any issues and then, without any prior warning, fans have gone up to a continuous 100% speed and temperature was normal (around 22º - 24º degrees).
I searched for help and read lots of threads about this issue for other Alienware owners, and tried several things:
1.- Set the fan control to manual + using curves inside the Thermal controls of the Command Center.
This lowered the speed of the fans to a normal value, but it only worked after logging in into Windows, after the Command Center is started. During startup and shotdown of the computer, fans were still running at 100% speed.
2.- Upgraded Command Center to 2.08.11 (I was using 2.08.09)
No changes at all.
3.- Installing Command Center 2.08.11 using Windows 8 compatibility mode.
Uninstalling the existing version and installing the new one setting the installer to work in windows 8 compatibility mode. This fixed the fans speed during startup and shutdown, and I though it was the definitive solution. But my happiness only lasted for 3 days.
The 3rd day fan speed went back to 100% during startup and shutdown but still was lowered to reasonable values after logging in into Windows.
4.- Enabling Sensor Monitoring Sevice and set its startup mode to Automatic
No changes at all.
5.- Power dissipation for 1 minute
No changes at all.
Then, two days later (yesterday) all temperature sensors went mad. In the Thermal controls panel, one sensor indicated 0º and the other 64º ... as a result, fans were running again at 100% speed even after logging in into Windows.
I then tried the following:
6.- Remove Command Center and remove Support Assist
I did a complete uninstall of the 2.08.11 version of Command Center and Support Assist following these steps:
1. Uninstall Alienware Command Center, Dell Support Assist Agent and Dell Support Assist from the Control Panel > Programs and Features.
1A. Go to C:\ProgramData\Alienware and delete Alienware folder (if it is there)
1B. Go to C:\Users\xxxYour Account Name Folderxxx\Appdata\local\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)
1C. Go to C:\Users\xxxYourAccount Name Folderxxx\Appdata\roaming\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)
2. Restart the computer
3. Download and Run CCleaner's registry cleaner to remove left over keys from the old Command Center uninstall. {http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner }
4. Open Regedit (Winkey + R...Type Regedit), press control + F. In find what type Alienware and make sure the keys, data, and value is checked and click find next. After deleting each object (key, value, or data) related to Alienware press F3 to find the next Alienware location and delete. Repeat until done. DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM INFORMATION FOLDER WHEN YOU GET THERE.
4. Verify that the device manager doesn't have any unknown devices under Universial Serial Bus Controllers. If there are unknown devices see note
5. Shutdown the computer.
6. Drain the power for 1 minute.
Note: If there are unknown devices on the device manager, or no device is detected please do the following: a. Verify the Master I/O board USB cable is properly connected to the motherboard and to the Master I/O board. b. Drain the MB power for 1 minute.
After that, all problems with the fans speed were gone.
The fans were behaving normally at startup, inside windows and during shutdown (i.e. always).
After that, I reinstalled again the Command Center (not Support Assist)
7.- Install Command Center
Install version 2.08.09 of Command Center (the old one I had) without any compatibility mode, I just installed it for Windows 10.
I left the fan control to default (automatic) inside the Thermal controls options, and everything works fine for now. Normal temperature values and normal fan speed at startup, inside Windows and during shutdown.
I hope this situation lasts longer than last one, at least one month before fans turn mad again ...
Tesla1856
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May 9th, 2016 11:00