Motherboard upgrade to Area 51 R2 = No case lights

USB settings in Bios may be similar to Full Initialization / Partial etc, I see many USB settings on my user manual that might be fit for testing. Were it me I'd play with some settings, knowing it might be a dead-end just the same. I wonder if the MSI FastBoot option which kills devices during post for faster startup might be worth looking at (set it on or off). Settings > Advanced pages > or see your manual. I think we did what we could in the community to get the word out that there is a real chance of this happening, & no one's come forward yet with a fix. Creative use of your RGB LED output header may be viable, but you'd need an experienced wiring pro to make it integrate together, such that the LED header output is of suitable volts / (milli)amps / resistance etc relative to the case LEDs. The guys at your local audio pro install garage might be up for the challenge, maybe the local PC shop if they do lights & have some expertise. Otherwise, we're all in the same basic boat as you are so don't feel bad & keep your ear to the ground in case a fix comes along in the future

Hi. I see you're aware that others have had this basic hit-or-miss problem? The normal result is that the Alienhead & front waterfall lights do light, it's the side panels that do not light up. That u get an initial 'all light up' is a mixed bag

My AsRock board produced 'some' of the lights on, I never found a fix. Half of the reason to go back to an MSI board is the hope that the lights work. Something tells me that the fellas over in a China forum figured this out years ago, we'd never know, can't read up on it or even ask. I'd start by right clicking tray icon, right click Alien, then play with the go light / go dark feature, see if changing those back & forth several times after rebootings solves this, helps lights stay on. From there, one wonders if a USB setting in the Bios is off or on when it should be on or off to help with this, I wouldn't know which to play with though  

I don't know if it is wise or not to try the R4 CmndCntr or if it will install for you, the thought being an X299 board might like an X299 version of CmndCntr > it might not even produce lights if it did install > attempt at your own discretion > new FIO board is part# H6HK9 if anything happens to yours on R4 CmndCntr. Obviously, if the lights go off before the mthrbrd has yet to pass p.o.s.t. / reach the Bios logo, the hard drive with any CmndCntr software isn't part of the equation; if lights go off after p.o.s.t we might suspect a Windows 10 startup anomaly with USB device initialization or simply the FIO does not like this new board & the way it communicates & goes dark in defiance & revolt. If lights go out before you pass p.o.s.t., I don't see how a different CmndCntr version would help

*if this is a new clean Windows install, install your MSI eject driver & test if your dvd ejects a disc

*test if your front audio jack outputs audio or not

*you uninstalled CmndCntr or the volume software?

Hello Cass-Olé,

Thank you for your replies.

It is a clean install of Windows 10, and my MSI board has no dvd eject driver listed on their website. I did try the Dell DVD eject driver; it installed without complaint but it does not work.

I have not tested the Mic In jack but the headphone out jack works just fine.

I uninstalled Command Center as it caused my system volume control to become unresponsive.

If there is a chance of a different Command Center taking out my FIO board, I don't think I want to take that chance.

I had pulled the Logo Board to examine it closely, but I could not make out its wiring scheme...and Dell doesn't publicize that either, so it would be...challenging...to make an MSI RGB signal work with these case lights.

Your suggestion of playing with the BIOS settings makes good sense and I will try that tonight and report back. I think that if changing BIOS settings do not help, I am going to mount a few tiny LEDs behind the power button in such a manner that they do not interfere with the switch or the Logo Board, and connect them to a source of power on the motherboard with a suitable dropping resistor as needed.

Thanks again, very much appreciated!

Unless the last thing you did was click 'go dark' before uninstalling the CmndCntr software, the exterior lights should still come on with or without the software installed, so at this point, I wouldn't attribute it going dark in the way you described it, as a by-product of not having the software installed. Obviously you can re-install it long enough to perform tests if u get bored

Re: 'versions of CmndCntr that take out my FIO board' Area 51 R2 AlienFX Board Version Downgrade v9 to v7?

You don't have to read the link / post, the screen grab is what I was after. When CmndCntr is installed, you can launch the AlienFxTester.exe App; it will interrogate the FIO board for which ... ok I was about to say which firmware version it is using, however I can't confirm it does get firmware (it would seem so on face value), or yet to confirm that a 'firmware flash' takes place during an install of say a newer version of CmndCntr (newer versions might have newer firmware). Therefore, in an attempt to say, install CmndCntr 4.8 (designed for R3 R4), just on a hunch, I do wonder if the R2 FIO board is compatible with it or not. From there I'd wonder if firmware is flashed or not - if so - is it written w/the new x299 chipset in mind? I say that since you're using an x299 there, an MSI no less, the one brand we'd expect to have no issues inside this case. What we'd need is the part# for the R3 R4 FIO board (a photo uploaded by a new owner etc), the question is: are they shipping out the same R2 H6HK9 FIO? (if so, to me that'd be 99% proof the R2 can go to higher R3 R4 firmware & CmndCntr versions) ... is it the same old FIO but just a new part#?, or is it a new FIO > purposely revised for good reason < ... I don't know these things, yet

* 'Will the new firmware take out your H6HKP FIO board'.  I don't know if there's firmware, & if there is, what impact it has on older FIO firmware chip that'd be flashed with it

What I can say is this: if you disconnect the FIO USB2.0 cable right before a new CmndCntr install, it can not be flashed with firmware (after the install, plug USB2.0 connector back in = use the new CmndCntr version / by-pass the 'firmware' upgrade)(ie the Board Information Current Version will not change / can not change), from there you find out if the FIO needs the newer 'Board Version' to run the software with, right? Right. I do have to ask the question if a newer 'Board Version' is needed in order to work along-side newer x299 chipset -or- will your lights have disappeared even in the face of an X99 swap

Bios settings is like the last stand: there is (is there?) a USB device wake-up protocol that the original motherboard sends or receives that tells FIO to output constant LED voltage after startup > new different mthrbrds fail to generate the same 'on' protocol & normally the side panels fail for reasons unknown (probably by design, or, just a nagging artifact of being a different incompatible board for 'digital reasons')

Alienhead + Waterfall LEDs light from / through Logoboard

Logoboard connects to / from FIO, side panels light from FIO, USB2.0 communication w/mthrbrd

An experienced person could, when using the correct JST connectors, interface with the case LED wiring connector ends (without hacking it all up, I mean plug n' play connections); once the output from the FIO to the case LEDs is a known value, along with 'which wires create the solid RED output', then yes, the MSI RGB header could then be used after an interface is designed for it from that end. Micro Electronic Professors at Universities probably live for this stuff, or rather could probably just 'make' FIO output the LEDs itself in a matter of minutes

*The need for precautionary dropping resistors is so the LED (case) bulbs do not burn out from incorrect volts/amps, especially true if the Mystic Light RGB header outputs values that are way off, which is why an experienced person is needed for these matters. Good to hear you're aware of these things, others need to be careful & warned

I just took delivery of an original X99 board last month for $63/shipped (needs a CPU) & I'm not in position to test anything here w/other boards, & what little screwing around I did when a retail board was in there, my voltmeter & probes produced nothing I could make sense of. It wasn't until after the retail board was removed from the case did I think to ask if a USB change in Bios may have gotten side panels to light up (find the correct digital output to this FIO as the USB device it is, change how the mthrbrd reacts to it during p/o/s/t that FIO will 'approve of'). Like I say, don't give up hope just yet; with more people swapping to a new board for a freshen-up in their R2, the more likely it is someone may find a fix for the rest of us, & get the word out

*Loss of DVD eject is a common problem, installing the ODD_MSI_W7_W8.1_A00_Setup_H9W7X_ZPE.exe driver doesn't help. Highlighting then right clicking your DVD drive > select 'eject' > is the work-around for anyone who doesn't know that

*My front audio-out didn't work w/headphones plugged in on two different boards, I'm glad yours works

when dedicated LED wire behaves as Red = +/-, few (two per connector) of these case lighting wires need interfaced with, where discussing a picture & actually getting in there & modding it are ... yeah ... pipe dreams, but not overwhelming as a project that merely requires a single color output. With RGB, disregard all Green + Blue outputs, connect to Red output (+ / -)

Hmmm. Food for thought for certain. Thanks for the detailed post, it is appreciated.

Just for fun I went into BIOS and set it to fast boot. No joy with the lights...they still do the same thing - first power button, then front grille lights, then side panel lights, then all go out at once...and I now have the added bonus of not being able to access BIOS now due to the fast boot settings (no USB until Windows starts). And of course my keyboard and mouse are...wireless USB. Grrr. I didn't think that one through fully. Duh. But I had to try it...I'll borrow a PS/2 keyboard from work tomorrow, try to access my BIOS, and see if I can undo the fast boot setting.

Now that you have mentioned it, I do recall that the Command Center "upgraded" (downgraded) from 9.00.00 to 7.00.00 when I installed it. Of course the USB2 cable was plugged in when I installed Command Center as I did not know any better at the time. Hmmm...

Thanks to the MSI Fast Boot app, I was able to get back into BIOS and disable the fast boot setting. That was easy.

I wonder if going back to (CmndCntr Board Version) V9.0 has an effect. On reading the link I posted, it appears that the latest 4.0.59 reverts the prior 9.0 to 7.0 as was your experience, the other user mentioned having 4.0.51 which might be V7.0 'firmware' let us call it

If you noticed you 'lost lights' before installing CmndCntr the 1st time (where you noticed a shift from 9.0 to 7.0), a move back to 4.0.51 would be a dead-end if u think about it (it implies the lights were already off with V9.0, then off again with V7.0 aka 4.0.59). The only other CmndCntr 4.0 I know of is the Day1 release found on Driver CDs shipped in the box for new owners, if you have your CD you can compare it to the Day1 version 4.0.38

One or more CmndCntr versions pre-date Windows 10, but your interest would be in a Board Version change & not using the software per-se, 'call it a firmware flash' to induce the FIO to 'like' your new Pro Carbon. This is what you do or contemplate when you're left grasping at straws. For the record, 4.0.38 & 4.0.51 have left some owners w/out side panel lights, they aren't exactly a cure. You'd be the 1st to try them w/an x299 chipset though ... ... ... might be a benefit, might not, only one way to find out. Maybe just the side panels stop lighting when on a different 'board version' *shrug* Use the links at your discretion

Well, I have decided to leave it alone for now. Until I decide to attempt something different, the Corsair red LED fans are enough to let me know the unit is "on" (as if having the monitor on wasn't enough).

For now, the Area 51 R2 case suits my needs even without lights. The main reason I was attracted to this style of case was the ease of reaching both front and back USB ports. I know of no other case design that allows this when it is sitting on the floor next to a desk, and it definitely works for me.

The original DVD drive is flaky (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't), so I have purchased an external DVD burner. It is not something I use frequently, but when I need it, I have a reliable one now. Its cable is somewhat short, yet long enough to sit on my desk and be plugged into one of the rear USB ports.

Cass-Olé, thanks very much for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it.

if on W10, try new CmndCntr 4.8.25 check stability against reason you uninstalled it last time

No joy.

...and, yes, I am running Win 10 Pro x64, Fall Creators Update version.

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that it is not a Dell motherboard than it being Windows 10.

http://www.alienowners.com/threads/how-to-install-command-center-for-a-non-alienware-motherboard.7119/

new questions are handled in that post, join if needed