Hello everyone,

I am new in this community and I have one problem now.

I have read all the comments and posts regarding this issue, especially Tesla's ones (Thank you sir for your efforts!), but I am still in an uncertain position right now.

I had some issues with one of my lights (left top side) showing always differnt colors than the rest. After several attempts with a tech guy, they have decided to replace the top light part.

The technician from Dell showed up few weeks ago with the part (the plastic top that contains both horizintal superior LED lights plus the motor and the vents.

He told me that he is doing this for 20 years now. However, he didn't have a clue how to OPEN my ALX! I have showed him the repair manual found by me on the Ipad. He didn't have a manual neither.

I worked in the past as an electronics technician for over 10 years in Hi-Fi audio so I do understand many things.

After a 5 minutes conversation he told me he never opened one so I have decided that I do not need a guy to butcher my toy or learn on it.

I have asked him to leave the part with me, I will replace it myself and I will call him to pick up the defective one.

Pressed by the time I have decided one Sunday to open the beast and see what is going on. I felt bad and not happy to take out my 4 Gb video card, wires, power suppy, ventilation module and all tha jazz, the engineering is terrible in this thing, they should make it simple with light lines for each side that will be easy to replace but no, they decide that is better to pay double and replace the whole thing including the vents motor. Very cost effective Dell!

So, I have opened the thing, did some test and measurements and figured out I have cold solder joints on the board that gave me trouble; due to the poor contact, the second voltage input was on or off, showing me different colors than the rest of the computer. I have repaired with patience the solder joints and everything works fine.

Called the Dell tech guy to come in and pick-up his unused replacement part.

Everything worked so I have decided to buy the Alienware Respawn Premium version to make an image of my disk. If you are looking to upgrade to Premium, I can tell you that this software will not offer you the posibility to make a 1/1 bit image of your disk, so think twice, because Premium Respawn is $41 and Acronis is $30. the funny thing is, no tech guy knows how respawn works, and nobody gives you a book, instructions, support, anything. I have upgraded, received an email from a company in germany with the code, no instructions, no help, no support. very frustrating, nobody knows how this back up system works and if you can actually make an image of your disk with this software (from what I have seeN, it can't).

Anyway, back to my problem. before decided to make a back up I have decided (at Dells' tech instructions) to uninstall my Alien FX software and install the new version of it.

BIG MISTAKE!

I have followed their instructions (which are wrong because the file with the " *.ath" extension it is not under primary user account but under "My Documents" folder. So, watch out what are you guys deleting.

Anyway, I am cleaning everything, step by step, go to their website, input my Tag number and download the suggested Alien FX which actualy was a 2009 version not the new one. So Dell screwed me up in this one.

After install, obviously, my BIOS does not see the MIO board anymore, whatever I do.

I have tried EVERYTHING you guys suggested, uninstall, install, power down, unplug cable, one minut push button, even disconect USB 1 plug from mobo, restart, fresh reinstall, etc, still same black screen with no MIO board.

My fans are running faster and noisier, obviously because I have no control board anymore. No lights at all at this time as well.

Talked to a tech guy again, he decided to send me a new board or a tech with a new MIO board.

My questions are:

1. What board do I need (model, version)? I just want to be sure I will have the proper board installed not a wrong one. I will specify my specs at the end of the message, because I don't know what computer I have (R1, R2, etc.)

2. Does this board have the right Alien FX installed in it from factory?

3. What are the steps before installing it? I do have my factory CC software in the system because I did factory restore. Do I need to do something specific before this guy will show up with the new one, or should I just turn it off, replace card, start, etc? If the tech will be the same, I better know myself what needs to be done.

4. Alienware Respawn is aking me to update from version 9.4.57 to version 9.4.60. Should I do it?

My Computer

Alienware Aurora ALX

Bios A11

Windows 7 Ultimate / service pack 1

IntelCore i7 CPU  X990 @ 3.47Ghz running at 3.74

Memory 24 GB

Samsung SSD 512 / Raid 0

AMD radeon HD 6990 4GB SLI enabled

Thank you very much for your help!