Error on boot: Alienware AlienFX Controller

Thank you for telling. It works fine after I uninstalled MSE. Hope dell can figure this issues out soon so that I can reinstall my MSE back.

I have an M14X R2 and I too am facing the same problem! The problem occured yesterday, 18 Sep. I did a system restore which seems to temporarily solve the problem until I boot up my laptop today and was hit with the same issue. I just did an Alienware respawn out of desperation which reverted my laptop to factory setting. Right now, I'm terrified off switching off my laptop as I'm afraid I will be hit with the same damn problem again.   What shocks me most is the incredibly lack of support from Dell with regards to this obviously blatant, and widespread problem. I needed my laptop for work which obviously is not going to happen if this remains unresolved. I am actually sorry I bought an Alienware.

Here's an update since I did an Alienware respawn. It has been a week and things seems to be going smoothly. One thing to note is, during the process to set up my laptop back to factory settings, I turned off Windows automatic update. This is no long term solution though, it's ridiculous that I have to be careful with what I'm updating my laptop with.

At this time, my M18x R2 is working. Tried many things including a complete reload from the reinstall DVDs and was finally able to restore to a recent backup image created before the update problem. I cleared out ALL the update history in SoftwareDistribution and did ALL the needed updates. I have excluded Alienware from MSE. in a couple days I will try a virus scan. (will BACKUP FIRST!

Only one problem remains. One of the things that was done was flash the BIOS to R11. I also (probably shouldn't have) messed with the boot settings in the BIOS. Now I am unable to boot my backup/restore (CD or USB). I had to remove the drive from the M18 and attach it with a USB adapter to another machine to restore it. (clumsy).  Called support and he was no help. Loading BIOS defaults does not change the boot settings. Originally it booted fine from my backup CD. (Paragon HD Manager)  This is a Linux based program..

Can anyone tell me what the boot setting are supposed to be on a M18X?  (or similar)  It did work fine now won't boot the CD. I believe it has to do with UEFI but not familiar with that.

seem like you guys working to hard i just restored  to before update and ran spybot then started channged to only install updates that i say can and thats it done ..yes it does not solve it but every thing works just wait for update or delete mse there are loads other free programs  avg 2013 so dont sweat it to uch flashing here and there also top make a restore point now you have it working i think its the update from mse personally so just not installing it untill there is a fix  

seem like you guys working to hard i just restored  to before update and ran spybot then started channged to only install updates that i say can and thats it done ..yes it does not solve it but every thing works just wait for update or delete mse there are loads other free programs  avg 2013 so dont sweat it to uch flashing here and there also top make a restore point now you have it working i think its the update from mse personally so just not installing it untill there is a fix

If that's all you did you got lucky. Or it's not fixed, just lurking in he shadows waiting for the right moment! 

Tesla,

here is a new spin on this problem, after the 15th I had the same problem as everyone else.  my  m18r2 did the same things but with a couple of twists, when i restored it to befor this critical update it would work fine, tried the exlcusion in mse and it would still do the same thing.  after reading this thread I went to try to drop net frames 4.5 and awcc but my computer locked and would not do anything.  Had to hard restart went to safe mode and tried to restore my computer.  in the middle of restore it shut down would not restart.  finally i went to completely reinstall my backup image but to no avail, would not let me due to my harddrive size???? 750 gig, with 32 catch.  somehow my raid configuration got screwed up.....and i didn't touch it.  finally i got it to restore my computer.  I uninstalled mse, loaded another product adaware, command center is 2.8.8, netframes is 4.0, bios is A07, and I turned off all updates at this time.  It has been 12 days and I have not had a problem since.  No boot problems, task tray problems.

This problem existed with both versions of command center, as I had updated it to 2.8.8 after the first time it froze

dan

looking into this i have 2,8 installed and all working fine apart form the wifi icon does not spin just hangs then connects so this leads me to be-leave it defiantly a conflict with mse or the critical windows update as o restored to before both updates so if a go to updates and try the new mse we shall see will let u know 

did you fix this yet had the same not as bad had the black screen did restore removed updates uses spybot to clean stopped automatic updates all working fine apart for wifi animation does not work just hangs then connects  

ok so have now uninstalled MSE and command center was all working apart for wifi icon hanging and not spinning but still connected 

and with both uninstalled 1 at a time can see no diffrence also uninstalled last 2 microsoft updates still no difference

ok so have no reinstalled bios A12 also comand center 2.8.0.8 and reinstalled MSE all still working and also installed all windows updates apart form  

Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 for x64 (KB2840628) and 

Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2876315)

and still everything working apart from yes wifi icon not animating so have changed to only show notifications so removes form my isight and still all works so im a bit stumped here with it all uninstalled it work and with it all installed it now works   

I excluded every file that said alienware but the problem still occurred after about 3 days. I uninstalled mse and am now running without antivirus again.

I question whether this is actually a Dell problem or not. This occurred after a major MS update. There have been numerous issues with the 'Tuesday' updates for the past year. Google it!

This also affected my Inspiron 15R and it does not have any Alienware files. Both machines are now working fine after several days. I completely restored the entire image from BEFORE the update. On both machines I removed the update files and did all updates at once. Fixed. No after affects.

MS fixed the problem and ain't talkin while the flavor lasts!  

I question whether this is actually a Dell problem or not. This occurred after a major MS update. There have been numerous issues with the 'Tuesday' updates for the past year. Google it!   This also affected my Inspiron 15R and it does not have any Alienware files. Both machines are now working fine after several days. I completely restored the entire image from BEFORE the update. On both machines I removed the update files and did all updates at once. Fixed. No after affects.   MS fixed the problem and ain't talkin while the flavor lasts!

I kind of agree. I don't even know if anything I did fixed my machine or if it fixed itself after installing some stray Microsoft updates. Not really sure. I'm using MSE and I am not excluding any alienware files now.There hasn't been a lot of talk from dell within this thread so I'm not sure what to think.

I question whether this is actually a Dell problem or not. This occurred after a major MS update. There have been numerous issues with the 'Tuesday' updates for the past year. Google it!   This also affected my Inspiron 15R and it does not have any Alienware files. Both machines are now working fine after several days. I completely restored the entire image from BEFORE the update. On both machines I removed the update files and did all updates at once. Fixed. No after affects.   MS fixed the problem and ain't talkin while the flavor lasts!

I kind of agree. I don't even know if anything I did fixed my machine or if it fixed itself after installing some stray Microsoft updates. Not really sure. I'm using MSE and I am not excluding any alienware files now.There hasn't been a lot of talk from dell within this thread so I'm not sure what to think.

Our team is currently looking into what triggers the error. Here are some steps to correct the error. PM me if you need additional help

Here is a link to the article we have created.

1-      Uninstall Command Center

2-      Download latest Command Center from support.dell.com

3-      Uninstall .Net Framework 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5

4-      Restart the computer

5-      Install .net Framework 3.5 and 4.5

6-      Run Windows Updates and verify there is no pending updates missing (avoid installing hardware driver updates).

7-      Restart the computer

8-      Install the Command Center just downloaded

If issue remains, please go to “Control Panel”, “Programs and Features” and choose uninstall Command Center, when setup loads, run the repair.

Well, it must have been MSE. I've been using Antivir for a little over a week now and everything runs perfectly...so far.