m15 R1, no lights, AlienFX, chip flash .hex file

Hi, I'm having the same issue as you with an m15x R2 the silabs chip has to be reflashed with the correct hex file. I bought an arduino chip and I am looking to connect it to the chip and reflash it. I noticed in your picture you have the connector to the diagnosis port of the chip under that plastic that you cutted as I did, could you tell me where you got that please thank you I need one. And did you find a solution to your problem?

FWIW I obtained my connector by buying a set of speakers for an M15X from eBay and cutting the 4 pin connector off and throwing the rest of the speakers away.

I have just done this successfully today. I am very happy about that.

I don't know about SiLab, I used the Flash Programming Utilites from https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/8-bit-8051-microcontroller-software which has an option to program a hex file into the controller. The gotcha in the process is that it will erase all the code space but the hex file that ships with Command Center only includes the main program code from 0x1200 to 0x4188. There is a bootloader before that and some more data near the end of code space that is needed for a functional image. You can either read out the whole of code space, spend some time converting to to a usable format, merge in the good hex file, and then program the whole lot in, or you can find the complete image in this post

https://www.aw-community.com/forum/topic/8905-suche-alienfx-flash-dump-f%C3%BCr-m17x-m15x/

You will need to register before you can download it.

BTW I did not connect the power line, the red wire in your photo, I just powered on my laptop. The power that is on that line is 3.3V when the laptop is live and my programmer has 5V on the pin that your red wire connects to.

You can change c8051f347 chip.. Blank chip is also available. The control center will automatically write the program...I use this method to have a 100% chance of success...

hi how are you, I have the same problem as you, I have an Alienware m15x and the lights are not working for me, I bought a device called (ch341) I saw a video on youtube, the video is called (Alienware Light Fix (by Reflashing the SiLabs) Chip)), in the video, copy a HEX file and paste it on a USB stick. Would you like to know if that works, and if someone could not explain to me in more detail the process to make it work? I would greatly appreciate it since dell does not provide an answer to this problem.

I'd also like to know how to do this. I have a perfectly working motherboard but it has the corrupted chip. I received a replacement board recently from China and it started having BSOD's straight away and then failed within a few hours. I'd like to get the original board working properly again. 

It's a shame that this was a huge error on Dell's part. They should have replaced everyone's board who had this issue, even out of warranty. 

Can you please send a farer away picture of the connector? Im stuck with dissasemble