Alienware Area 51 Command Center, Windows 8

Hi there,

Some of you may know this by now that Dell decided to cut support for Area 51 system in which you probably spent over 2 ~ 5k+ to buy. This has been their business policy for a quite sometimes now. And they wonder why they're losing business from a lot of people *smh*

Anyways, I thought I would share my experience with Command Center on Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1. I'm not sure if this will help you but worth a try.

BE ADVISED, Your mileage may vary!

After installing Windows 8.0, I installed the following application only in that order.

*****DISABLE/TURN OFF FASTBOOT****

Power Options--> On the left go to "Choose what the power button does" Click ---> "Change settings that are currently available" uncheck-->"Turn on fast startup".

Now, proceed with the following steps. (Do not install any apps or antivirus at all yet)

1. Install----INTEL_CHIPSET-SOFTWARE-A03-R239508

2. Install----Silicon-Integrated-Systems_S_A02_R235001

3. Turn off the system completely.

4. Unplug the power cable and do a power drain, by holding down the power on/off switch for 1min.

5. Do a "Master IO board" factory reset (move the small tiny green pin to other two)--I have the v2.0 M/IO board. 

6. Do a CMOS Reset. (You can take out the battery and/or move the tiny green pin to other two from motherboard, I did both)

7. Installed the Command Center. (I am not sure if it's C.C 2.8.9.0,A02-00). I will provide you the exact one I used to install it which worked perfectly on two Alienware Area 51 system without a problem under Windows 8.0. All the lights, active venting system, fan, etc worked fine.

https://www.mediafire.com/?17444l9dzsl0gn8

8. Be sure to turn off the system completely and do a "Power Drain" after installing the Command Center.

9. Turn it on and give it a spin! I hope it works. Good luck!

P.S The command center above, kinda-sorta works with Windows 8.1 as well. The lights turns off properly, the fan control also works fine but the active venting system does not close down completely. That's the only thing I noticed while using Windows 8.1. Your mileage may vary.

**based on the folder name, I think it's this one (below) but it's best for you to use the one (above) which I uploaded in mediafire.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=TD4C0