active venting area 51 alx

Be sure you have the latest A11 Bios loaded. http://dell.to/IcoFFq

Remove the Command Center via these instructions and then load this version. http://bit.ly/HfLQ2Y

Retest when finished.

nope,, still open..  

note that when I went into the folders that the instructions specify to delete files from..  they werent there to begin with.    so just skipped those steps.  

the fins closed for a bit.. and I thought it worked..  then they just opened up again..   I even changed the percentage for them to open to 90 percent..  seein as I have no idea at what percentage the system fan is at anyways..   still open

the problem is that the fins never start out closed..   if the computer is powered on.. the fins are open.   never moving,, just open.

oh well,, thanks for the input guys.

Ive read so many threads and have yet to find an answer.. if there is one.

I will be as honest as I can here. There isn't an answer.

The vents should start from 100% closed to 50% opened. Once under stress they should open from 50% open to 100% open. That's all you will get.

The software is half baked and never worked right from the word go. It has only been improved a little bit over the two years they have had time to improve it. Sorry but you can complain but I don't see where that will get you. They have not fixed it in two years so there is little to no hope of them fixing it now. There is other things wrong with it too but again, won't be fixed.

Sorry to be blunt but it is what it is. Wait until you shut it down but the lights are still on. Then think...they had two years to fix that or the side panel blinking or the vents open with software or anything else. I know of more issues with it that has never been addressed. When you have TWO years to fix it you must think they have no reason to do so. None of it works or works halfway at best.

They never put the work needed to make it work right so here you are.

Now if their intention was preventing you from upgrading then they nailed their mark. Because of the 10 pin on the MIO board you can never upgrade to another PSU, Motherboard or anything else that depends on that. You are locked into that Motherbaord/MIO combo.

That is why you can find people selling the Area 51 case with the MIO board stil in it. These are people that got fed up with it and removed their hardware from the Area 51 case and installed it into another case. One that can take an unpgraded PSU,Motherboard, CPU, 3.0 USB,Sata 3 and anything else I forgot. Remember. There is a reason for everything. This is also why you can find people here on the forums that bought just the case but are now running into trouble making an off-the-shelf mobo work.

If you just bought the case from Ebay or whatever, sorry, now you know why it was for sell. If you bought from Dell then you can complain to them and get a refund. I say refund because they can not fix it. No matter what they say they can't make it work. Trust me here. So you get a refund and move on. Sounds bad I know but what can you do? It's that or you just live with it and be happy. When the other stuff pops up you will know it is common place for the system to do that. Just shrug it off.

That's what I did. I just said whatever and lived with it.

Welcome to Alienware.

now that you mentioned the psu..  I did wonder what the purpose of it being removable was??   are there supposed to be other psu's you can slide in as replacement??

You are catching on fast.

LOL> A lot of us wondered that too. They made a big fuss over the PSU being removable but never mentioned that it can't be replaced with anything other then something from Dell with the 10-pin. The purpose, if there ever was one, would have been to make a selling point..I guess.

As it stands they could have welded it in place for all the good it did.

Heres something else. The cool vids showing how easy it is to remove the hard drives? Pfft. They are not hot swappable. So why would they make them that way and even show a vid on them? Another selling point I guess. People did complain about it and I think Dell at one point said they would make them hot-swap but that never happened. I would have to guess that the statement was just to quiet people to get the issue to fad away../shrug. I don't know what else to think since they never fixed it or said anything else about it.

well now that Ive noticed twice,, I do believe you both have helped me..

I did what chris said and changed the percentage to open to 32.   the first time I started  the puter from sleep I thought I heard the fins move but wasnt paying attention..  so made a note to check and make sure I didnt have flare up checked in command center..   I didnt so thought id just pay attention next time..  and surprise,, when I wake the computer,, the fan have always sped up a bit and then settled down.. but this time the fins did what you just said..  went from half way to open..   and then as the fans sped down they returned to half.  

not what I expected,, but better then just doin nothin.  

so thanks to the both of ya.

now that you mentioned the psu..  I did wonder what the purpose of it being removable was??   are there supposed to be other psu's you can slide in as replacement??