Updates and AlienRespawn Help

Hey Everyone,

So I've had my Alienware M14x for a month now and have some questions.

Firstly the AlienRespawn program that came on the laptop doesnt work, if I attempt to open it, it bring up a little blue box and says loading, but that never goes away, and if I use task manager to close it, it says the program has stopped responding.
So I haven't been able to create a restore.
How can I fix this?

Also, Ive just been to the Dell Drivers and Downloads site to look at updates, over the 8 sections there are 30 updates.
Which updates should and shouldn't I get?

Edit: Also I haven't updated the BIOS yet, so I'm not sure which version I am running, but there are updates to A05 and A08 on the site, which should I use, if either?

Thank you for your help

 

From what i understand, A08 fixes alot of issues however it reverts the SATA controller to SATA II speeds only, meaning if you are running a SATA 3 SSD will notice a drop in read/write speeds.

A05 fixes some fan and heating issues so its worth going to that at a minimum.

I would only suggest the A08 if you are running a normal mechanical drive ro a SATA 2 ssd.

As for alienrespawn cant help there as i dont use it or have it installed.

and for updates, my general rule is to keep everything as up to date as possible, however i also read the release notes and make sure it wont affect the system in a way i dont like (ie BIOS a08 will stop my sata 3 ssd performing at top speed.) but for all other drivers (especially chipset and graphics) i would keep up to date regularly.

hope that helps.

 

Follow this link here to the Driver Download order:
HOW TO: Clean Windows 7 Install (Driver Install Order) Guide for Alienware Systems

And this here for if you want to ask question about the AlienRespawn:
HOW TO: Preserve AlienRespawn - stock drive to aftermarket drive / AlienRespawn Q&A