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    Alienware 17 R5, No Lights

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by crimsom.., Jan 31, 2021.

  1. crimsom..

    crimsom.. Newbie

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    Our Alienware 17 R5 MLK refresh Laptop has no lights, except for Caps Lock and Num Lock keys.

    There are no Tron, Alien Head, Alienware logo, Power Button, Keyboard backlights, AWCC Home & FX tabs, AlienFX 2.0 applications, etc. There are no diagnostic beeps or lights during POST, SupportAssist troubleshoot and ePSA diagnostics say all hardware tests pass and all cables are connected. AWCC says Warning: No supported AlienFX devices were detected. BIOS/UEFI acknowledges track pad and backlight is enabled, any other backlight options are not present. 17 R5 delivered with BIOS version 1.8.1 and was updated to version 1.11.0 by clueless warranty technician, who did not fix any faults. BIOS downgrade, back to version 1.8.1 undertaken when laptop returned to user.

    Try all the solutions posted on Dell Community Laptop Alienware user-to-user forum. These are all to fix poor AWCC update installation, but this problem is a no lights problem. The AWCC does not install AlienFX tester, so cannot determine source of problem. Dell does not provide individual download for just the AlienFX tester application.

    Installing completely different M.2 with preinstalled Windows OS, has no change. Installed LED Setting Application, but this refuses to launch. Tried Check Disk, Event Viewer, Reliability Monitor, other diagnostic applications, etc.

    Guess fault could be a 'single' root cause of no power to all LEDs, BIOS not incrementally upgraded from version 1.0.0 and attributes not saved to EFI System Partition, System Board component/circuit board track/dry solder joint, etc.

    Check Dell BIOS downgrade option, but Warning says BIOS downgrade is not allowed.

    Root cause of this problem unknown, is there a fix ??
     
    crimsom.., Jan 31, 2021
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  2. 7leagueboot

    7leagueboot Notebook Consultant

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    I'm not a technical wizard but I have experienced a similar issue with my AW17 R4 and using the tester alone always solved it. I don't know why it should though, but after testing all 4 colors the lighting and themes always worked again and stayed that way for a long time. I guess it launches the AlienFX Windows Service. Anyway, AlienwareAlienFXTester.exe is found in C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center. If you don't have it, I have attached a copy.
     

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    7leagueboot, Feb 3, 2021
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    IVHOTEP likes this.