Windows 7 64-bit drivers for the m15x (not M15x)

Here's my setup and what I used to get Windows 7 Professional 64 bit running well on my m15x. LAST UPDATED: 9/30/11

My Setup:
-Windows 7 Professional 64 bit OS
-X36 BIOS (This is the latest BIOS)

The Drivers that I Used:
Chipset Drivers from the Intel Website / www.intel.com Download LINK (It's also known as the INF update utility)

Intel Matrix Storage Drivers from the Intel Website / www.intel.com / Download LINK

Lastest Intel Integrated Graphics Driver / www.intel.com Download LINK

On-Screen Display Utility Win7 64 bit / support.alienware.com/ LINK

m15x_Ripley_model(1) registry file / support.alienware.com / LINK

Synaptics Touch pad Driver from the Synaptics website / www.synaptics.com/support/drivers

UPDATE: on getting Fn+12 to work as it should:

you will need to uninstall the driver first because you have to run the awkey right after the driver is installed.

1) install the synaptic driver ( no mouse attached)
2) DO NOT REBOOT YET
3) run awkey.cmd (make sure it's extracted properly to a folder, don't run from the zip file.) I've included the awkey.cmd as an attachment to this post to download.
4) reboot.

Credits: Copyninja

Getting Fn+12 to work properly for 64-bit Windows 7 LINK

Credits: DragonSpeaker

Newest Official Nvidia mobile Graphics Driver version 186.81 from the Nvidia website / www.nvidia.com

Alternatively, you can also get the ati mobility driver for your ati card at www.ati.com

Aurora Lights FX Utility (to control AlienFX lighting system) - Sorry the link no longer works, the original author has taken the application off-line. Please refer to this to get the AlienFX & Command Center to work as it should. LINK

Realtek HD sound drivers / LINK

Tweaking the Realtek Control Panel and Cyberlink Youcam Application to get the microphone working. See pics here. LINK

You won't need to install any specific driver to get the video cam running.

UPDATE:
Alienware Respawn Windows 7 Fix

FIX for all Alienware Respawn 2.0 Platforms which are upgrade with Windows 7. There is a known issue in which installing Windows 7, breaks the Respawn option at boot. LINK

Alienware wallpapers, and avatars for the m15x LINK

Windows 7 Tweaks:
1.Disable UAC (See pics)
2.OSD utility is used in Vista compatibility mode, check run as adminstrator (see pics)

What you will get:
Everything else works including AlienFX, BinaryGFX, the touch controls, and Stealth mode, and Fn+12 for the touchpad. This is all you need to get Windows 7 running smoothly on the m15x. You won't need to install the bluetooth, wireless, or audio drivers (unless you wish to). Windows will automatically detect them.

Note that this is the bare minimum of drivers that you will need to run Windows 7(x64) smoothly on your m15x. You can always look for and install drivers for your other hardware as you see fit.

If you want Command Center please follow the alternative guide here: LINK
Credits: Itsmills, Oceanus

UPDATE:
FindVikas reuploaded his AuroraFX software. http://www.vikasverma.com/AuroraLightsFX/

DISCLAIMER:
I take no responsiblities for anything that happens to your m15x. This is what I use and it works for me and I just wanted to share this with every m15x owner who's thinking about switching, but not sure if Windows 7 X64 will run smoothly or not. Any problems, feel free to post in this thread and we will work together to fix it.

 

Great stuff dhoang. Thanks for putting these up. Have you tried them on your m15x?

 

Great! thank you

Got a keyboard lighting issue, now fixing

 

No problem guys. I'll definitely try these out once I get win7 up and running on my m15x. I bought the digital version and can't wait until October 22 for it's release!

@nguyenhoang - what's wrong with your keyboard lighting?

 

The touchpad drivers don't work. It doesn't let you click next after the agreement to install the driver... >.> kinda lame. GO ALIENWARE! Best company ever!

 

Are you sure about this? I don't have Win7 yet so I can't confirm this. Besides you can always go to the synaptic driver and get drivers from there.

 

I'm sure. It just doesn't work. And the new OSD doesn't make the touchpad turn off anymore. May as well stick to the vista drivers....

 

I'm using Vista drivers and I can't turn off the touchpad with Fn+F12 ever since updating the drivers. So, it isn't only Windows 7 but the drivers for Vista as well.

 

i just installed win 7 but couldnt get the command centre to work the keyboard it just doesnt light up but the touchpad, alienhead and lightpipe works just fine.

The command centre doesnt give me the option to select the keyboard which is strange if this is suppose to work with windows 7 64 bit.

 

The keyboard lighting issue is easily fixed by creat new theme with Basic option selected.. err btw, my Alienware Fusion is still not functioning ( like previous versions )

 

Follow Nguyenhoang's steps in fixing this problem

 

will give it a try i did revert back to vista il give it another go tonight, any word on fusion working?

 

i need some help guys i installed windows 7 64 bit again and tried to get the keyboard to light up by creating a new profile in command centre but it still doesnt work and doesnt give me the option to slect the keyboard to change the colour

Do i need to install in a specific order for windows 7 or am i doing something wrong? the other parts do light up its just the keyboard that is giveing me problems.

 

You can try to reseat the keyboard. Here's the article LINK

 

Have you installed win 7 on your laptop dhoang? How did it go?

 

I have the exact same problem, tried everything
The support wont help me cuz i migrated "alone" to windows 7 64 .
I cannot select the keyboard in the command center, im trying to download a 350 mega patch from the website dell, tried to play themes...

I dont get it:-(

Help please guys

 

I purchased windows 7 yesterday (64 bit) and made a complete PC image with system restore to an external drive of the current configuration I have now (Win vista 64 bit, works great)

So I installed 7 and to my surprise, after everything was said and done, my machine only asked for 2 drivers, it seems 7 took care of the rest, although I am sure it's better to use the driver alienware will supply in the future for things like the chipset and things like that.

The only two things that weren't recognized automaticaly in my machine were the touchpad and intel turbo memory.

The suplied touchpad drivers by alienware simply dont work, it doesn't let you get past the agreement screen. So I downloaded the synaptics drivers from the synaptics website and it worked fine I think.

Intel turbo memory I just couldnt get to work, no matter how many different compatibilities I tried but I guess I could live without that for a while.

the video driver it installed was obviously generic but the Win Vista 64 bit Nvidia driver supplied by alienware worked fine with Win 7.

In the end, I formated my machine and reinstalled win vista 64 again and loaded my backed up image from windows system restore (that worked like a charm by the way...)

It's not that I dont like Win 7, I am glad I purchased it but I leave in a week on a two month trip and I dont want to have a new operating system that I just dont know very well when my computer as is, is great.

Things like switchng to the internal graphics card to conserve battery, stealth mode, touch pad macros etc... I am so used to all these things and I am not sure if they are working 100% on 7 right now.

I am just waiting for someone in this forum to come out with a guide for installing windows 7 64 bit, the way there was a guide to install vista 64 bit, months ago, or just wait for alienware to release every driver for 7 before I install.

I could allways dual boot but my machine has a solid state drive and it's not big enough for me to be working with 2 OS and still have enough space for my 2 month trip.

So yes, I think Win 7 is going to rock, if the instalation alone is any indication, it already surpased vista.. I am just hoping that when I come back from my trip, I can upgrade

 

I'm still downloading it. The internet here at the school is so sloww. I'm glad I ordered the disk too, I might end up getting that before actually finishing downloading...

How about you cha? Is Win7 running as it should?

Go to the Dell website and download the drivers there if you can.

Yea, Win7 is going to rock! There are some new things, but it's mostly like Vista.

 

Haven't upgraded yet dhoang. After browsing through your thread here, I kinda got worried. Might just wait till Alienware gets a complete set of drivers out before deciding next.

Actually, I am still fine here with Vista. Might just get 7 when I upgrade my laptop in the future.

 

So far the problems seems to be with the keyboard lighting and touchpad drivers. Everything else looks good though. I'm definitely making the jump to Win7.

For the touchpad, a good workaround would be to go to the synaptics website and download the one from there that's for win7.

As for the keyboard, one of the previous posters here figured out how to fix it. So, I think that would be okay.

 

Does stealth mode and switching to the internal intel graphics card work?

 

Finally, got the whole thing downloaded. I'm installing win7 pro 64bit right now. I'll let you know if stealth mode and binaryGFX works or not.

 

Here's hoping you get everything to work dhoang Good luck

 

hey guys, i just upgraded, but i cant get my mic to work.

vista 64 bit audio drivers dont install. im using the drivers automatically installed by the windows installer. for the mic it says: "recording device not plugged in"

any ideas where i could get win7 64-bit audio drivers?

 

im stil having problems getting the keyboard to light up, it just doesnt give me the option to select it in command centre is there any guides out there that wil help me get round this problem???

all your help is appreciated.

 

I'm getting the same thing. Right now I'm downloading the Microsoft .NET framework since that the main component the Command Center needs to see if it helps any. The OSD utility doesn't show up either.

I will continue to update this thread.

 

for Keyboard:
Hi, I've just migrated to 64bit 7 on my M15x. I got around the keyboard issue, by ignoring the command console and using this instead:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=307050

Only issue is that AuroraLightsFx does not save to bios so you have to have it run on startup, but thats all.

I also updated via synaptics for the mouse driver, so I don't really need that part of the command center.

Still no AlienSense though. Quite happy to leave that alone for the time being, until AWare's win7 apps are a little more mature.

Other bits not working so far:
fn+F7 U/D GFX - not working
fn+F11 AlienFX - not working
fn+F12 T-PAD - working

Will attempt the new OSD links and report back...

 

yeah is being wierd i installed the new osd then the new command centre for windows 7 64 bit. As soon as i open command centre the osd crashes and it doesnt give me the option to select the keyoboard

im trying trying things at the moment if i find a way around it i wil post a guide.

if anyone has fixed this issue please can you guide us through.

 

Run OSD in compatibility mode = "Windows Vista".. also check the "run as administrator". works fine for me this way!

 

Okay, I uninstalled Command Center. Now I'm running the app by FindVikas and it's great. I can change the lighting system at will. So, I'm pretty happy. Just uninstalled the OSD since it wasn't working. Now I'm going to reinstall it again.


EDIT: Good news. The OSD manager now works!

 

Is there somebody else who installed the 32-bit version of Windows 7? Because I am a bit concerned: I've installed Windows 7 32bits Ultimate yesterday and I have tried Vista drivers I had before. Then, I found on the Alienware website support updated drivers for Windows 7, BUT they are all for 64-bits.

 

UPDATE: Binary GFX works!! Everything is running really smooth on win7 64-bit. I don't use any of the AW drivers, except the OSD program. The wireless, bluetooth, camera, and audio drivers are automatically installed by Windows once you turn them on. Don't install Command Center, since it won't let you change the keyboard lights. You won't need it. To control your lights use findVikas Aurora FX program. I'm using the lastest official mobile Nvidia GFX drivers and used the powermizer program to enable automatic downclocking to keep the temps cool.

The only thing that doesn't work is disabling the touchpad with Fn+F12.

 

Great news dhoang

You mind putting up a small guide on which drivers are required. and in what order they should be installed? Would be very much appreciated

 

Yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

 

All right guys, I updated the thread. Check it out.

 

Thanks for this thread. I'm going to try installing Windows 7 tonight now that most of the issues seem to have been resolved.

 

Great stuff Dhoang, much appreciated

 

Question... what are the specific chipset drivers/integrated graphcis drivers/intel matrix storage drivers that need to be installed? I'm a bit confused on that one...

And on a side note, for some odd reason the alienhead button won't change color when I'm using AuroraFX. Isn't bothering me too much though, it's white like the keyboard so it's fine. Other than that, everything else has been working fine!

 

It is definitely a bug that the alienhead button won't change color. I don't know why it doesn't. Maybe we should PM FindVikas to see if he can fix it?

The name of the driver I'm using for the chipset is "infinst911autol.exe"
And for the storage drivers, just use the newest ones from Intel that work for win7 64bit. I renamed it so I don't know what the original name was.

 

hey dhoang - looking at your thumbnails - you've not discovered win7's "Snipping Tool" yet have you

 

I really like the snipping tool. It's so versatile. And I don't have to download one either.

 

Oh f@k, my friend, the Sense is now working, for the first time to me =)) Thanks a lot.

+rep

 

Alienware needs to hire you or pay you money for solving the problems they were not capable of solving! You've saved my computer's life! Thank you so much!

 

@dhoang417: Opps, I noticed that my Alien FX is not working any more after installing CommandCenter_Win7_x64_1.0.41, does it work for you ?

 

Problem:
The lights on the AlienFx keyboard turn off after a Command Center update or a Windows clean install.

Fix:
A registry fix has been implemented in order to fix this issue. This applies to x86 and x64 Operating Systems.

Steps:
1. Unzip the file with registry fix file.
2. Run the registry fix file.
3. Restart the computer.
4. After Windows loads up, open the AlienFx software.
5. Close the current theme for the lighting system.
6. Create a new theme. Apply the settings and exit.

This applies to the M17x as well as the following systems:

Alienware M15X
Area-51 m15x
Area-51 m17x

SOURCE:
http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6098

 

Hi,
Thanks for supporting me but this is not the issue related to keyboard lighting off, my Alien FX is not responding and closed by Windows at windows start up I'm using AuroraLightsFX instead

 

Roger that. Did you try uninstalling, run CCleaner's Registry Module, Reboot and then reinstall AuroraLightsFX? Might work.

 

AuroraLightsFX is working for me already Thanks

 

Man - talk about total brain fade. When I read your response for some reason I was thinking you were having the issue with Aurora... Oh well. A bit of confusion is healthy.

 

AlienFX will NOT work. Infact, it won't even show up in command center. That's why you have to use the Aurora Lights FX program.