area 51 m17x-r1 bare bones problems

When I us USB, I get Windows could not start because of computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manyals for additional onformation.

The only reason I am trying to go the XP-7 upgrade is its $100 cheaper.

 

Try reinstalling XP. Prepare 965M Intel Chipset drivers on a floppy.
and prepare Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver floppy.
Also prepare Esata driver floppy.
Download this file. DO NOT execute this file, instead, extract the Floppy32 folder contained within using Winzip or WinRAR and copy its contents to a floppy disk.
F6 install all drivers above from the three floppy disks at the beginning of the XP install.

If you have further problems installing XP, there's useful information on this thread.

 

I will give it a try...

 

All night last night I tried to install the drivers during the windows setup. The 965 M chiset driver wouldnt install (corrupt file).The intel Matrix storage manager installed OK. The last file, I got (corrupt file). I tried all night. I was getting upset with it and bought a full windows 7 Premium disk. Put it on the flash drive and then all I got was the black screen again. I tried again tonight.I pushed the reset button on the mother board. No change I will try tomorrow night. I want to thank you again for all your help,Dezire..

 

I'm sorry to hear you're having so many difficulties. Re: Corrupt files, did you try alternative floppy disks? They don't age well if they're old.

You could also look at changing the Sata mode in the bios. I'm not sure you can change this (I don't have a machine to refer to) but I had similar install problems on my X61 that were fixed by changing the Sata Mode in the bios to Compatitibility or IDE. After the OS installed, the Sata drivers were put on and I set the Sata mode back to ACHI in the bios after restarting.

If you used the Windows 7 disk with WinToFlash you should be ok. Make sure the USB drive is formatted a similar size to a regular DVD disk around 4.2Gb.
Try installing from a different USB socket.

You're welcome.

 

I am working on it again tonight. All Im getting is a black screen. But I did put windows 7 on flash drive with wintoflash. I should have done this from the start.

 

I switched all the components over to another area 51 m17x-r1 I had lying around, and it does the same thing. I am thinking maybe the Ram is still a problem. I ordered 2x 2g kingston memory sticks They should be here in about 4-5 days.

 

The memory came yesterday. I installed it and I still have a black screen. I see that when I close and open the lid the alien head is there on the screen and then it says NTLDR is missing Press any key to restart. If I press f1 in just the correct time I can get to the bios. It wont restart without pressing the power button. The USB is the first in the bios boot list. But it doesn't.

 

What exactly is the USB device you are using, is it a HDD, a memory stick or a memory card inside a USB adapter?

What size is the USB stick/drive formatted to?
If larger than 4.2 Gb, try formatting it to 3.7Gb then Wintoflash Windows 7 back on to it.

Try switching off that alien head "Boot logo" in the bios. Having it on can be confusing when problem solving.

 

It is a 8g flash drive or maybe called memory stick.

 

I went to walmart and bought a 4G memory stick and that worked. Installing now.

 

I'm happy to hear that. I hope your son appreciates all your effort

 

Yea, I spent more than I thought I would. All is working but when I installed the drivers the FX keyboard went black.

 

Yes, that's a common problem. There is a patch for that.

 

I tried that several times, But will keep trying.

 

I forgot; there is a procedure to this.
Uninstall Command Center if it's already on there.

1) Make sure MS .NetFx 3.5 or newer is installed.
2) Run keyboard patch .reg file.
3) Download Command Center from here and install.
4) Create a new theme in Command Center and apply it.

That should work, it's from the notes I took when I spent a day figuring it out.
Unfortunately, the newest version of Command Center (with facial recognition) does not see the backlit Area 51 m17x keyboard. So don't install it.
It's a shame, a half decent programmer could make it happen.

 

Does the command center for the m18x have facial rec capabilities?

 

When I go to alienware FX I get the theme could not be opened..I try and it isn't there. Just gray.

 

Manually delete all old themes. Close Command Center. Locate the theme file/s, somewhere like:
C:/Users/USERNAME/Appdata/Local/Alienware/AlienwareAlienFX/Themes/
Delete all files in there.
Run Command Center, create a new theme, apply it.

 

There arent any old themes.I re installed NetFX 4,patch and command center many times. Still the same . All lights are still black. The lapy is new, not many files. I have been through them all.Ill keep trying.

 

Inside Command Center, at the FX screen with the keyboard layout, can you create a new keyboard lighting theme (Ctrl+N) and save it (Ctrl+S)?

You only need to install NetFX once. Deleting it and reinstalling will not change anything.

 

No. No keyboard, nothing, just gray. It dosnt have anything. It should show the laptop,keyboard,power button,etc.... Gust gray.

 

Oh... the patch should have un-grayed the keyboard inside AlienFX.

Try uninstalling NetFX 4, then download and install NetFX 3.
Apply the keyboard patch, then try again to create a new theme.

 

Iv tried every thing.No change. But not giving up yet.

 

Try this patch. You need to use one of the F17xxx.reg (NOT Predator2.reg) files depending on your notebook lid design.

 

Still nothing. In that same thread I downloaded a different alien FX. No FX but it has fusion,touch, sense - facial recognition. Every thing on the lapy is black except the screen.