AlienFX Problems/Questions Thread

It would be better if you get the keyboard, I don't think the cable can be replaced.

English Keyboard: 9M46F - KYBD,ANW,101,ENG-US,A/V/QSM

 

Perfect, got one on order.

Thanks!
Homer

 

Thanks its working now!

 

Hardware replacement did the trick.

Homer

 

My new Alienware 17 arrived yesterday. Everything worked fine. In the evening, I turned it off.
I bootet it up again today and half the LED lighting is missing (everything on the lid, and half of the LED stripe around the bottom.) The keyboard lights and the writing ALIENWARE is still illuminated, but the color is stuck. Yesterday it worked fine and I couldn change everything. Alien autopsy finds no problem.
I did a respawn to factory settings, which did nothing. Do I have to assume this is a hardware issue?

 

Now it's working properly again. I finally turned the notebook off - REALLY off - and when I started it up again, the problem was gone.
I had tried to turn it off before, but I believe Windows 8 in its infinite wisdom just hibernated or whatever it is it does.
Still, this is weird.

 

Sleep and hibernation are known to cause issues. Turning it off completely when it is not being used is an easy way of keeping things working at their best. You can change your Windows power profiles to shut down rather than sleep when pressing the power button.

 

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering whether anybody knew whether it was possible to make the AlienFX lighting flash when the laptop has gone into sleep mode?

Cheers

 

My M11xR2 never had a problem with sleep breaking AlienFX. My new AW14 however does. Grr...

 

I just told it to never sleep. If I do close the lid, I turn off the lights before (although this is not too reliable). I hope there is a bugfix update coming

 

Hey there guys! Running into a bit of trouble again but this time with the Command Center. While my keyboard does light up I can't seem to change the theme in the software...nor does the Fn+f11 button work for me while others do. The Command Center says that my device cannot be detected. It was working just fine a couple of days ago but now it just stopped...already tried repairing/re-installing the software and its still a no-go...Any help on this matter will be very appreciated!

 

Have you tried hard resetting (unscrew bottom, take battery out, hold power button down for ~30 seconds)?

 

Should I unplug the AC power as well?

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

 

Yep unplug the adapter and completely disconnect the battery then hold power button down. It's called a power drain btw not a hard reset - was getting confused with iphone lol

 

This doesn't help either .
Tried using AlienFXTester.exe and that can't even detect my keyboard...the keyboard though, is working and lighting up but it isn't being detected in Command Center...

EDIT: Disregard....I finally figured out what I messed up and its fixed now.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

 

Good to hear - I had a similar issue and found a random solution. Link to my thread is here for future reference

 

My issue was actually my own fault . Earlier I had tried to make my PS3 controller work on my PC and for some reason the software I was using decided to use my keyboard driver. I just had a random thought of removing that driver and that did the trick! Did Scan for Hardware changes and it detected my keyboard and installed the proper drivers and then I was good to go after a reboot.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

 

So, this has become an annual thing for me. Basically, Whenever I fire up command center it would go into "CommandCenter has stopped working". I've tried all the advice I could find on the old threads like uninstalling - installing, flashing the bios, upgrading the .NET, re-installing the OSD, running CCleaner in safe mode. All to no avail.

I've eliminated hardware as a problem since I still have my lights on and if I download a theme and rename it to "Alienware" i could change colors.

Any advice? I used to resole this by just doing a clean wipe and starting over again but It would be burdensome considering I misplaced some of the installers (eg. Adobe products)

 

I have a 2 week old Alienware 17 with Windows 7, and the AlienFX quit working spontaneously. I got up to eat, came back, lights were off because of the idle timer, and they wouldn't come back on. Refreshing them in any way, including turning them off and on, changing the theme, and shutting down/turning on (not restarting) causes them to turn on for 2-3 seconds, then go blank again. The power button never lights up at all during this. I have noticed that they go blank at the exact moment the highlights around the edge of the Command Center window change colors after changing the theme. I did not download or update any programs or drivers before it stopped working. I have tried numerous things which have not worked, including:

-Reinstalling the Command Center using the instructions in the first post of this thread
-Updating the BIOS
-Resetting the BIOS to optimal defaults
-Doing a Windows System Restore to last week
-Turning off the idle timer in AlienFX Controller
-Turning off "Enable 3rd Party ElienFX access"
-In the Command Center, setting colors to the normally blank "New Email" set under System Events
-Set the theme colors to looping and flashing

But there was one thing I tried entirely by accident that sort of worked. I found something called AlienwareAlienFXTester.exe and ran it, and it brought up a little program where you can do a firmware upgrade, which I can't because it's the latest version, and you can test the LEDs by setting them to red, green, blue, and white. If I get the lights on by doing Go Dark/Go Light in the controller, then click Set LEDs Red (or any color) in the tester before they go out again, they stay on, with the exception of the power button and the numpad. This only lasts until the lights are refreshed by anything, at which point they go off again.
I could just keep doing this to keep them on, but it's such a stupid and awkward solution, and not all the lights are functional. The only things I can think of that I haven't tried are reinstalling the AlienFX Controller (because I can't find it on the Dell website), and doing a factory restore, which is a last resort. Any ideas to fix it permanently would be much appreciated.

EDIT: Dell tech support said it's a motherboard firmware issue, and not an isolated case. They are making a Command Center update to fix it, so we shall see.

 

Heads up for everyone, in Windows 8.1, do not set the inactivity timer. Once it has "gone dark", the lights will stay off no matter what. I had to uninstall, and reinstall Alienware Command Center to get the lights back.

 

Works fine on my AW17 on 8.1. I have inactivity timer set to 1 minute, lights always come back on.

 

I came across this tool and though it's not perfect it does a decent job of indicating sensors on my alienware 17.

 

What tool?

 

I noticed that when I touch the keyboard and the lights come on (I have it set to a 1 minute inactivity timer) they often flash of a different color for just a split second before changing to the kind of theme I have on at the moment. The colors of that flash are often random, and so is the zone that lights up.

Does anybody else have this?

 

It could be that they somehow reset to different themes before loading the one that you are currently using.

 

So you are saying it's not supposed to happen? That's what I want to know, to decide whether I should do something about it.

Anyway, it's not so much as resetting to a different theme, but rather like it takes just a fraction of a second to load the correct theme and in the meantime something else lights up. For example, when I touch the keyboard with everything off, the 'ALIENWARE' sign under the screen might flash blue (when my theme is red), or the left zone of the keyboard might flash red (when my theme is green). It's blink and you'll miss it before they turn to the correct color.

What could it be and how can I correct it?

 

Very, very useful tool here. The Intel extreme tuning tool from Intel and MSI. Downloadable here MSI Global - Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Motherboard, Graphics and more I'm using it on my new Alienware 17. Monitor your system temps, Overclock, etc. Good stuff here.

 

I use the basic one from intel. Is there a difference for the msi one? Also be sure to be careful what you change. Alienware 17's are not simple bios recovery beasts :\.

 

I would assume they are probably the same.

 

I have an Alienware 17 and my AlienFX works perfectly fine normally, but when I try to use iTunes with it only the left portion of the keyboard + my TactX mouse will light up to the music. Not only that, but I cannot access the Visualiser Options while I have Alienware AlienFX selected. I have "Enable 3rd Party AlienFX Access" checked as well, so at this point I'm lost at what to do, I don't really understand why only half of my keyboard + my mouse works but nothing else does. Any thoughts?

 

Hi Everyone!

Does anyone have any idea how to get Alienfx to go dark automatically if the screen is locked? and of course come back to life once unlocked.

Isaac

 

@Tarupron
Well I've already tested the compatibility of AlienFX and iTunes. It should work properly for your computer. My best advise is to follow this article here - to reinstall Alien Command Center and see if that solves this issue. Other than that, the procedure for having the entire keyboard respond to AlienFX is pretty straight forward. I am currently working on creating an article for creating these events on AlienFX. If you send me a PM I will reply to it as soon as I have that article created.


@isaac.christie
I don't believe there is an option so that the AlienFX can go dark automatically as soon as the screen is locked and come back when unlocked. It was available for the old computers. However there is a way to put an inactivity timer on those lights.

 

I have an Alienware 18. On zone 6(the side wrap lights), when I am on a basic theme (Infrared mostly), I have the left side of the zone (not the full zone) blink blue/purple. I have noticed it most when I dim the lighting zones but, is has happened when they're not dim as well. I have reloaded Command Center, I have reloaded windows, I have updated my bios. I am still having this problem. Is this something that would be replaced, as in my chassis? Just need a couple of suggestions here on what it could be.

 

That sounds to me like an issue with the actual LED's If you're in warranty you can get that easily replaced.

 

is there a way to have the outside lights like the alienhead and other lights to stay on even when laptop is closed

 

Since my motherboard got replaced, my Alienware FX brightness has gone down. Is there anything that can be done about it or will the keyboard need to be replaced? I have checked that the dim setting is not ticked in the software!

 

Most likely a few LED's either dead or about to die.
Get a replacement if you can.

 

Well currently looks like this.. The touchpad light is so much brighter... Is it ok?

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

 

That looks ok to me. Both of my AW's keyboards looks dimmer compared to my Alinware logo and track pad lights.

 

Im in london would you be able to fix this?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=757776

 

Hey Guys,

I have been teaching myself C# while playing around with the AlienFX SDK. I operate Windows 8.1 x64 on a Alienware M14 (2013 Model).
Because the AlienFX control panel does not have a more through color palette, (probably because the AlienFX lights are not very versatile)
I have written a small application to play with the FX lights and help find a color you like. Once you find it you can edit the
.ath profile files inside the "Documents\AlienFX" folder which are plain old XMLs using a editor like Notepad++
and include a custom color into your profile

FX-Pallete-v1.1.zip (Updated)
FX-Palette ( http://www.mediafire.com/download/l9k6367b180mmpn/FX-Palette-v1.1.zip)

Usage instructions are pretty simple. Pick 2 colors then click the Alienware Logo. It should begin morphing between the chosen colors.
If you just want to see what a single color would look like just pick a primary color (it will be copied to the secondary)

I really don't know if it will work with older systems. If you'll dare to try it let me know what you find.

Isaac

PS: The AlienFX Command Center has to be configured to allow 3rd party apps. If the lights don't change properly relaunch the app "As Administrator"
Also you'll need the .NET Framework ( http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653)



EDIT: Fixed some errors in the code guys. Find version 1.1 here ( http://www.mediafire.com/download/l9k6367b180mmpn/FX-Palette-v1.1.zip)

 

After Win 8.1 is fully started all lighting zones turn completely off and immediately on again, kind of initialization. I didn't noticed such behavior at "out of the box" state. Now I used Alienrespawn because of other reasons but this flashing is still existing. Does your lighting the same thing after booting up?

Edit: Short update: Reason for this behavior is that alienfx is starting turned off (red eyes) and at the moment when it turns on (green eyes) all lights are going off and on again. Is there any possibility to boot with turned on alienfx?

 

i cant figure out how to add the keyboard and mouse in the alienFX program. i tried following the help instructions but i cant find the devices tab? hoping someone could help me out

 

Has anyone managed to get the AlienFX option in Shadow of Mordor to work (with an M15x)???
It does nothing during gameplay so not sure if its a compatibility issue or I haven't turned it on in command centre.
Maybe I'm running an older version of command centre that doesn't support it? If so has anyone tried the latest version on M15x?