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    AlienFX won't run without external power

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by DarkSpy, Sep 4, 2009.

  1. DarkSpy

    DarkSpy Newbie

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    Hi All!

    I have an Alienware m15x (Ripley) and cannot get AlienFX to work after booting in battery mode. This means that none of the backlit parts of the laptop are lit, even the keyboard. However, it works fine if I startup whilst using external power.

    If I try to start the AlienFX Controller and enable Alienware AlienFX, I receive an error that says:

    "There was an error while AlienFX Controller was communicating with the computer. This might have been caused due to a problem with the hardware or the software. Try these solutions to correct the issue, in the following order:

    - Try to enable AlienFX Controller again. Right-click on the AlienFX icon in the Windows notification area and select 'Enable Alienware AlienFX'.
    - Shutdown your computer and power it back on.

    If neither of these solutions works, please contact Alienware technical support. This error may also be caused if Alienware AlienFX software is installed on a computer without the proper hardware support for Alienware AlienFX."

    Also, and I don't know if this is related, when I shutdown whilst running on battery the machine will not startup again. It's completely dead, until I pop the battery out and put it back in again.

    After a discussion with Alienware Technical Support, I was asked to make sure that I had installed the latest drivers and bios, which I have done. This has made no discernible difference to the problem unfortunately.

    A further discussion with Alienware Technical Support suggested that I need to do an Alienware Respawn, and then load the latest drivers again, starting with the chipset drivers.

    I will reluctantly try this, but would love to know if anyone else has experienced this problem. Hopefully someone out there knows about this and has a definitive fix, although I couldn't find one yet despite a good trawl though the Web and this forum.

    However, my research so far suggests that the AlienFX-related hardware is some sort of virtual USB device, which doesn't seem to want to power up properly when running in battery mode.

    This m15x is running:

    Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 (32-bit)
    Alienware AlienFX Editor v1.0.24.0
    BIOS X36

    The Command Centre is running in High Performance mode, to ensure that AlienFX is set to On for either battery or external power modes. Also, USB selective suspend is disabled for both modes.

    Many thanks indeed for taking the time to read through all this. Let's hope someone has the fix... Somewhere...
     
    DarkSpy, Sep 4, 2009
    #1