Stealth mode indicator

Few days ago, I suddently wasn't able to overclock my GPU using NVIDIA System Tool. I was blaming the NVIDIA program so I re-installed all NVIDIA related utilities. However, it still cannot overclock the machine using new versions of the utility software.
Something pops up onto my mind when I saw the 'stealth mode' switch and, yes, stealth mode is activated. Everything went back to normal after disabling stealth mode.
I wonder why there isn't any clear indication (e.g. LED, taskbar icon, etc.) stating the mode currently used. I could just check that by pressing the stealth mode switch and let the OSD tell.
P.S. There isn't any indicator for the DVD drive too, what a shame.

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*Standard Warning*
Third party BIOS Modifications, VBIOS Modifications and other system level tweaks (including fan control) can potentially cause damage to your system.
Be aware of this before blindly flashing/installing.
If you brick your system or cause damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless.
Know what you are doing, you are responsible for your actions.
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actually the speedometer touch pad button glows brighter if stealth is on, but its really hard to tell the difference. there is a eject touchpad button for disc also.

 

sometimes i want to know if the DVD drive is reading the disc or not but that doesn't tell

 

If anyone can tell me how to programatically tell if the machine is in stealth mode I'll write a toolbar app
- I've been caught a few times as well
- Dirt 2 is unplayable in stealth mode !!

 

That would be great - im often finding that ive brushed the touch button and not noticed that ive switched stealth mode on.

A

 

BUMP.

I've had the same problem. I will be willing to paypal a modest donation for someone's time and expertise, if they're able to program something that helps out with this.

 

LOOK AT PAGE 2 of this thread for the application

 

Do not use it! My keys are all loked!!!!

 

huh, what do you mean? Which laptop? Which command centre do you have?

 

What Notebook? M15x!

Latest Version of Command Center. Reinstall does not help!

 

Perform a hard reset

1) Turn of PC
2) Plug out power cord + battery
3) Press and hold power button for 15 seconds

also, what do you mean by all keys are locked?

This application works for Command Centre A03. I dont use A05 since the firmware seems to have little bugs

 

OK, The only thing which helped was a recovery to last saved point before the test of your software. Now the "touch keyboard" is working again.

 

Interesting. Ill look into the problem.

Well, if you want to try again, you can try again with this. I have tested it with BIOS A03 and Command Centre A03 and A05. Note, the Command Centre must be installed.

Forgot to mention: you probably have to run the application as admin

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downloaded, extracted files and ran as administrator as per instructions. Cool logo sits in the toolbar and allows stealth mode to be enabled and....disabled!
Very useful. Thanks for this.
Tried adding some rep but it appears I have to share some love elsewhere before I can add to your tally.

 

believe it or not, but doing the logo took most of the time.

Also:
red == Stealth Mode on
green == Stealth Mode off

 

its also the most useful part: found out my stealth had been on without me realizing, which is both the issue and the appreciation for the fix

 

Wattos

This is too cool! If you don't mind, what did you write this in? Is there an Alienware SDK available somewhere? Thanks, and thanks for such a cool tool!

Rich S.

 

There is no official Alienware SDK out there. The only SDK you get is the LightFX which is rather very slow compared to direct usb access (as done by my AlienFX Lite tool).

What I did was exploit the fact that alienware uses managed code (e.g. C#) and a lot of dlls. Then you can simple inspect the dlls with Visual Studio and see the objects/methods its exports. Both AlienFusionDomain.dll and AlienLabsTools.dll had the functionality I was looking for. The required method to get it working with AlienFusionDomain.dll was throwing a null pointer exception.

AlienLabsTools.dll does the trick and its very simple to use. Note, AlienLabsTools is not available in A05 anymore, thats why I bundled it with the zip. Also, it connects to a background process of CC thats why CC is needed in order for this tool to run. Fortunately, it still works with A05

 

Great work dude!

Suggestion to Alienware: perhaps a note early in the manual:

"If you find the computer to be running unusually slow, check if your M15x is in stealth mode. Stealth mode reduces performance!"

 

Thanks for this, with my eyes not as good as they used to be and the CC dimmed as it is, this helps alot.

 

sweet , great job. +rep

 

Hey thanks for the app, I really appreciate it, it was killing me to know when stealth mode was enable or not. I'll try +rep but as i'm new in the forums ill see if it let me.

there is only 1 thing that i dont know how to do, is that the app have a small window that i can see in the desktop, and when i press ALT+TAB i also found it there, and as it is in the systray it should not have that window there. is it me or the app is made to work that way?

 

haha, yeah, that is pretty much a bug. If its a huge issue, I can try to fix it. If its not, then Ill leave it

 

Awsome, Thanks for this!

Now if only we could get the m17x to switch graphics on the fly!

 

Awesome app! +rep

 

Wattos
Good work on your Stealth mode indicator .

 

Hi,
ok, next try with the new version ... and yes, it works with the new CC Version and Firmware 05. Thank you for this little gem.

+1 Rep!

One wish. I would prefer a green Icon for Stealth Mode on, because green for Power Save Mode on! And a red Icon for the Power Mode (Stealth Mode off) ... If you have the time, it would nice to get it.

Kind Regards,
Sascha

 

I need this for the area-51 m15x, lol or will this work also for it? I noticed that you also have an area-51 m15x

 

give it a try. It might work as it is using alienware libraries.

 

The reason I made Stealth off == green is because usually you do NOT want stealth mode to be enabled.

 

Hi,
I use it most of the time with Stealth Mode. It saves power and the Notebook is very silent in Stealth Mode. And many games are running fine even with Stealth Mode on.

OK, was just an idea.

Greetings,
Sascha

 

Hello, this app seems this like the saviour to me BUT it doesnt work! when it loads i get green little head, and then i click stealth button and nothing happens. if i right clikc the head and select stealth mode from menum it goes red, but then 1 second later it goes green again!!!

please help if you can

 

I've used the app for about 1 or 2 days, it's great what can I say, I believe I even gave +rep to its maker, but apparently - for me at least - it induces an extra 2-3k latency which...I don't need

I just have to be careful with my long fingers not to touch the spedometer button

 

pretty pls, rly want this to work!!

bump

 

No mention of what Stealth mode even is in the first two pages? I just bought an Alienware M11x. What is it, what does it do, and does it apply to my model?

 

Stealth Mode does not apply to the M11x. It is a feature implemented on the M15x and M17x models.

For more information on Stealth Mode see -

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6080

 

Thanks, man.

 

Just Curious, could I get the source for the exe? I want to develop an app that will change alienfx based on the stealth state. Eg, Trackpad or Power butten = Red while on, and normal while off....

 

sure, Ill post it the next time I boot into the windows. If you plan on using the alienware SDK, for the lights, then you will not be able to change the color of the power button and probably not the color of the touch pad (I dont remember).

 

Uhhh what games work with Stealth Mode? EVery game I play hates it when stealth mode is on. Company of Heros/Bad Company 2 for me.

 

Hey Wattos are you going to release upgrades to this version? for example to fix the small windows that appears or to be able to change the default color for the tray icon. ?
I mean the application its great and simple, It does what it says Stealth Mode Indicator.
I have it on startup on the registry cause I need to make sure that I'm always in stealth mode.

I Thank you again for this app.

 

Since you seem to understand this stuff, would you mind checking out my "Can you customize the touch keyboard buttons?" topic?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6163515#post6163515

I see now that Stealth Mode uses the Ctrl + Alt + W shortcut and that's exactly what that button inputs. I think all I need now for that button is to know where the Stealth Mode file is so I can remove it's shortcut key combination to free up the button. But being able to change it would be a nice extra.

BTW, can you see which shortcut key combination is being used and by which file? Would be great to keep track of your shortcuts. Luckly I rarely use these, but there must be people with 100% mapped keys

On a related note, I can only get shortcut key combinations to work when the shortcut is on the desktop (using Win 7). What's with that? Google has nothing on this, only stuff not working at all, which isn't the case.

/offtopic

 

That's cool. It would be nice to simply have the LED theme change on stealth mode or something.

 

Hummm. all these tweaks.
1. Here is one to think about..
How about finding the right combination to have the speaker lights blink while the dvd or BRD is writing or reading! The speaker lights would not be too noticeable when you are watching a movie for example
Or perhaps the scroll lock led could flash. (The combination on the keyboard is FN+SCR LK.

I remember using a little program a while back that you could set up to show a blinking light in the tool bar and it could be set up to blink green with any device usage.. ie C:, D:, E:.. The only drawback is that it was only visible on the tool box(lower right hand corner of screen). When watching a video full screen you could not see it anyway.

Just my thoughts.

Mever mind..

The program HDDLED found here. It works with 7 so far.
http://www.hddled.com/?src=hddled188
I found this little program that shows HDD activity in several ways little square bars in upper left corner or scroll lock led flashes, or icon in tool bar that flashed with activity..

Win7 - if you have the activity use the scroll lock led then the text Scr LCk on- off will be displayed in a flashing mode... lol... in direct access mode then the text will not show on the screen..

 

@zofodraziw2005: Look the power button alien in the eyes and tell him he doesn't tell you about activity! No, seriously, it's eyes flash

 

Yes, it does, however there are a few with the m17x r2 that are having trouble with the command center and their drive indicator does not work for some reason.

What my main goal was is to find a drive led indicator for the slot load drive. like the old drives had on the outside.

The one posted above does not show the BRDrive in the select of devices anyways.

There are a variety of these hddled programs out there and they seem to work in W7 as well. Some want .NETFRAME 1.0 or newer to work though.

Just thought I'd ad that.

 

Oh, ok then

Don't look at me for suggestions, I hate unnescessary leds... I only let on the ones on the keyboard so I can see the keys... (also the ones you can't turn off)

 

you can turn off any led

 

Seriously? Using AFX?
Couldn't find a way to disable the alien heads (the black color does nothing). But all the ones I want off already are, so no worries.

 

Thats what I want to implement. I hope to be able to use the AlienFX Lite library to create advanced options. So there will be the option to either change the theme or just change a zone or two...