Alienware M15x Lights repair?

Hey! Me again - I figured this fine group of people would be the best to ask, so without further ado, here's my problem: I have an m15x, and the fx don't seem to be working. I've tried all the fixes, and apparently, I'm suffering from the nightmarish "restore disk killing the lights" problem. Is there anyone with any information / willing to preform a flash?

 

long story short after suffering the problem myself, yes its possible, I don't have the link anymore but it was on the dell forums, bunch of guys/gals were working on the problem and couple have managed to reprogram the corrupted MIO which controls the lights. I think the programmer they built deleted the firmware from the MIO and they were able to reflash it will the latest command center and get the lights working again, it was a very long road they went down, im unsure if they have released the programmer for people to buy. but in the end I paid £95 for a new motherboard of ebay.

for the dell site with all the info required: AlienFX repair.....WORKING LEDS at last!! - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

for new motherboard: New Dell Alienware M15 M15X Motherboard 40GAB3900-A400 G5VT 0G5VT 00G5VT | eBay <-- I got my board from here, sent them a msg and offer of £95 all in and was accepted, delivery was 1 week. hope this helps

 

DO NOT DO WHAT THEY SAID AND WASTE YOUR MONEY! I just emailed [email protected] with the issue. They replied quickly, told me to try a few things, and none of them worked. From there, they told me I need a new MB, and asked what region I am in and for my service tag number. I provided them and they said because I live in the US they will send a Dell Tech out ASAP with a free motherboard, and they will even install it! They said they only do this in the US or CA. Keep in mind, I have been out of warranty for 2 years! Alienware kicks a$$! Don't waste your money people, a quick email will do. The conversation is posted below.


ME: Hi, I have an issue with my AlienFX. Every time I boot a .Net error appears, I was hoping you could walk me through a solution.

Thankyou

SOS: Please do this,

1- Uninstall Command Center

2- Download latest Command Center from support.dell.com

3- Uninstall .Net Framework 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5

4- Restart the computer

5- Install .net Framework 3.5 and 4.5

6- Run Windows Updates and verify there is no pending updates missing (avoid installing hardware driver updates).

7- Restart the computer

8- Install the Command Center just downloaded

9- If issue remains, please go to “Control Panel”, “Programs and Features” and choose uninstall Command Center, when setup loads, run the repair. This will fix any corruption in the AlienFX firmware.

ME: I have followed every step you gave me and still nothing, I tried the AlienFXTester.exe file and it shows that there is no board detected with a message that says "It seems there is some problem with the AlienFX Board".

SOS: Can you try taking the computer back to factory settings using Alienrespawn?

ME: No, I'm not sure why but I think the recovery partition might have been taken off when windows was reinstalled

SOS: Then I would recommend a Clean Windows Installation. If that does not help we may need to replace the main board.

ME: I have tried before doing that, and downloading drives in the correct order and installing in the correct order before hand. I've done research and have seen that this is due to the drivers disk that was provided with my computer which I used on my first clean install. I'm out of warranty, a college student, and have no money. If this is a MB or MIO Board issue caused by the disk given to me by dell, will I have to pay for it?

SOS: It depends on your support region. Where are you at? Can I have the PC service tag?

ME: ST#: ------------

(State) (Country). Why would this depend on my support region?

SOS: Warranty varies depending on the region, we work with the US and CA only. We get requests from all over the place and we need to clarify that we only know the rules from those 2 countries every time

The m15x may get this issue if the Command Center from the drivers disc is used. You are right, we have that in our website. Please uninstall the command center and leave the PC like that until the motherboard is replaced. We will send a tech to replace it.

We need your address and phone number, please do not install the AWCC until the new board is in, and do not use the one from the disc. Download the latest one from support.dell.com.



GOOD LUCK!

 

Let:s hope the tech:s don:t mess up installing the new board! Dell techs don:t have the best reputation. Watch carefully as they pull your baby apart!

 

Send us an e-mail to [email protected]. We'll try to help out as much as we can with the issue.