Area-51 R1, Windows 11

Hi

Dunno.

Likewise I have NUMLOCK OFF in the Bios, yet it is turned on by W11 for a few seconds whilst booting, before turning off and staying off.

The not-Win7-like startup routine began w/ the Win10 Preview in say 2015 & hasn't changed since then, & rolled over into W11. Over the years & different Win-builds & updates etc, it's like "variations on a theme" for what your fans, vents & LEDs all do or not at startup (or shutdown) over time

In AlienFX, I disabled the "Flare up vents & fans on startup" option a  decade ago, yet on W10 it's been typical on startup to get several "fan wooshes" (flare ups) & LED on-off cycles, vents open-shut. A final fan woosh that's stifled mid-flare right at shutdown seems typical

Lately on shutdown for W11, my vents close at the last second when expected, but oddly open right back up a split-second after the PSU clicks off & I haven't found a fix yet. What used to be vents "won't" close is now vents won't "stay" closed. It happens on two desktops (W11 Pro) but not the 3rd (W11 Home), & when I place the 3rd's HDD in either & boot up & shutdown?, vents still open back up on those two, so it's not a software issue or Windows setting I missed, likely a BIOS-related issue (parameter difference setting etc) I'm living with for now

In the good-old-days, vents not shutting was oddly related to & fixed by turning off a trivial Sign-In option, but off or on that hasn't fixed mine here, "who knows" what it is this time ... 

So yes, a not-so-Win7-like startup routine is typical on 10 & 11, & I'm seeing what you're seeing there, that the LEDs are off during bootup basically until the Alienhead Icon appears in the system icon tray; rather, LEDs turn back on when the app launches. Maybe vents & fans also respond when Thermal Copntrol app visibly launches (comes "online") in the tray. I don't know of a way-change-setting to override or fix or perfect what Windows or the drivers do to revert back to the predictable W7 behavior. Just glad any of it still works ... 

U said "have not yet tested AWCC install", so if yours behaves about the same as mine whether AWCC is or isn't installed, then Windows & the motherboard just have it all timed out this way & for a long time now, a decade. It's a Macho Man: "u may not like it but u must accept it" type situation, lol

I tested installing Win 7 64 bit on A51R1.

I used a genuine Win 7 Pro product key but it failed to activate.

The built in IE8 is too old to download NET4 required by AWCC

I tried chrome, got error trying to run installer

finally DL firefox 115 that worked and DL installed NET4

after that AWCC A05 written for Win 7 64 installs okay

indeed LED stays on after it boots into Win.

so this is supposedly the expected behavior as I observe

when I power on pc, the air vent starts from closed position to full open then rest to 50% open

at first LED (default blue color) is off, right before Windows 7 is fully booted, it turns on and stays on.  no funny second soft booming of fan noise

when pc is shut down within Win 7, air vents return to closed to be ready for the next power on flare.  this is nice imo.  I installed but have not manually run AWCC at all, so all above are default Dell settings.

so I noticed during POST, air vents already begin the 0-100%-50% flare as Alienhead logo shows up on monitor, meaning the air vent is already following MIO code prior to Windows 7 and definitely prior to AWCC.  the MIO daughter board during its own power on test is already doing the air vent routine.  

seems LED off during POST and on only as Windows 7 splash screen shows up.

In contrast A51 R2 immediately lit all LED in quick sequence (1. Alienhead, 2. front waterfall, 3. side panel) during POST.

XPS 730X immediately lit all LED even when there is no motherboard around.

is there a way to make A51 R1 do the same?

I'm personally not interested in trying to alter (or understand) the 60s-90s startup routine

But there is a default routine that plays out during POST, pre-Windows, pre-AWCC (or the absence of when uninstalled) & beyond

You'd note the XPS & 51 R2-R7 are different devices w/ different chips & are likely designed-programmed to act in a unique way specific to each desktop, likely a trade secret how it all works, but try reading the SDK mentioned below. I don't have an R2-R7 AWCC install here currently, but if u do, try to find the more current SDK if it exists, to help explain the software-programming side, which might help gain insight into the default programming

Above are all my saved CmndCntr versions for 51 R1, X51 & some Aurora as the software evolved & updated. When brand new Day Zero in late 2009, MIO boards shipped out with a base firmware. Over time, some firmware updates were included in the newer AWCC versions, that flash the chip during install, with what I'd assume includes the 'default' settings. Maybe an MIO on old firmware behaves different than on newer

It may be that to change the way the board behaves, one may have to have that firmware, alter it, & somehow flash it back onto the chip, which would be highly technical & beyond my interest

If these days, few are on the original mthrbrd while others are using every variety & generation mthrbrd out there, thus "how" each BIOS chip or firmware maker deals w/ a USB device during POST, & whose desktop does what during startup, the "how & why of it", seems a bit complicated & best left to those who enjoy unraveling the mysteries in software firmware & code

After u install AWCC, head to C: > Program Files > Alienware > CmndCntr > AlienFX SDK > Open the software PDF file & give it a read

My R1 v2.8.11 unpacked a 2009 V1 PDF, see Section 4.1 Known Issues, 4.3 Multithreading, see "latencies", for instance. The programming language is dense, esoteric even. Knowing how the hand-shake occurs between the default firmware pre-boot, during POST, then Windows & this AlienFX software as they take over, far easier to just let it all do what it does, but a person would likely try to get at the firmware, & software, alter it  

One thing u can try, head to your Documents folder > AlienFX > Themes > right click on a Theme > Open With WordPad (for instance). You can then read the program language, & also alter it & save it as a new theme then use it, for instance to make a custom LED color

If a person digs deeper into the AWCC install files, maybe the firmware is there, the startup routine itself, consult an expert & find a way (& a program) to manipulate it all

I'm not convinced anything's too broken about the startup experience to look into it. Not enough juice there to be worth the time & effort & energy on the squeeze

So is there a way? Probably. I'm just not sure how