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May 13th, 2025 20:59
x17 R1, AWCC, fans and Windows 24H2
Good day,
I have x17 R1. Have received and installed several of the new Windows 24H2 updates I am now having significant problems with the AWCC (Alienware Command Center). I did not have any problems (with the exception of one of the BIOS updates in January not installing on account of 24H2, however all BIOS now install properly) until recently. It has only been since the last 24H2 package a couple of weeks ago. Before hand, everything ran fine. Since late April fans constantly running on low temperature of about 41 c and they do not respond to different fan profiles, with the exception of performance or full speed. Further the GPU spikes every so often to 45-49 c. Which is abnormal. My GPU was up to date with the most recent driver.
This is very frustrating as it drains the battery quickly. It is a bit old, but in February I usually got about 2hr and 30 minutes. Now about less than an hour. Further it is very irritating to hear the incessant whirl of a fan in the background. It drives me nuts. The fans are often running between 48-62%.
I have tried different work arounds but it has been unsuccessful. So far I have:
- uninstalled AWCC version 5 and installed version 6. However this caused system instability. If the laptop was disconnected from the AC and I restarted it using a fully charged battery, the machine would get to windows login screen and then crash. It would report an empty battery. Afterwards I would connect the laptop to the AC and the battery would rapidly recharge in roughly 25 minutes (normal charge times is a little over an hour). Further the fans were still erratic, often running on temperatures of 41-44 c. I did a battery check and discovered my battery is at a little over 50% of its capacity charge. Not ideal but it should be fine.
-I then formatted my system and resit it to factory settings. It seems like Windows 24H2 slipped itself in again, it must have been part of the factory resit (the only option I had during the reset was to accept the installation of the most current configuration). After the resit I checked my drivers and reinstalled them using the dell website (some of them were out of date after the factory resit), turned off Hyper V, core isolation and virtualization. Then installed the most current AWCC version 5. Disconnected the AC and started the laptop using the battery. No problem, I did this several times. So clearly AWCC v 6 was the problem. Further I reconnected the AC and charged the battery, it took about an hour and 20 minutes, so, normal time.
-However after this reinstall, the fans are constantly running at temperatures of 41. Further my GPU again seems to spike quite often with a temperature of 45-49. I checked and I am using the most current Dell version of the Nvidia graphic card for my system. However, I uninstalled the driver and reinstalled it again. No go. Still getting the occasional and erratic temperature spike
- I went into power management and turned the maximum processor state to 50% on battery. This has helped a bit. The fans are less aggressive, but only mildly. They will switch off for about 5 minutes before resuming for about 20-30 minutes. Again, in some cases the temperature is as low as 38 C. Again the GPU spikes every 10 minutes with a temperature of about 40 c. Further, this is not ideal. I never bought an expensive laptop so that on battery power, the processor needs to be capped at 50%.
-with regards to the GPU, I checked the graphics control panel and it is set to integrated graphics card. Further, there is nothing at the moment on my laptop, as I only reinstalled everything yesterday. So, there is no other bulky program running in the background.
I am a bit annoyed as it seems like a very expensive piece of machinery, which depends on the AWCC to operate properly, is not able to function from a simple windows update. I had looked at other programs like HWinfo, however Alienware locks it out so, I am not even able to use that. To be fair it is very disappointing that this is the mess I am left with. I have had this laptop for nearly 3 years. If Alienware is going to charge £2-3000 for a top of the line laptop whose core software breaks with a Windows update, it leaves one wondering if really is a quality piece of workmanship. Further I did not pay that much money to fiddle with a machine. I got a job and family and other things to do. I am not going to purchase from Alienware in the future.
A little research revealed this has happened to its gaming platforms in the past. During Windows 10 updates and earlier rollouts of Windows 11.