Hi crackernibbles‌,

Unfortunately, this system is not compatible with Windows 10, so this is why you may encounter these types of problems.

You can try this:

-Make sure the BIOS is up to date. 

-Uninstall and reinstall the Command Center following ALL the steps on this article:

How to Remove and Reinstall the Alienware Command Center | Dell US  

I have completely uninstalled command centre and reinstalled but the vents are still not shutting. 

As the software and hardware are outdated and will keep encountering these issues it would be great if a small app or even a start up and shutdown script could be made to enable to vents to shut by themselves everything, bypassing the windows issue that’s preventing it doing so. 

I just did a clean Win7 install and downloaded 10 for the free in-place upgrade which is Build 1709 which should be the FCU, did it 2days ago and noticed my vents don't shut & the Alienhead glows like it's asleep, a known issue, it should have something to do with 10's Fast Startup feature in the power plan I think which needs to be disabled. When I get a fix here for me and mine I'll post it, right now it's low priority but I'll look into it

EDIT: my main drive and my clone drive both had vents that won't shut on power down, here is my fix, the only change I made

• I head to power plan, see that 'Hibernate' is an option under 'Sleep'

Cure is to disable hibernate

• open a Command Prompt as Admin
• Type > powercfg -h off > enter
• hibernate will disappear from power plan
• shut pc down, vent switch clicks just in time to shut the vents
• worked on both of my drives, only change I made

Feel free to disable fast startup also, I'll disable mine tomorrow when I find it, right now I'm back on 7 but headed to bed

I have a similar issue on my Area 51 R2 since installing Creator Thermal Controller shuts down

Latest Creators update Breaks Thermal Controls?

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Hi Cass-Olé

have just tried that and they’re still staying open unfortunately. 

Thanks for the tip though

That's quite a puzzle now that erasing hibernate did not fix things for you. On reading your message, I went into a 10drive here, CmndPrompt = powercfg -h on (re-enable hibernate), shutdown PC and the vents won't close, so at least for me, I've isolated my problem. If powercfg -h off did not fix yours, it is possible I have a sub-feature enabled or disabled that you don't. There are very few things that come to mind that I can suggest you do other than try to get setup like mine, it's as simple as ...

I've had the option to 'Flare Vents @ Startup' disabled for a few years now in order to reduce wear & tear on the motor which has an unknown life span, therefore I've always had mine set manual, half open / full open depending on my mood

In AlienFuzion (or the windows power plan interface), Enable Admin Privileges > Advanced Settings: Sleep > wake timers is disabled, USB selective suspend is disabled

For testing, since the vents seem to be Sleep-Hybrid Sleep-Hibernate-related-issue, if yours is allowed to sleep, you might set yours to sleep = never / sleep = 0 etc.

For what it's worth, the power plans in mine are all three (low-powa, balanced, and Hi-Po) setup the same, maybe set yours all up with identical parameters (in order to more closely sync up with mine, since I've isolated my issue, which means yours is elsewhere while mine was one step away from a fix, so maybe yours is too after you killed hibernate using CmndPrompt, which is a necessary step, mandatory actually, mandatory for me anyways)

Listen, I no longer have the original X58 motherboard, but an old trick was to enter the Bios (in a place and page I can't remember where), but find some part of a menu that allows you to disable power in S5, which should be a close relative of USB Suspend (MIO is a USB device afterall). That's all I have in my bag of tricks

What I can still talk about is what the Power Plan looks like when hibernate is active

above, Control Panel, find your Power Options > Change what power buttons do

above is the page when hibernate has been removed

above is when hibernate is still an option (or forcibly put back in options with powercfg -h on)

Typically, here I would work with a cloned drive making changes, and only when a change becomes a fix do I impart that fix back into my daily use drive. My only advice would be to restore the hibernate function in order to bring it back into options, physically disable fast startup and see what happens, then powercfg-h off, you just have to play with it, play with sleep and Fuzion (other power plan) settings

If you're on CmndCntr 2.8.11, u can try to reinstall in Win8 Compatibility Mode, try to reinstall in 7 mode, 8.1 mode, or just 'install it' direct ... you an try a downgrade to 2.8.9 ...

if you're on 2.8.9, u can reinstall direct, try 7 Mode, 8 mode, 8.1, or upgrade to 2.8.11 ... find something that works (between 2.8.9 & 2.8.11 there are 8 possible ways to install them --> which is why I would use a clone drive to try all that). I'm on 2.8.11, on a non-Alien motherboard so it is possible I have Bios options here that you can't duplicate there.

Final thing is, you can search for 'Turn Windows Features On or Off,' ensure .net3.5 is on (2.8.11 requires 3.5), however I've noticed that 3.5 is usually defauled to 'on' in W10, you can check anyways. Otherwise, the only thing different about mine than perhaps yours is that in Thermals, I have my fans set to manual, not auto. To duplicate my setup, you can see if going to manual fans helps or not (I'm on a fixed percent, 30 / 35)

Tidbits from my 10 post of 2years ago:

Insanity left a bread crumb 2years ago, I suppose you can make sure 'Alienware' is in the startup process. I hope u get her fixed, I'm out of suggestions. In the end, hibernate has to be removed with powercfg -h off, that's mandatory ... from there, you have to find what other sub-feature is on or off that prevents vents from shutting, there are only a few things that need to be done to make them shut, I believe I enumerated them for you, basically a tweak to your power plan

"From Insanity, 9.16.15: he made changes to Power Plan & "enabled the thermal controller in the windows start up

• go to run, msconfig & startup
• thermal controller starts running as soon as the desktop screen's loaded

"vents open & the lights come on"

EDIT: this 'issue' also cropped up, prevention of shutdown due to .net / AlienLabs error. Fix was to 'Repair' CmndCntr:

• C:/ Drive > Dell > Drivers > 442CY Folder (name of CmndCntr 2.8.11 Folder) > Launch Setup (CmndCntr.exe)
• At Install, click Repair > Restart > Shutdown > .net shutdown error should be solved
• if you have 2.8.9, CmndCntr may be in a different folder name
• - if so - find its folder or launch CmndCntr.exe from wherever you have it saved at

A final Silver Bullet? --> Shift/Shutdown

I emailed this Nov 2015 forum tidbit to myself in Jan 2016, it was in my inbox, I gave it another read & just tried it out & it works:

• Click Start Button > Click Power Icon > On Keyboard, Click Shift then Click Shutdown

A bit of background. Moments after my W10 install, upon reaching the 1st desktop, I set System Restore, created a restore point and shutdown, then cloned that drive twice, it's my Drive #1 Day Zero Virgin install and it stays unused, where any changes to 10 take place on my cloned drives. Ok, after reading that tidbit, I sparked up Drive 1 virgin install tonight, checked the power plan & hibernate was an option --> hit shutdown (monitor screen went black rather fast / Alienhead started to glow) & the vents stayed open, therefore that drive still needs a fix --> I powered back up & did what the guy said, held shift down as I clicked shutdown & the vents closed (ie they closed even though hibernate was still an option), so there ya go, vents fix #2

I powered back up, CmndPrompt powercfg -h off, & of course the vents shut, so that drive is fixed

On a hunch, I went into AlienFuzion, enabled wake timers + USB selective suspend, it had no impact

For what it's worth, with powercfg -h off (hibernate killed) I do not have to hit shift of course; it occurs to me that since I asked you to CmndPrompt powercfg -h off (kill hibernate) & if in that state, this shift trick fails to close vents - as a test - I would CmndPrompt powercfg -h on (enable hibernate) then try shift/shutdown, see if vents close (I say that since this trick worked for me while hibernate was enabled, you may need to sync up with me to duplicate vents closing)

If you do have to enable hibernate, you could then go into the powerplan & turn on or turn off fast startup, while checking to see if shift has an affect on either (do vents close or not). Its either a one minute's test, or you'll have to run some configs to see if shift/shutdown is a viable bandaid for your vents --> I hope it works, it worked here

Possible Alternatives:

These tips were found in a google search of 'my PC won't shutdown with Fall update'; given that the shift tidbit was dated Nov 2015, it is possible W10 has a bad history of improper shutdown with the basic start button shutdown method & for a long time now, & given that the shift/shutdown method made my vents close, as a last resort, you can try a google search & possibly find tips that others have tried out to get their normal PCs to shutdown 'properly' over the past 2years, which I didn't include here. (There was an Intel Mngmnt Engine / Intel MEI fix, but the X58 Chipset you're using does not use or require MEI ... if it did, it'd be in Device Manager > System Devices) 

Thanks for your reply. after trying all of that (excluding some methods of shutting down which I will get to) nothing has worked so far. What I am getting is when starting up the machine I have 2 notifications saying "Shutting down" which is regarding command center I believe. 

I have now run into another issue, where my PCI fan and hard drive fan got to about 80% on start up and I have to open command center to get the fans to slow to their set setting. 

"What I am getting is when starting up the machine I have 2 notifications saying "Shutting down" which is regarding command center I believe."

When booting / starting up you get notifications that something is shutting down? Can u take a photo or screen capture, or explain that better? Is it before the sign in screen or when u reach the desktop (early in the boot process)

If fans ramp up to 80-100% when booting, I'd suspect that thermal control setting for fans are set to Auto & need to be set to manual, Flare Vents = off might change the fan speed or may not

You can check to make sure that 'Alienware' is set to automatically start at startup using task manager / startup

***A 'repair' (as opposed to an uninstall > reinstall) of CmndCntr can help. Yanking the wall cord & holding the top power button down for a minute might help (a power drain) ... time for a repair I suspect, if things are shutting down before they even start

If your issues are when working with the clone drive, you would fall back onto the main drive which is supposed to be in a better working state. If you didn't clone your drive, it is for that reason you want to clone it, so that the main drive can be the base-line, the clone can be changed & configuered in different ways & will either perform better, the same or worse. If it's 'worse' now, you could re-clone the main drive and try to get back to a stable system whose vents won't close

The shift+shutdown method was a 5second test you should have a result for

Hi

I have now gone through everything you have suggested and still it doesn't work. The fans are set to manual in command center, and only seem to go to full speed on some power ons, not every time. 

Above you can see the notification I am receiving when powering on. These are always from the last time I had the computer on. 

Are you making clones of your drives to test on? I hope so > 6 HDD bays & room for a 7th drive in the DVD blank ... is the shutdown error on the main drive or a testing clone?

Well, I might download a 10 ISO & install 10 clean. Install chipset, install SATA + USB drivers. CmndCntr 2.8.9 requires .net4.0, 2.8.11 requires .net3.5, but 10 will have both, therefore, very soon after an install + a few drivers you should be in a position to clone or backup that new install, then install CmndCntr, let us say 2.8.11 in Win8 Compatibility Mode, do the restart, hit the desktop and shutdown. Vents should stay open right? Right. So power up, open a CmndPrompt and kill hibernate, shutdown, vents should close. If they do, we might expect to be rid of any Thermal controller errors in the process

I'm aware that you posted about your vents a few months ago, so your issue pre-dates the FCU kinda sorta

Again, I do not like 10. I have several installs here that are still on build 1511, unused & unupdated for 2years. I got on one lastnight. As soon as I hit the 'shutdown' icon the vent switch clicks & the vents fall, it's identical to the way shutdown happens on Win7. With this build 1709 Fall update, the shutdown process is different or markedly delayed, the vent switch won't click until a 1/2 second from the PSU turning off = several seconds after clicking the shutdown icon, it happens so late that the motor pulls the vents down seemingly on residual PSU power. What separates your software or settings from mine is a mystery

Until u do a clean install of 10, on a clone of your main drive I would re-install some drivers (chipset / sata). Next, with desktop RUNNING I would yank MIO USB_3 cord from the header > reinstall USB drivers > after reinstall yoiu either will or won;t need a restart, either way, reinsert MIO USB_3 cord back onto header when desktop running, verify Windows detects MIO board and installs its drivers (MIO Filter Driver in device Manager). Next I'd uninstall + reinstall CmndCntr, & be sure you're on Bios A10 or A11. Turn off all possible ways of 'Allow Computer to Sleep' (disable it in the start menu power section, in your power plan) ensure hibernate is killed, ensure fast startup is disabled, USB selective suspend disabled, wake timers disabled, Power in S5 off in the Bios, Right Click thermals icon in task tray > Settings > Windows Startup

51 Driver Support >< Dell FTP Historical Drivers > http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/alienware-area51.html

How to Install Intel Chipset > Unpack the setup.exe from the folder to a new folder on desktop:

• Create a desktop shortcut to the Chipset .exe
• Right click shortcut > Properties
• Add -overall to end of Target line it should look something like this

• Right click shortcut and select "Run As Administrator.
• Follow install instructions and reboot PC when installation finishes

Variations on How to Uninstall CmndCntr, as found on forum:

Correct procedure to reinstall Command Center on Area-51 and Aurora systems

1. Uninstall Command Center from the Control Panel > Programs and Features.

2. Open My Computer, click Folder and Search Options, choose the View Tab and enable Show hidden files and folders. Click OK.

3. Go to C:/Program Data/Alienware/Command Center/Thermal Controls and delete the Profile.xml file.

4. Go to C:/Users//AppData/Local/Alienware/Alienware AlienFX/Themes and delete all *.ath files.

5. Verify that the device manager doesn't have any unknown devices under Universial Serial Bus Controllers. If there are unknown devices see note

6. Restart the computer.

7. Download the latest version of Command Center available and run it.

8. Complete the Alien Command Center installation by answer Yes to all dialogue pop-ups. During the installation process, the Master I/O board firmware will be updated. Do not shut down the computer at this time. If the firmware update process fails, please contact Alienware for support.

9. Restart the computer.

10. Verify that there are no Unknown devices under Universal serial Bus Controllers. If there are unknown devices see the note below.

11. Launch AlienCommand Center.

Note: If there are unknown devices on the device manager, or no device is detected please do the following:

a. Verify the Master I/O board USB cable is properly connected to the motherboard and to the Master I/O board.

b. Drain the MB power for 1 minute.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Uninstall Command Center via control panel -Programs and Features-(do not reboot when asked).

1A. Go to C:\ProgramData\Alienware and delete Alienware folder (if it is there)

1B. Go to C:\Users\xxxYour Account Name Folderxxx\Appdata\local\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)

1C. Go to C:\Users\xxxYourAccount Name Folderxxx\Appdata\roaming\Alienware (delete AW folder if it is there)

2. Download and Run CCleaner's (google to find) registry cleaner to remove left over keys from the old Command Center uninstall.

3. Open Regedit (Winkey + R...Type Regedit), press control + F. In find what type Alienware and make sure the keys, data, and value is checked and click find next. After deleting each object (key, value, or data) related to Alienware press F3 to find the next Alienware location and delete. Repeat until done. DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM INFORMATION FOLDER WHEN YOU GET THERE.

4. Download and install the latest AW Command Center from Dell's website. Search by your service tag. Then reboot when prompted

Tips / Tricks for now or later > Desktop Command Center Issues with fans, lights, or vents

____________________________

Only Known Forum Information Suggests That This Is the Fix

and that hibernate or its derivative is the culprit

we know we can have the options for sleep / hybrid sleep / hibernate in Fuzion and the power plan so long as 'hibernate' is viable (hasn't been killed with a CmndPrompt) --> if hibernate was killed it can be reinstated with CmndPrompt = powercfg -h on

I'd make sure hibernate is viable, enter Fuzion, sleep = 0, Hybrid sleep off, Hibernate = 0, Wake timers + USB suspend off

power plan open > disable fast startup, perhaps disable 'sleep' in power menu

but that is the fix

powercfg -h off is the other fix

if this doesn't help, if a clean install of 10 doesn't help > wait out a fix or move back to an earlier build of 10

______________

you might contact Alienware Support on Twitter / Facebook, ask if any employees there own a 51, if so, what is their vent fix

On a clone of your main drive, I would be forced to uninstall the FCU if it can be uninstalled. If it can be, if you can get back to before it was there essentially, you would institute things like powercfg-h off, test the vents closing on pwer down (whether vent motor clicks right away or delays as it does for me here), then when you feel it's ready > grab the FCU on the clone, see what happens as soon as it gets the update, test shutdown / re-do powercfg -h off etc

if it goes well, you'd uninstall FCU on your main drive (or, erase it by making it the clone of your clone, you'd have options so long as you have multiple drives to work with)

Maybe you have an old image to work with? A viable restore point before the FCU?

Can you take a cloned drive & do a Win10 'restore my PC' / 'refresh my pc'?

What does FCU stand for?

It seems that Command center is ignoring my inputs as i have told it i do not want the vents flaring on startup yet it still does.

Unfortunately I don't have a cloned drive. \was looking into doing an Acronis backup but the update had already applied itself unfortunately. 

I wish there was a way that i could just run a startup and shut down command to open and shut the vents. 

Fall Creator Upd8. The command to shut vents .... ... ... was shift + shutdown, surely that worked, it works here

Macrium Reflect is also free

Cloned drives, let's see. One of these Aliens here came with a pair of 600Gb SATA3 Western Digital Velociraptor 10k rpm drives, so I thought hmph, they spin fast and work ok, so for imaging / backups / cloning I bought a lot, like 10 at a time, of WD Vrap 80Gb SATA2 10k rpm drives, bought a few 150Gb drives, bought used but that's ok because they aren't critical, some of the 80Gb were $5 each $50/shipped for 10. Looks like they start at $11 shipped

• https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=80Gb+velociraptor&_sop=15

150s are low also

• https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=80Gb+velociraptor&_sop=15&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X150Gb+velociraptor.TRS1&_nkw=150Gb+velociraptor&_sacat=0

Wiki keeps track of the models, part#, size, SATA 2 or 3 etc

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Digital_Raptor#Models_2

Again you have 6 HDD bays you could fill up, so if you need something cheap just to get started, grab one or a few, at those prices they're basically disposable, they just need to hold the clone, not run it everyday, you keep your good install on your high $ drive. If you need to clean install 10 onto something as a test-bed, there ya go > buy two drives and make a clone of 10 on it, ok? Plenty of sizes, but, 10 could go clean onto an 80 and clone onto one, the larger ones could be a backup to what you have now. Otherwise I ran out of advice and do not know what separates your install or settings from mine to where the fixes work here but not there. Unplug MIO USB_3 cable, install 10 clean, install chipset + usb drivers, shutdown & replug in MIO USB_3, powerup & install CmndCntr, then see what happens when just installing those three items > if vents do not shut, try the powercfg -h off fix + shift/shutdown, we need an answer if this thing is corrupt from the get go & refuses fixes from the get go

EDIT: long shot > try a different keyboard to test shift + shutdown

@thunt1 your issue's been lost in an R1 thread > make a new post in order to get attention for your R2 > launching the large CmndCntr.exe file from your Dell Drivers folder in C:/, & trying a 'repair' is the 1st thing I'd try, otherwise my R2 isn't on 10 because it needs a cpu