Hey guys!

 

Firstly, hope everyone had a good weekend and is doing well. I have a super niche issue after updating from Unraid 6.11.5 to 6.12.2. My server is running on an old Alienware Aurora R1 that I've had since release in about 2009. If you are familiar with Alienware products, then you know all the lighting adjustments are done through the Alienware Command Center application (atleast with the older gens like the R4, R3, R2, and R1 from my understanding). Anyways, I can't control the lighting with Command Center through a Virtual Machine because I figured the hardware is being emulated and this older R1 x58 chipset does not support passthrough.

 

So what I've been doing to control the lighting on the Aurora R1 chassis is to boot from an ssd with Win10 and configure everything in the AlienFX panel within Alienware Command Center (I've only done this a few times because I rarely change the lighting effects). I would then restart, boot from Unraid USB, and boom the lighting I applied in AlienFX from the Win10 ssd would be applied while I had my Unraid server up.

 

Since updating to 6.12.2, whenever my server comes up my lighting effects go away. It's basically applying the "Sleep Profile" from within AlienFX where everything lights up as should, except the biggest panel; the side. So the Alien logo and front cover light up as they should, but not the side panel. Like I said, whenever I open AWCC and get within AlienFX I can see the Sleep Mode it is going into, but I am unsure how to make it either not go into this profile all together, or atleast stop it from doing it while Unraid is up. I've been running Unraid for about a year and have never had and issue with this until now when I updated to 6.12.2.

 

This is a super niche issue and I've been hunting every corner of the internet trying to figure out what the problem is but I'm at a blank. I can't find many other people that have a similar setup, but the Unraid forums have saved my booty a couple of times so I figured I'd ask if anyone has some advice here? I apologize if this isn't the place for this, but any helps or tips is appreciated. ❤️ 

 

I can post whatever screenshots or logs necessary I was just unsure on how to communicate and approach this issue.

HELP ME GET MY LIGHTS BACK!

 

Thank you in advance,

-DD

Edited July 5, 20233 yr by DirtyDarrell

Still no luck, but will post an update if I find a solution.

Any tips or helps is appreciated!

So I had thought I was able to find a solution this morning, but the lighting eventually turned off again after the server completely posted.

I run Windows 10 from an External SSD that I use to configure AlienFX. This plugs into the back of my server via USB. What I done is just took the SSD out of the adapter case and plugged it directly into the SATA and Power, hoping plugging it directly in would solve my problem. It stayed up longer than it did on USB, but like I said eventually turned off again once server was posted.

 

Will continue troubleshooting and keep this thread updated,

-Darrell

Did you ever get this working? I am using an Alienware PC for my new Unraid setup and I would like to control the lights too. I installed command center from inside a vm but it does not see a compatible PC.

On 8/9/2023 at 10:53 AM, TechBLT said:

Did you ever get this working? I am using an Alienware PC for my new Unraid setup and I would like to control the lights too. I installed command center from inside a vm but it does not see a compatible PC.

Hey sorry for such a late reply, but I have not yet found a solution. I've also tried doing it from behind a VM but had no luck because the hardware is being virtualized (I think anyways). I have one of the older Aurora R1's so hardware pass-through isn't a thing. I'll definitely keep you updated if I do find a work around though!

UPDATE: This issue has been Fixed finally!
 

Issue Overview:

I encountered a persistent issue where the side panel LEDs on my Alienware Aurora R1 would not function when running Unraid, despite working fine in bare metal Windows 10 (installed on a separate SSD).

 

-When booting into Windows 10, all AlienFX lighting zones (including Zone 3 - side panel) worked perfectly.

-However, as soon as Unraid booted, the side panel LED would turn off, even though the front and bottom LEDs remained functional.

-This issue first appeared in Unraid 6.12.2 and persisted through multiple updates, until it was finally resolved in Unraid 6.12.15.

-The behavior almost resembled AWCC's default "Sleep Mode" being activated by Unraid, turning off certain lighting zones (specifically Zone 3 - the side panel).

-Initially, I attempted to run Alienware Command Center (AWCC) inside a Windows 10 VM to gain control of the lighting. However, AWCC failed to recognize the LED controller and did not allow me to change the lighting settings within the VM. Due to this, I opted to manage the lighting from a bare metal Windows 10 SSD, as I didn’t frequently adjust the effects. Additionally, I suspected that the chipset lacked proper passthrough support for AWCC to function correctly within the VM, making a dedicated Windows installation the more reliable option.

 

After extensive troubleshooting, I successfully restored full functionality to the AlienFX lighting system, including the side panel, while running Unraid 6.12.15. Below is a detailed write-up of what was happening and how it was resolved.

 

 

🔹Root Cause Analysis:

After testing multiple configurations, I determined that Unraid was either disabling power to the HID controller or failing to initialize it properly.

 

Key observations:
✅The side panel LED worked during BIOS boot and in bare metal Windows 10.
❌As soon as Unraid took over, the side panel LED turned off.
✅Front and bottom LEDs continued to work in Unraid.
❌AlienFX settings had no effect while Unraid was running.

-This strongly indicated that Unraid was either suspending the USB HID device or not initializing it properly at boot.

 

 

1️⃣Ensure Unraid Is Not Disabling USB Power:

Unraid may automatically place USB devices into power-saving mode, which can cause issues with HID devices like the Alienware LED controller.

 

🔹Check USB Power Mode

Run this command in the Unraid terminal to check if USB devices are in power-saving mode:
cat /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb*/power/control
 

*If the output says "auto", Unraid is managing USB power dynamically, which can turn off LEDs.

*If the output says "on", USB power is fully enabled.

 

🔹Force USB to Stay Powered On

To prevent Unraid from disabling USB power, run:

echo "on" | tee /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb*/power/control

*Verify the change:
cat /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb*/power/control

*Now all devices should say "on".
 

 

2️⃣Detect and Load Necessary Kernel Modules (lm-sensors)

Certain kernel modules need to be loaded for Unraid to properly detect and communicate with HID devices like the Alienware LED controller.

 

🔹Detect System Sensors

Run the following command:

sensors-detect
 

*Accept all default prompts (Press Enter for each).

*The system will suggest kernel modules to load.
 

🔹Load Recommended Kernel Modules

After sensors-detect completes, manually load the recommended modules:

modprobe usbhid
modprobe usbcore
modprobe hid-generic

*Confirm the modules are loaded:

lsmod | grep hid
 

 

3️⃣Manually Reset the Alienware HID LED Controller:

Since Unraid sometimes fails to initialize HID devices properly, manually unbinding and rebinding the HID controller can force it to work.

 

🔹Identify the HID Device

Run the following to list all detected HID devices:

ls /sys/bus/hid/devices/

 

*Look for an entry containing 187C:0513, which is the Alienware Gaming Desktop LED Controller. (This may vary depending on your model)

 

🔹Unbind and Rebind the HID Device

Use the correct device ID from the previous command and run:

echo -n "0003:187C:0513" | tee /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-generic/unbind
sleep 2
echo -n "0003:187C:0513" | tee /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-generic/bind

 

*(If your HID ID is different, replace 0003:187C:0513 with the correct one from lsusb.)

 

 

4️⃣Test if This Works After Reboot:

Now that we’ve:

-Enabled USB power

-Loaded the required kernel modules

-Manually reset the HID device

We need to fully reboot Unraid:

reboot

 

*After rebooting, check if the side panel LED remains functional.

 

 

✅Automate the Fix on Every Boot:

To ensure that Unraid always keeps the USB power settings and HID devices properly initialized, you can add the commands to Unraid’s startup script.

 

1️⃣Open the Unraid startup script (go file):

nano /boot/config/go

2️⃣Add the following lines before the last exit line:

# Ensure USB devices stay powered on
echo "on" | tee /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb*/power/control

# Load HID kernel modules
modprobe usbhid
modprobe usbcore
modprobe hid-generic

# Reset Alienware HID device
echo -n "0003:187C:0513" | tee /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-generic/unbind
sleep 2
echo -n "0003:187C:0513" | tee /sys/bus/hid/drivers/hid-generic/bind

3️⃣Save and exit (CTRL + X, then Y, then Enter).

4️⃣Reboot Unraid and confirm the fix persists.

 

 

🚀Ensure the Alienware Gaming Desktop HID Device Is Enabled in the VM:

After resolving the Unraid-side issues, the next step was ensuring that the Windows 10 VM properly recognized and initialized the Alienware LED controller.

 

🔹Pass the HID Device to the Windows 10 VM

-Go to the Unraid WebUI > VMs.

-Edit your Windows 10 VM configuration.

-Under the USB Devices section, select and pass through the Alienware HID device (187C:0513).

-Save the configuration and restart the VM.

🔹Enable the Alienware HID Device in Windows 10

-Start the Windows 10 VM.

-Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc).

-Expand Human Interface Devices (HID).

-Locate HID-compliant vendor-defined device or Alienware Gaming Desktop.

-Right-click and ensure the device is enabled.

-Reboot the VM and check if the side panel LEDs are now working inside Alienware Command Center (AWCC).

 

 

🔹Final Thoughts:

After following these steps, I was able to fully restore AlienFX lighting control, including the side panel LEDs, on my Alienware Aurora R1 and control everything within a VM while running Unraid 6.12.15.

 

The issue started back in Unraid 6.12.2 and was likely due to USB power management changes, HID initialization bugs in earlier versions, invalid VM setups on my side, or a little combination of all these things. As of 6.12.15, this fix is confirmed to work and is running perfectly!

 

I’m posting this solution here in case anyone else encounters similar problems with Alienware lighting control being disabled in Unraid.

 

If anyone has further questions, feel free to reply or message me directly! Hope this helps!

 

 

Best & Success,

-DirtyDarrell

 

 

Edited February 26, 20251 yr by DirtyDarrell
Mispelling/Addition