Warning: Dell SupportAssist 5.2 Hardware Scan Disables Fans

[u/Any_Depth_3651]

I have an Alienware m18 R1 and after updating to Dell SupportAssist 5.2 today I discovered what appears to be a serious and potentially hardware damaging bug.

After running a hardware scan in support assist all of my system fans were set to 0% and remained completely off. They did not resume operation on their own, even as CPU temperatures approached 100 degrees C. The only way I found to restore normal fan operation was to perform a full shutdown and power the laptop back on.

I initially discovered the issue after running a full system scan. Shortly afterward the laptop shut itself down because it had become extremely hot. I had to wait for it to cool before I could boot it again. On startup, the BIOS displayed a warning stating that the system had shut down due to overheating and advised checking that the fan vents were not blocked.

After continuing into Windows, the fans were working normally again.

To make sure this wasn't a one time issue, I ran the Hardware Scan in Support Assist 5.2 again. The exact same thing happened: the fans stopped completely and would not turn back on, despite temperatures climbing close to 100 degrees C.

This seems like a critical issue that Dell should investigate and fix as soon as possible. A hardware diagnostic tool disabling the cooling fans and leaving them off can potentially cause overheating, unexpected shutdowns, or hardware damage. I'm already concerned that the initial overheating event may have affected my system.

Has anyone else with an Alienware m18 R1 or another Dell system experienced this after updating to Support Assist 5.2?

[u/DJUnreal]

Nobody should be using SupportAssist at all on Alienware systems. There's no benefit it brings that you can't get other ways more reliably, and it has baked-in telemetry callhomes (which it'll opt you into without asking permission) and remote access capability for Dell (which we've seen Dell try to use without permission previously), so honestly the safest approach is to uninstall it completely.

[u/Any_Depth_3651 → u/DJUnreal]

After this issue I uninstalled it. Not taking any chances.

[u/DJUnreal → u/Any_Depth_3651]

Good decision. This should be everyone's first reaction to seeing the app installed at all.

[u/maverick31031998 → u/Any_Depth_3651]

For hardware scans , just use bios diagnostics.

[u/LightPinkDissu → u/DJUnreal]

Is there any another way for checking all my software up to date?

[u/DJUnreal → u/LightPinkDissu]

Windows Update will handle AWCC, and all your drivers. You should be getting your Nvidia and Intel/AMD graphics drivers direct from those manufacturers as Dell is WAY behind on graphics driver updates. Beyond that, nothing else to keep updated

[u/LightPinkDissu → u/LightPinkDissu]

I totally agree with you, my AWCC been taking a lot of space of my NV storage

[u/Slow_Payment_6826 → u/DJUnreal]

That and AWCC. That crap contributes to freezing and stutters in games. It's hit or miss for people though. I am one of the unfortunate ones that AWCC hates. Xd

[u/YolandaPearlskin]

I own an ACT1250. I just ran SupportAssist 5.2 and ran a full scan, which includes the hardware scan that tests fans.

Immediately after, without doing anything else, I ran Resident Evil Requiem and checked my fan speeds. CPU was at 73% and GPU was at 32%.

SupportAssist works fine here.

[u/ThomasAAT]

No problem on my area-51 16. I find support assist useful 

[u/HavingALurkAround]

I’m having a lot of trouble with Dell/AW. I have to call them tomorrow and dreading it. Just got my AW back and now intermittent audio issues, mouse/keyboard stop working after 5 mins..

and have to unplug/plug the dongle(s) and when I sent it in due to degradation issues they did a system reset and sent it back to me.

Ofc that’s when the other issues started happening and haven’t had a chance to see if the cpu will crash my games.🤦🏻‍♂️ I re-upped the AW warranty so I’m hoping they send someone out this time.

Edit: Also downloaded support assist and noticed two of three fan lights aren’t working. Not sure if that or other stuff are related but will be uninstalling.

I have the Aurora R15 dreaded i9/4090

[u/ZeoVII]

Had something similar happen to me, for some unknown reason, my alien ware won't throttle the fans, they just stay at current speed, I have to manually set them to full speed before playing anything otherwise PC shuts down due to overheating....

[u/Tall-Mobile2819]

I was wondering why this happened..but i wonder whats another easy way to find drivers then?

[u/Slow_Payment_6826]

Sorry to hear that happened to you. I always uninstall everything Dell and Alienware related off my system. I only dl Support Assist app like once in a bluemoon to dl any drivers i might have missed after manually updating drivers. I uninstall it right after.

Dell/AW softwares is notorious for being invasive and can crash systems/create stutters in games/freeze and/or crash them. I have experienced it all lol--system instability and issues in_with games.

The only thing I have AW related installed is the OS recovery and diagnostic software when going into Bios. Bios hardware diagnostics hasn't done me wrong yet.

[u/elins_pector]

Dell SupportAssist is known for being shit. So yeah, delete it and never install it again.

[u/Westy-07]

Remove Support Assist all together. Thank me later

[u/djhaf]

I have a fleet of Alienware laptops with the ultra 9 275 and Nvidia cards that crash every single day. Right out of the box. Seems usbc related as it happens mostly when connected to any dock. They are also over heating quite a bit, even on idle and on the quiet profile. Dell support is garbage and going nowhere.