Will Cryo run on my machine?
Cryo is built on the mainline alienware-wmi kernel driver, so it reaches well beyond the laptop it was written on. The daemon probes every feature at startup and each client renders only what exists. Run cryoctl doctor for a verdict in one line.
The four verdicts
cryoctl doctor ends with one of these. It needs no running daemon and prints a report made for pasting into a model report.
Everything Cryo does is available on this machine.
cryod runs with the full feature set.
Full thermals and power modes; one or more extras are missing (fan boost, lighting, NVML game detection, a Mains supply, turbo, the CPU cap).
cryod runs; the missing features are hidden or disabled with a notice.
The driver exposes no hwmon and/or no platform profiles, so fans, temperatures, curves, the Thermal Guard and power modes are out.
cryod still runs what exists — GPU telemetry, game detection, the turbo toggle, the CPU cap and lighting — and every client hides the rest.
Nothing at all for Cryo to drive: no thermals, profiles, turbo, cap, lighting or NVML.
cryod logs one plain-language reason, exits 78 and is not restarted.
Feature availability
| Feature | Requires | When missing |
|---|---|---|
| Power modes | alienware-wmi platform profiles | Limited mode: mode grid hidden, auto rules idle; everything else runs |
| Fans and temperatures | alienware-wmi hwmon | Limited mode: telemetry tiles, fan control, curves and guard hidden; GPU telemetry stays |
| G-Mode | G-Mode-capable model (kernel advertises balanced-performance and performance) | "Performance" becomes the boost profile; auto-rules fall back |
| Fan curves + manual boost | fan*_boost support — probed; "not implemented in every model" per the kernel docs | Curves and sliders disabled with a visible notice |
| Thermal Guard | Fan boost (above) | Disabled — nothing to actuate |
| Auto profiles (AC/battery) | A Mains-type power supply in sysfs (name discovered, not assumed) | Battery rules never fire; everything else works |
| CPU Turbo toggle | intel_pstate/no_turbo or cpufreq/boost | Toggle hidden |
| CPU power cap (per mode) | intel_pstate/max_perf_pct (Intel; amd_pstate has no global knob) | Cap card hidden; cryoctl cap reports it unavailable |
| Game detection | NVIDIA proprietary driver (NVML) | Auto-G-Mode off; manual modes unaffected |
| AlienFX chassis lighting (rings, lid logo, power button) | AW-ELC USB controller 187c:0550/0551 (≈2020+ m/x-series) | Lighting section hidden unless a keyboard backlight exists |
| Keyboard backlight | Darfon per-key keyboard 0d62:aab1/bab1 ("DELL Technologies Keyboard", m16/m18 R1/R2) | Keyboard keeps its firmware lighting; chassis effects unaffected |
Reported models
Grows one report at a time — working or not, both results belong here.
| Model | Verdict | Thermals | Curves / Guard | G-Mode | Lighting | Game sense | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alienware m18 R2 (Intel + RTX 4080) | SUPPORTED | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | maintainer |
| Alienware 16X Aurora AC16251 (Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5060 Laptop)First community SUPPORTED report (2026 Arrow Lake-HX, kernel 7.2): all six profiles, both fan boost files, AW-ELC 187c:0551 and NVML. G-Mode switched but not yet stress-tested in a game. Stock EC fans trailed a sudden all-core spike by 15-20 s; with the Thermal Guard they ramp within the first 1 s poll, though an instant spike can still touch Tjmax briefly before the fans spin up. | SUPPORTED | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | community (issue #21) |
| Alienware Aurora R4 (2011 desktop, RTX 5060 Ti)alienware-wmi loads but exposes no hwmon or profiles; the 187c:0513 lighting controller predates AW-ELC. GPU telemetry, game detection, turbo and the CPU cap work. | LIMITED | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | community (issue #9) |
Have a different Alienware or Dell G-Series machine? Run cryoctl doctor and open a model report with the output. The canonical matrix lives in the repo's COMPATIBILITY.md.
Known out of scope
- AMD dGPU game detection (needs DRM fdinfo instead of NVML)
- Pre-ELC lighting controllers (older AlienFX protocols)
- Per-key patterns and two-color fades on the keyboard
- Keyboards wired to the ELC itself on some G-Series/m15 models
- Thermals on Aurora/Area-51 desktops the driver doesn't cover — pre-2012 models run in limited mode