Post your issues with the Trident RGB Control software here

[AnnoyedUser]

Hey I'm thankful for the active discussion on my issue (and thank you emissary42 for attempting to re-create my issue as well). I was hoping that it would not come down to a Windows re-install issue at the moment (I might just have to live without the RGB control instead since I have a lot of stuff I would need to back up).

Sparky64 That is very interesting about the "faulty UAC" issue. Do you happen to have a link to the article so I can learn more about it? I didn't seem to have an issue updating to the newest version of Windows 10 (ver 2004), and no other software that I currently have installed will prompt UAC at bootup either.

[Sparky64]

I read an article about why the newest version of windows is not being rolled out to everyone. It has something to do with security issues aka UAC. Evidentially UAC is preventing the new update. I also read manually updating will not correct the issue because it does not overwrite the existing UAC. So it sounds like those people will have to do a complete wipe of their drive and reinstall a new session of windows.

I'm not sure if you are one of those people that have been affected by the faulty UAC, but it kind of sounds like you are.

[emissary42]

If you suspect another software interfering and you have a spare drive available, maybe try a fresh windows install on that with only the basic drivers and TZLC.

I have tried to replicate your issue myself, but did not manage to get UAC prompts from the latest version of TZLC.

[AnnoyedUser]

Chances are this is all on Microsofts end and not G.Skill. Hate to say it but you might want to try updating your version of windows to 2004. That might clear up the issue. If you are not getting the prompt to update your version you can do it manually by downloading their Media Creation Tool at:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Good Luck!

Hi there, I appreciate your suggestion and thought it was a worthwhile try. I updated to Windows 10 Ver 2004 (OS Build 19041.329) and unfortunately UAC is still prompting. At this point I think there is just something machine specific or some additional software I have that is interfering, perhaps.

[Sparky64]

Chances are this is all on Microsofts end and not G.Skill. Hate to say it but you might want to try updating your version of windows to 2004. That might clear up the issue. If you are not getting the prompt to update your version you can do it manually by downloading their Media Creation Tool at:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Good Luck!

[AnnoyedUser]

This is really stumping us at tech support. Would you also mind letting us know which UAC level you're setting? There should be Off-Low-Medium-High. As well as confirming the Windows 10 version. You indicated Windows 10 2019, but there hasn't been a release under the version number 2019 (either type "winver" under the start menu or in the "Run" dialogue will display this information).

We'll pass this information to the software team to see if they're able to figure out anything there. Thanks.

I am currently on Windows 10 Pro Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.900). My UAC settings are at the default medium setting.

[G.SKILL]

Hello,

Thanks for taking your time to try and replicate my build with the NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone app for the troubleshooting and apologies for my snarkiness. I followed all of the steps you've outlined above to ensure that I have removed all residual install files (note that the .bat file that I ran did not appear to have executed any removal, presumably because the directories associated with the install were all removed) and unfortunately I am still getting a UAC prompt come up on my end. I've included pictures of the UAC prompt (sorry for quality, screenshotting is disabled with UAC prompt in focus). I have omitted the details pane as there are quite a bit of info there that I'm not sure if you need.

I'm not sure if I should keep trying at this point. I also want to note that I forgot to include one additional RGB control software in my original post, and that is the Cooler Master Portal control software for my keyboard. I have not yet tried to uninstall this software to test if UAC will continue prompting.

This is really stumping us at tech support. Would you also mind letting us know which UAC level you're setting? There should be Off-Low-Medium-High. As well as confirming the Windows 10 version. You indicated Windows 10 2019, but there hasn't been a release under the version number 2019 (either type "winver" under the start menu or in the "Run" dialogue will display this information).

We'll pass this information to the software team to see if they're able to figure out anything there. Thanks.

[AnnoyedUser]

We're sorry about that. The previous post didn't seem to have gone through. The testing did take some time to make sure the test system is set up similar to the system information you provided.

We've tested the v1.00.18 software on Windows 10 1909 and Windows 10 2004, as well as having installed NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone on the system, but we're not seeing UAC pop ups, even when the UAC setting is enabled to the strictest profile. We also tried to created multiple accounts on the same OS, to make sure the program works and UAC doesn't pop up for accounts that didn't install the program. No UAC prompts were seen on the secondary accounts of the same OS.

So far, we haven't heard of this issue for the v1.00.18 software version, and would need to be able to replicate the issue before we can identify the root cause of this issue. The logic of UAC is to prevent unwanted system changes by unauthorized programs, and hid.exe is the program running in the background that would access memory to control the lighting through the driver installed by AacSetup. Since the driver is already confirmed to be 1.0.21.0 and you've installed the software using administrator rights, the lighting control software should have the proper permissions to run without triggering the UAC.

The last thing we can attempt, is to fully uninstall the software and drivers, and then manually check and delete the related files, reboot, and then reinstall with admin rights to see if UAC is triggered. This is similar to the clean uninstall steps, but we've added directories for the configuration file and possible related files for removal. Please do the following exactly in the order indicated:

1. Uninstall the Trident Z Lighting Control software from Windows.
2. Reboot.
3. Delete the folders "C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL", "C:\Program Files (x86)\ENE", and "C:\Users\%yourusername%\AppData\Roaming" if those aren't removed by the uninstaller. This should remove the main program interface UI, the background "hid.exe" program, and residual driver files.
4. Download "http://www.gskill.com/gskill-device/memory/tzrgb_fix/aac-driver-full-remove-v1.1.bat.zip", extract the contents to the desktop, and right click on the BAT file to run with Administrator rights. This should remove residual drivers that are already installed into the system.
5. Once that's done, go to "C:\Windows\System32\drivers" to see if the driver file "ene.sys" exists. After going through the previous step, this file should not exist. If it does exist, please delete it. If the driver is being used by the system, then you wil have to reboot the system into Safe Mode to delete this file. (To reboot into Safe Mode on Windows 10, see this Microsoft guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...c-in-safe-mode)

At this point, the above steps should remove the lighting control program, the background program, and the all versions of the drivers.

6. Reboot the system, re-download the software (http://www.gskill.com/gskill-device/...l-v1.00.18.zip), extract the installer to the desktop, and right click on the installer and install with Admin rights.
7. Follow through the installer steps, and reboot when prompted. If you are prompted with any pop ups or error messages during the installation process, including UAC, please take a screenshot for us, because there shouldn't be any pop ups. It may help us identify at which stage the installer or program fails to obtain the proper permissions.

One last thing to double check, is that your OS, the program file folder, and the user data folders are all on the C:\ drive. If any of those are moved or directed to another drive, please let us know, since it might be a possible cause of the issue. If there are other possible clues that you can provide, we'll be able to check with the software team to see how to identify and resolve this issue.

Edit: Also, we wanted to check the UAC prompt screenshot to see if it points to hid.exe or if it points to another *.exe or *.sys file, and the location of such file. If it points to another file, then we may need a different approach.

Hello,

Thanks for taking your time to try and replicate my build with the NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone app for the troubleshooting and apologies for my snarkiness. I followed all of the steps you've outlined above to ensure that I have removed all residual install files (note that the .bat file that I ran did not appear to have executed any removal, presumably because the directories associated with the install were all removed) and unfortunately I am still getting a UAC prompt come up on my end. I've included pictures of the UAC prompt (sorry for quality, screenshotting is disabled with UAC prompt in focus). I have omitted the details pane as there are quite a bit of info there that I'm not sure if you need.

I'm not sure if I should keep trying at this point. I also want to note that I forgot to include one additional RGB control software in my original post, and that is the Cooler Master Portal control software for my keyboard. I have not yet tried to uninstall this software to test if UAC will continue prompting.

[G.SKILL]

G.SKILL Hmm.... have you given up on me?

We're sorry about that. The previous post didn't seem to have gone through. The testing did take some time to make sure the test system is set up similar to the system information you provided.

We've tested the v1.00.18 software on Windows 10 1909 and Windows 10 2004, as well as having installed NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone on the system, but we're not seeing UAC pop ups, even when the UAC setting is enabled to the strictest profile. We also tried to created multiple accounts on the same OS, to make sure the program works and UAC doesn't pop up for accounts that didn't install the program. No UAC prompts were seen on the secondary accounts of the same OS.

So far, we haven't heard of this issue for the v1.00.18 software version, and would need to be able to replicate the issue before we can identify the root cause of this issue. The logic of UAC is to prevent unwanted system changes by unauthorized programs, and hid.exe is the program running in the background that would access memory to control the lighting through the driver installed by AacSetup. Since the driver is already confirmed to be 1.0.21.0 and you've installed the software using administrator rights, the lighting control software should have the proper permissions to run without triggering the UAC.

The last thing we can attempt, is to fully uninstall the software and drivers, and then manually check and delete the related files, reboot, and then reinstall with admin rights to see if UAC is triggered. This is similar to the clean uninstall steps, but we've added directories for the configuration file and possible related files for removal. Please do the following exactly in the order indicated:

1. Uninstall the Trident Z Lighting Control software from Windows.
2. Reboot.
3. Delete the folders "C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL", "C:\Program Files (x86)\ENE", and "C:\Users\%yourusername%\AppData\Roaming" if those aren't removed by the uninstaller. This should remove the main program interface UI, the background "hid.exe" program, and residual driver files.
4. Download "http://www.gskill.com/gskill-device/memory/tzrgb_fix/aac-driver-full-remove-v1.1.bat.zip", extract the contents to the desktop, and right click on the BAT file to run with Administrator rights. This should remove residual drivers that are already installed into the system.
5. Once that's done, go to "C:\Windows\System32\drivers" to see if the driver file "ene.sys" exists. After going through the previous step, this file should not exist. If it does exist, please delete it. If the driver is being used by the system, then you wil have to reboot the system into Safe Mode to delete this file. (To reboot into Safe Mode on Windows 10, see this Microsoft guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...c-in-safe-mode)

At this point, the above steps should remove the lighting control program, the background program, and the all versions of the drivers.

6. Reboot the system, re-download the software (http://www.gskill.com/gskill-device/...l-v1.00.18.zip), extract the installer to the desktop, and right click on the installer and install with Admin rights.
7. Follow through the installer steps, and reboot when prompted. If you are prompted with any pop ups or error messages during the installation process, including UAC, please take a screenshot for us, because there shouldn't be any pop ups. It may help us identify at which stage the installer or program fails to obtain the proper permissions.

One last thing to double check, is that your OS, the program file folder, and the user data folders are all on the C:\ drive. If any of those are moved or directed to another drive, please let us know, since it might be a possible cause of the issue. If there are other possible clues that you can provide, we'll be able to check with the software team to see how to identify and resolve this issue.

Edit: Also, we wanted to check the UAC prompt screenshot to see if it points to hid.exe or if it points to another *.exe or *.sys file, and the location of such file. If it points to another file, then we may need a different approach.

[AnnoyedUser]

Thanks for your response. I have addressed your questions below:

1. I am using Windows 10 2019 64bit.
2. The Windows account is the same account that the software is installed under.
3. I have 2 additional LED control software: NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone (Red Devil 5700 XT GPU LED controller)
4. I did not run the installer as an administrator. However, I have attempted to do this and this does not fix the issue; UAC still prompts on every reboot.
5. No I do not get a prompt with a white background during installation of the software.
6. What do you want to see from the screenshot? It looks like a standard UAC prompt with the location of the software install directory (default: C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL ...). I have checked the details of the certificate from GSkill and it looks to be current.

I have tried doing a reinstall of the driver only by running AacSetup.exe and reinstalling again. This did not address the issue and UAC prompt is still persistent. I have verified that the version number of the AacSetup is verion 1.0.21.0 during the installation process.

Thanks, please let me know if there are any other steps I should try.

G.SKILL Hmm.... have you given up on me?

[AnnoyedUser]

It would help us if you could let us know:
1. Which Windows version do you have (e.g. Windows 10 1909, Windows 10 2004, etc.)
2. Is the Windows account the same one that you installed the software under?
3. Do you have any other LED control software installed?
4. For installation, did you right click on the installer and choose to Run as Administrator?
5. During installation of the software, do you get a prompt with a white background that asks you to install a driver? (You should not get the prompt. If you do, either it's the wrong software installer version or we need to investigate further on why it's popping up.)
6. A screenshot of the UAC prompt you get would also help.

In the meantime, please try reinstalling the driver only (not the entire software) by going to "C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL\Trident Z Lighting Control\Aac" and then double clicking on "AacSetup.exe" and follow the prompts to uninstall. Then do it again to reinstall. During the first window display of the installation, you should see the 1.0.21.0 driver version number on the bottom left. If you continue to get the UAC prompt or get any errors during the installation or if the driver version is not the same, please let us know.

Thank you.

Thanks for your response. I have addressed your questions below:

1. I am using Windows 10 2019 64bit.
2. The Windows account is the same account that the software is installed under.
3. I have 2 additional LED control software: NZXT CAM and PowerColor DevilZone (Red Devil 5700 XT GPU LED controller)
4. I did not run the installer as an administrator. However, I have attempted to do this and this does not fix the issue; UAC still prompts on every reboot.
5. No I do not get a prompt with a white background during installation of the software.
6. What do you want to see from the screenshot? It looks like a standard UAC prompt with the location of the software install directory (default: C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL ...). I have checked the details of the certificate from GSkill and it looks to be current.

I have tried doing a reinstall of the driver only by running AacSetup.exe and reinstalling again. This did not address the issue and UAC prompt is still persistent. I have verified that the version number of the AacSetup is verion 1.0.21.0 during the installation process.

Thanks, please let me know if there are any other steps I should try.

[G.SKILL]

I updated Trident Z lighting control to v1.00.18 and I still get the UAC prompt every time I boot up (although notes says it was supposedly fixed this update). Can I get some help as to why? Makes me want to either completely remove the software or revert back 2 updates and neither are that ideal.

It would help us if you could let us know:
1. Which Windows version do you have (e.g. Windows 10 1909, Windows 10 2004, etc.)
2. Is the Windows account the same one that you installed the software under?
3. Do you have any other LED control software installed?
4. For installation, did you right click on the installer and choose to Run as Administrator?
5. During installation of the software, do you get a prompt with a white background that asks you to install a driver? (You should not get the prompt. If you do, either it's the wrong software installer version or we need to investigate further on why it's popping up.)
6. A screenshot of the UAC prompt you get would also help.

In the meantime, please try reinstalling the driver only (not the entire software) by going to "C:\Program Files (x86)\G.SKILL\Trident Z Lighting Control\Aac" and then double clicking on "AacSetup.exe" and follow the prompts to uninstall. Then do it again to reinstall. During the first window display of the installation, you should see the 1.0.21.0 driver version number on the bottom left. If you continue to get the UAC prompt or get any errors during the installation or if the driver version is not the same, please let us know.

Thank you.

[AnnoyedUser]

I updated Trident Z lighting control to v1.00.18 and I still get the UAC prompt every time I boot up (although notes says it was supposedly fixed this update). Can I get some help as to why? Makes me want to either completely remove the software or revert back 2 updates and neither are that ideal.

[Sparky64]

I am using the current Trident Z lighting control. I also installed current versions of Asus Aura and Razer Synapse. Now before the new version of windows I never had this problem. With this new version of windows it was a nightmare. I do not think this is a G.Skill issue but another in the long line of Microsoft issues and bugs.

[G.SKILL]

It was doing the same thing with all versions. And the only way I was able to get it to work was install it first and keep it running in the background while installing everything else.

You've also mentioned "Then I installed everything else, all system drivers, and other RGB controlling software". Chances are, installing other RGB controlling software may have also installed the same RGB LED driver, but a different version, causing the Trident Z Lighting Control software to fail to work properly. You present an interesting method of installation, which does make some sense, since keeping the software running would mean that the drivers are in use, so the drivers would not be replaced by another software installation. (Which is why software installations recommend closing other programs during installation.) At the same time, if the other RGB controlling software is supposed to be capable of controlling the Trident Z series memory modules, then it should not be able to without the proper version of the LED driver.

Would you mind letting us know which other RGB controlling software (and the version number of that software) that are installed on your system?