NHC 2 is out!

dorin · **Posted:** Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:06 pm

this being said have a nice day,

dorin

http://www.pbus-167.com

mhca · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:02 am

any reviews of this new version?

Is it nice or anybody here who prefer to stick with 1.10?

christopher_wolf · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:32 pm

Technically, it is a pre-release so there might still be a few bugs.

Here are the big changes from the previous version for quick reference;

Code:

- add ACPI Control System (powerfull and open source) -> see main features for more details
- updated the ACPI Thermal Zone
- removed the Intel Core Duo CPU Speed bug
- add CPU Speed Control for Windows 2000 and Windows Vista (preliminary)
- add Custom Dynamic Switching Speed Up and Slow Down delay
- add large Battery Icon for the TaskBar
- add alternative function to detect the "System Power Status". This is a workaround on system
- that have problems with the keyboard or touchpad when using NHC.
- add possibility to change the ATI Powerplay settings
- add nVidia Powermizer support
- add LCD Brighntess support (in combination with ACPI Control System)
- updated the system tray menu for the professional version and add new profile icons
- add possibility to change the profile after a defined user idle time.
- add XML settings file (settings.xml)
- updated the nhcDriver
- removed the nhcACPI driver (not longer necessary)
- removed the nhcsafe.exe file (not longer necessary)
- updated the nhc webpage and nhc help file
- removed bugs and problems
- To-Do: prepare the release 2.0, AMD Voltage Control support,
- change CPU temperature warning to CPU temperature clockdown
- fixed the bug (Count must be positive...) that interrupted the loading of NHC on some systems.
- fixed the bug (Read Processor Policy failed) on Windows 2000
- To-Do: prepare the release 2.0, AMD Voltage Control support,
- change CPU temperature warning to CPU temperature clockdown

Those are actually some pretty big changes, including the addition of the ACPI Control System; still haven't seen any TP FCU in it yet, oh well.

I am trying it out right now.

ambientscape · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:23 am

This software is awesome!!! Do I still need IBM BATTERY MAXIMIZER thingy after I've installed this one?.

DIGITALgimpus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:01 pm **Posts:** 774

IMHO no big changes for TP users... at least in my opinion. ACPI issn't supported on my T43 yet (the feature I really want), and IBM's battery scale is pretty good... so not much new stuff for me.

Though bug fixes are always welcome ;-)

.

ramian · **Posted:** Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:00 am

Whether or not ACPI for thinkpads will be supported depends on someone actually writing the .cs config file, which depends on someone actually understanding the ACPI language that is used.

DIGITALgimpus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:01 pm **Posts:** 774

It appears Thinkpads don't allow control of the fan via ACPI, or at least from what I can tell thus far... Seems only way people managed to control the fan is writing directly to the ECC.

christopher_wolf · **Posted:** Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:06 pm

ramian wrote:

Whether or not ACPI for thinkpads will be supported depends on someone actually writing the .cs config file, which depends on someone actually understanding the ACPI language that is used.

This varies like little else I have seen. Even though ACPI has standards as to how it does certain things, this varies wildly once you go from one type of laptop to another. If Windows had a clearly accessible area for the EC dumps, much like BSD and Linux, then this would be far easier than it now is. TP FCU goes through the WinIO.sys driver to access a HAL in Windows that lets it read various hardware stats. In any case, the EC is the most direct route to the fan and other hardware systems; in addition, the ACPI is a Microsoft implementation and I have found precious little documentation for it.

DIGITALgimpus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:01 pm **Posts:** 774

I already looked into implementation. The problem is the lack of ability to control the fan via ACPI. You should be able to control the fan via writing to EC in C# (I think)... but you'd get errors about ACPI just like if you ran fan control next to NHC.

Same goes for controling display brightness.

Milos · **Posted:** Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:57 am

DIGITALgimpus wrote:

I already looked into implementation. The problem is the lack of ability to control the fan via ACPI. You should be able to control the fan via writing to EC in C# (I think)... but you'd get errors about ACPI just like if you ran fan control next to NHC.

Same goes for controling display brightness.

I've started building an NHC lib for my A31, and noticed the apparent lack of fan control in ACPI (the most important feature..).

Question for all: In theory where is the ACPI interface -- in the BIOS firmware, EC firmware, or is it a driver running in the OS? Just wondering what would need to be updated to add fan control support in ACPI for A31 and various thinkpads..

Milos

DIGITALgimpus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:01 pm **Posts:** 774

I believe it's EC.

Someone already wrote a ACPI component for NHC for the T4x series, but it only controls the "ThinkLight", and Beep. The fan (which is what everyone wants) isn't supported.

So until IBM/Lenovo makes it more accessible, I guess it's a lost cause.

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:07 pm

Hi,

I updated the ACPI component for the T4x series this weekend. The fan control is supported now. The component is still beta, and remains it, until a bug in NHC is gone.

You can download the file here

You need the latest CoreDuo patch for this! The fan control *should* work with all thinkpads, which are compatible to the fan control utility.

Spawn

P.S: Just for the record: It works by writing down directly to the EC

Milos · **Posted:** Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:22 pm

Spawn123456 wrote:

I updated the ACPI component for the T4x series this weekend. The fan control is supported now. The component is still beta, and remains it, until a bug in NHC is gone.

You can download the file here

You need the latest CoreDuo patch for this! The fan control *should* work with all thinkpads, which are compatible to the fan control utility.

Spawn

Spawn, nice job. I've been doing the same for my A31. For the fan speed/status register, direct access by specifying offset isn't needed - it's a named field in the EC; the name of the fan status register (i.e. 0x2F offset) is "HFSP". But I guess it may not be the same on all Thinkpads (e.g. UCMS on T43 is CMOS on A31).

So to read the fan status, you can use
bool result = ACPI.FIELD.Read("_SB.PCI0.LPC.EC.HFSP", ref FANSTATUS.fanstatus)
which should give 0x80 when on "autopilot". And it can be written to set the speed.

BTW, have you had problems reading using the ReadByOffset method? It seems the correct values are read in the debug window, but the variables actually returned to NHC end up containing the value of the offset you specified, instead of the value actually read at that offset in the EC.

Interestingly there are a few other registers (HFNI, HFNE, HFNS) that look like they might be related to fan control.. I was just having a look to see what they do, but don't know yet.

Milos

dorin · **Posted:** Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:36 pm

any chance that file will work on x40? i have no idea abt programing!

thanks,

dorin

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:42 pm

Hi,

yes Milos, I have tried reading with the Read method, and thats the bug I spoke of. I already contacted the author of NHC and in the next release/update it will be fixed.
I will also try the registers, but I don't believe they'll work, cause the Linux ACPI (these guys know what they're doing) also set the fan by writing down directly to the EC.

@dorin
the fan-control on a x40 seem to be different as on a t4x. But it should be possible. I know this also from the linux-acpi.

Spawn

Milos · **Posted:** Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:15 pm

Spawn123456 wrote:

I will also try the registers, but I don't believe they'll work, cause the Linux ACPI (these guys know what they're doing) also set the fan by writing down directly to the EC.

Hi Spawn,

It does work ok for me. There is really no difference I think, it is still writing directly to the EC just like the linux acpi (and tpfanctrl). It is just using the defined name from the DSL file as opposed to a hardcoded offset number (i.e. 0x2F). So, it should work for all thinkpads that the linux acpi (or tpfancontrol) works for, assuming they use the same field name (not always the case). I can post my A31 file when it's in better shape, but basically I do:

Code:

if (!(ACPI.FIELD.Write("_SB.PCI0.LPC.EC.HFSP", fan_speed))) return false;

to set a fan speed, or set fan_speed=0x80 to return the control to BIOS.

Thanks, it's good to know about the reading bug, I was asking about it because to get the Fan RPM speed, unfortunately there is no field name and you have to use the hard coded offset number.

Milos

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

Spawn123456,

On my T43, I've installed NHC 2 with the CoreDuo patch, and your acpi files. Then I edited ibm.xml to add a line like

Code:

immediately below the one already present.

On NHC start I I'm warned of ACPI problems, I go to to acpi debugger in NHC and log the following:

Code:

ACPI.FIELD.ReadByOffset("_SB.PCI0.LPC.EC.ECOR", ref 0, 49, 8, "AnyAcc", "NoLock", "Preserve")   .  .  .   ERROR
IBM.t43p.HARDWARE.refresh(  )   .  .  .   ERROR

What can be needed to do, to try it on the T43 ?

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:19 am

Hi,

I'm not sure what happened there. The error is in the Brightness-Function. I've updatet the file. So try
EDIT: LINK DELETED, please use the last version
and see if it's working.

Carl

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

Hi,

no more errors! excpet when switching BT ON/OFF, BT is not present on my system.

Also, I do not understand where the setting for manual fan control ar.. I think FAN STATE 1 should actually say manual instead of OFF.

Should the readme say set fan to ACPI as 2, not 3 ?

So I will test to see if makes differences in noise... my system doesn't do much fan noise however.

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:38 pm

Hi,

I don't understand your problem. Do you realy use the new Version, I havn't uploaded it jet, so use the link of my last post. In the new Version there isn't any Fan State anymore... (You can check the Version in the disclaimer of the cs file, just open it with your notepad it's in the first few lines, the actual Version is 0.8 )

Carl

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

I see now that one needs to delete ibm.dll before upgrading.

Until I did so, there were no errors as said above.

After, the settings are as per readme, but I get errors in debugger:

Code:

ACPI.METHOD.GetValue("_SB.PCI0.LPC.EC.HKEY.GBDC", ref 4)   .  .  .   OK
IBM.t43p.HARDWARE.refresh(  )   .  .  .   ERROR

But, I can manualy control the fan now or change the settings!
The fan speed is always reported as 132 rpm on my system however!

Thanks Carl !

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:48 am

Hi marcos,

The reading of fan rpm speed isn't working by now. It's an error in NHC, but it should work in the next version of NHC.

Your error is in the Bluetooth section. In the next release I will fix that, it didn't knew that the state is 4, when you don't have bluetooth.

If you want to disable the bluetooth support you have to:

Open the ibm.cs with an editor and search for
#region Bluetooth : class Bluetooth
and replace it with
/* #region Bluetooth : class Bluetooth

now scroll down to the next
#endregion
(it's 78 lines below it)
and replace it with
#endregion */

To finish it search
result = (result && BLUETOOTH.NHC_WRITE.update_bluetooth_state());
and replace it witch
//result = (result && BLUETOOTH.NHC_WRITE.update_bluetooth_state());

Carl

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

I've loaded NHC 2 and Carl's IBM classes on another T42 with BT that I have. For now, editing ibm.xml to match your machine type is necessary to complete the installation. I will try later to comment out the BT code to prevent errors on a BTless machine, unless Carl predates me in releasing an update

Works great! I was impressed by how complete and nicely designed this utility really is, the monitoring feature with transparent graphic is outstanding.

Plus of course we now have complete support for fan control!

I'm sending Carl the license price of NHC. If someone else wants to contribute, that is welcome

I have the following suggestions to Carl:

- Spell "Fan", not "FAN" and no "-" in Fan-level, etc.
- Manual and not Manuel
- Say Current instead of Actual
- What is MAXIMUM temperature ? Is this information really necessary ?

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:30 am

Hi marcos,

At first: thanks a lot for the contribution!

I will do the typo in the next release, sorry for that, but my last english lesson was 7 years ago... this weekend I have to learn, so only the bluetooth deactivation update.

The MAXIMUM temperature:
The "emergency break" will give the control back to the APCI at 75° at the moment. But you can modify your temp sensors, so the current temperature isn't "clean". The max temp is clean.
I will put this temperature at another place in the next release.

Here you can download the "no bluetooth" file.

Carl

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

Also, what is 'Actual temp' ? It shows always 4/5°
C above CPU on my system, and is the same as maximum.
I think maxiumum, should be called "ACPI override" or something like that

geoffrey · **Joined:** Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:33 am **Posts:** 36

I've tried the new ACPI control system on my ThinkPad T43 and the fan control is working very well indeed so far

I do get an error, but it doesn't stop the utility from working. The error is: "Error - ACPI Control System problem detected" highlighted in red. The error seems to have occurred since Microsoft Update downloaded the new .Net Framework patch for my system.
Just a reminder to people trying this out that you need the NHC Intel Core Duo Patch for the software to run at all and that you need to edit the ibm.xml file to reflect your Model Name (mine is 2668F7G). You can find the model name in NHC under Info (Show Computer Hardware Details). Also, you need to stop or disable the Fan Control Utility (service, if you have it running as a service), otherwise you get a conflict with the two utilities stopping and starting the fan every few seconds.
The other issue is that the PCI sensor is not yet detected, and it is the PCI that, in my experience, reaches the highest temperatures when using the wireless radio. Until that sensor is detected, this utility should be used only for short periods and with caution.
However, this is great work and a very promising development for ThinkPad owners!

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 15, 2006 4:21 am

@marcos
The 'actual temp' is the same as the 'maximum temp' as long as you don't change any of the Mod_Variables in the Temp-Sensor-Settings.
Maybe this formula helps to understand the difference:
actual temp = max (sensor_i - modification_i)||(for all activated sensors)
maximum temp = max (sensor_i)||(for all sensors)

@geoffrey
I sometime get an error, when NHC is startet, but Windows hasn't finished booting. Could you please enable the ACPI debugger and tell me where the Error occurs?

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

Allright. For clarity, I suggest to change description as:

Highest temp: XX° C at sensor ZZZ

Also, I think that 'Offset' would be better than 'modification'

Just an idea. Thanks again!

marcos · **Joined:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:53 pm **Posts:** 129

It seems to me that in NHC mode the fan is not started as intended. I wanted to set a mode in which the fan either is off or runs at lowest speed.
I changed fan levels for low, middle and highest as 0, 1, 1 respectively. I did not changed trigger temperatures or sensors.
Fan mode is set to 2 and settings enable is checked.
The fan does not start as I have temp. higher than 60 on both CPU and 'Actual'. Switching back to mode 3 starts the fan.

Spawn123456 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 15, 2006 9:22 am

Hi marcos,

To fix your issue I have to rewrite some code lines. Didn't think of the Idea of a two mode operation. I have to check how to implement this, this could take a while...
The Problem is the same fan_speed for different levels.
For now you have to change the trigger temperatures.

Fan low level on = 55
Fan low level off = 50
Fan middle level on = 80
Fan middle level off =76
Fan high level on = 85
Fan high level off = 80

And set the fan speeds back to normal

Carl

NHC 2 is out!

Who is online