W520 w/ tpfancontrol issue

infinus · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 1:23 pm

I've found a small issue with tpfanctontrol and I wanted to see if anyone else can duplicate or has seen this. I had a custom fan mapping setup in the .ini file that went from speeds 1 and 2, up to speed 7 when the load it maxed out. I don't think tpfancontrol itself is doing anything wrong, however what I've found is that if you stay on any given level for a long enough period of time, the fans will go to 0 rpm every so often for 10 or so seconds, and then come back up to speed.

I've duplicated this with logging turned on (I don't have the logs with me currently or I'd post them) and you can clearly see that the trigger being used by tpfancontrol is normal, the level that tpfancontrol has set, is still 7, however the rpm's drop to 0. They start to slowly climb back up within a few seconds, taking a good 10 seconds or so to get back up to 3800rpm (level 7's speed on the W520). I've also duplicated this behavior in manual mode, just set the fans to level 7, run something cpu/gpu intensive, and eventually it'll happen.

Since then, I've changed my ini file to release control of the fans to the Bios once the temp goes past 145 F and since doing that I've noticied no dropouts. So while the BIOS is in control this doesn't seem to happen, but if forcing a fan level, then I see these dropouts.

Anyone else? Any ideas?

troubadix · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 3:40 pm

EC of W520 is working differently, try this one (.exe and .ini, sorry just Celsius):

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmit ... l4W520.zip

infinus · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 4:49 pm

What did you change? Just out of curiosity?

infinus · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 4:51 pm

Holy smokes.... the entire ini file is different!

I'd love to hear a summary of changes!

infinus · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 9:17 pm

Just a little feedback. The temperature readout seems a bit inconsistent, it jumps around a lot it seems like. As for fan consistency.... I need more time to tell.

infinus · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 10:27 pm

More feedback.... I haven't noticed any drop outs in the fan speed like before so far. I'll keep testing.

I like what you are trying to do with the data smoothing to get rid of the errors you are getting out of the EC. I found your default setting still let it jump around too much. Do you see any problem with going down to a number like 2? It seems like it still moves fast enough to adjust the fans but keeps it from jumping levels prematurely.

Also curious why it doesn't work in Fahrenheit mode?

infinus · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 4:32 am

Another update.

Did an overnight run and it all looks ok with this version. One question though, I found that the program kicks back control to the bios once it hits around 86 C. How can I stop this? I'd rather it stayed in control and kicked the fans up another notch rather than surrender control. I can't find anything in the ini that's doing this. Here's my speed settings:

// Celsius/FanCtrl/BiosCtrl/CtrlNWrite
Level=22 0 0 1
Level=35 0 0 1
Level=45 1 1 1
Level=55 2 2 1
Level=63 7 7 1
Level=85 7 7 1
Level=90 64 64 1

troubadix · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 7:28 am

infinus wrote:

program kicks back control to the bios once it hits around 86 C

there is an undocumented parameter in .ini. Insert:

SmartModeExit=99 //or more if you like :mrgreen:

(default 85 degrees C)

no newer TP than T61 around here, lots of jobs & less of time: some day I will............ :help:

infinus · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 8:19 am

Awesome stuff!

I find this new version a significant bump up, I put in another donation for you! Appreciate the effort!!!!!!

-Mike

troubadix · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 8:29 am

....wait, .exe you have got has a faulty input routine for SmartModeExit. Download again to get a working one:

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmit ... l4W520.zip

sorrrrrry, :SH!:

edit: thx again 4 summer donation in 2008

edit2: ....and for another donation of 20 buck just right now

I will add it together and you will be going up the charts :banana:

05/18/2011 edit3: ...again some changes, please download again (.exe & .ini), link s. above

infinus · **Posted:** Sat May 21, 2011 10:37 am

You deserve it!

What else did you change?

troubadix · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 5:54 am

infinus wrote:

What else did you change?

DeltaMaxTemp=3 // Temp will not jump around so much in case of read errors
IconCycle=2500 // update icon every x milliseconds (default 3k), more constant image
ProcessPriority=5 // minimizes read errors

MenuLabelSM1=Smart Mode Quiet/ Label for Icon Menu, must be terminated by '/'
MenuLabelSM2=Smart Mode Cool/ Label for Icon Menu, must be terminated by '/'

in .exe ManualMode icon submenue to set Manual Mode by icon menue

vickoxy · **Posted:** Sun May 29, 2011 1:24 am

@troubadix: do you plan to write your app for Linux? Seems that thinkfan is not working as well as your app (no pulsing reduction)...

troubadix · **Posted:** Mon May 30, 2011 1:40 am

no, sorry

I'm not running Linux...

Terry123 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:36 am

Quick question - is this the recommended version for T420 or should I download the latest from the main tpfancontrol site?

troubadix · **Posted:** Mon Aug 01, 2011 3:15 pm

download the latest from the main tpfancontrol site

Terry123 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:15 pm

Thanks

findbuddha · **Joined:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:43 pm **Posts:** 2

troubadix,

Do you think it would be possible to add a feature to switch tpfancontrol profiles based on AC or battery?

Thanks for your program!

radekhulan · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:53 am

I read on another site T420s is using same EC as W520. Should W520 TPFanControl.ini be used on T420s as well, or "stock" 0.62? Thanks.

troubadix · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 7:40 am

if you don't encounter any problems with TPFC 0.62 on your T420s stick to it. TPFC4W520 was written to control the "every-2-sec-fan-speed-up"-bug. It can be used also on the T420s but the .ini-files are not compatible: with TPFC4W520 you have to use the file coming in the TPFC4W520 package.

salzrat · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 8:50 am

I've tried TPFC 0.62 on a W520 and didn't seem to have issues with it (bios 1.32). Do you still recommend updating to the Version you postet for the W520?

Colonel O'Neill · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:21 pm

I like the new one's context menu a lot better.

That said, with the new one, if explorer crashes, the icon disappears but the process is still running.

salzrat · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:57 pm

You mean that the smart modes are called "cool" and "quiet"?

Colonel O'Neill · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:47 pm

Heh. With the old version, you could use Resource Hacker to change the menu names. I called it Passive Cooling and Aggressive Cooling on my T400. :roll:

It's the manual mode submenu that I like.

salzrat · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:50 am

Ah true.

But the new version updates the log every second, while the old version only did that for actual changes, so it was easier to follow what's going on. Maybe that's the "fix" that was introduced, to force the W520 to keep the settings imposed by TPFC? But the old version doesn't have any problem with that, either...

Colonel O'Neill · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:01 am

I dunno. The underlying issue may have been fixed somewhere along the BIOS updates, rendering the old method unnecessary. I wonder if the log updating keeps the CPU from entering deeper sleep modes?

salzrat · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:29 am

Actually, I've never seen the w520 enter C6 or C7 (in realtemp) even without running tpfc... Should that work?

AofI · **Posted:** Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:54 pm

Hello, I think I have the latest version for the W520 (title bar says TPFC.73ti) and I'm having a strange issue with it.
When running on battery the laptop will randomly go into hibernation! No warning or anything, I've tested it over a few weeks and the only time it does it is when TPFC is running.
Any ideas?

Running the 4270-CTO with some extras.
i7-2720QM, 16GB RAM, 80GB Intel SSD(msata) + 2 500GB 7200rpm Mimentus XT HD's in RAID 0, 15.6in 1080p LED, Nvidia Quadro 1000M , Intel Advanced Wireless, Bluetooth, W7 Ultimate

Colonel O'Neill · **Posted:** Sat Jan 28, 2012 5:19 pm

The hibernate while TPFC is running is a bit of a known incompatibility. I heard uninstalling Power Manager alleviates the conflict.

AofI · **Posted:** Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:44 pm

Colonel O'Neill wrote:

The hibernate while TPFC is running is a bit of a known incompatibility. I heard uninstalling Power Manager alleviates the conflict.

So does everything still work the same way after uninstalling it? be kind of pointless having a quiet fan if the battery drains in record time

W520 w/ tpfancontrol issue

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