T43 FAN Problems!

Message

kenny · #1 Post by **kenny** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:15 pm

I know this is a well discussed subject since I have read most of them, but I'm still searching for help with this, since IBM can't help me.

I bought my T43-2669 a little over a year ago. For one year it was silent as the grave, but then I decided to reinstall windows after some system issues. Doing that I also updated the BIOS and Embedded Controller using the ThinkVantage System Update utility.

I believe that after updating the BIOS and Embedded Controller, the problem occured. Now the FAN constantly runs at full speed.
The FAN starts off slowly, but after 2-5 minutes it just accelerates and never turns off again.
IBM replaced the FAN with a new one, but that didn't help at all, actually it almost made it worse.

I have done some readings with "tpfancontrol" but there is something I don't get. After a good 2 hours use the values are:

CPU 45°C (0x78)
APS 41°C (0x79)
PCM 31°C (0x7a)
GPU 46°C (0x7b)
BAT 37°C (0x7c)
BAT 31°C (0x7e)
BUS 42°C (0xc0)
PCI 43°C (0xc1)
PWR 43°C (0xc2)

But the "Fan State" field reads "0x07 (Fan Level 7, Non Bios)". I read somewhere that "0x07" or "Fan Level 7" is referred to as Emergency Level. Isn't this a bit odd? Shouldn't it have read "Bios" and shouldn't the level be around 2-3?

My concern is that the BIOS and/or Embedded Controller gets wrong readings from the sensors which causes the FAN to run at full speed. If not it could have something to do with the temperature settings in the Embedded Controller/BIOS. Anyway does anyone know a way to fix this apart from using "tpfancontrol" to control the values?

agarza · #2 Post by **agarza** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:34 pm

Check the fancontrol.ini in the directory where you have installed the TPFanControl utility.
Open it and look out for (check the bold text):

// ENGL: Set to "active=1 "allow program to modify
// fan. otherwise it just reads config. do not
// set to 1 unless you have checked the readme file!
// if you set "active=2" the program will come up
// in smart mode.

Active=2
Cycle=5
MinimizeToSysTray=1
MinimizeOnClose=1
StartMinimized=1

// ENGL: disable close function, useful when running as a service

DisableClose=1
IconLevels=55 65 70
FanBeep=0 0
MaxReadErrors= 10
IgnoreSensors=
// ENGL: temperature levels with associated fan levels
// (for the fan to come back, temperature must fall
// down to previous level). There may be more or
// less levels in this list. The first one should
// have a fan speed of zero and is the "turn off"
// temperature.
//
// Fan speed of 64 is extreme and may be an *unsupported*
// and *damaging* mode. A fan speed of 128 setting is
// not really a fan speed in itself but will instead switch
// fan control to BIOS mode (0x80). The idea of this
// is to let the program get out of the way and let the
// BIOS handle extremes.(and then switch back to smart if
// the temperature is okay again)

Level=50 0
Level=52 1
Level=53 2
Level=56 2
Level=65 128

You should change the fan values, take a look at my .ini example. Ideally you could run the fan using Smart Fan Control. When the CPU temps goes higher (65C, then BIOS mode takes over Smart Mode and switches back when the temp is low than 65C.

I think you have your TPFanControl values incorrectly set-up.

kenny · #3 Post by **kenny** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:06 am

Okay, but I was hoping that I could fix the problem without the use of "TPFanControl". I haven't configured "TPFanControl" to do anything, I've only used it for readings!

I hoped that there was a way to fix this, since it seems that the real issue is the BIOS/Embedded Controller version. Or at least it seems so!

agarza · #4 Post by **agarza** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:37 am

But if you don't have TPFanControl running in the background. do you still hear the fan at 7X speed (4400rpm) ??

kenny · #5 Post by **kenny** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:33 pm

Yeah, with or without running TPFanControl the fan runs at "level 7" allthough it reads 4000rpm and not 4400rpm, but that's still way louder than before i reinstalled my computer!

kenny · #6 Post by **kenny** » Sat May 19, 2007 4:52 pm

Does anyone have a suggestion to how I can fix this, without using TPFanControl?
As mentioned, IBM replaced the fan, so it seems absurd that it is soo noisy when the temperatures are relatively low!

agarza · #7 Post by **agarza** » Sat May 19, 2007 6:12 pm

If you're running the newest version of the BIOS Embedded Controller find a old one. I'm unsure which one I have.

kenny · #8 Post by **kenny** » Mon May 21, 2007 3:15 am

Hmm... I think it's impossible to downgrade the BIOS, but correct me if I'm wrong... I can't find any tools from IBM which are capable of doing it!

agarza · #9 Post by **agarza** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:40 pm

I think I know what your problem is:

Typing 2669 in Lenovo's Support Page:

Code: Select all

P M 1.7GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB 7200rpm HDD, 14.1 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD, 128MB Fire GL T2, 16x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD(slim), Bluetooth/Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), 802.11a/b/g Wireless(MPCI), Secure Chip(TCPA), UltraNav, 9 cell battery, WinXP Pro

I wonder if the description above is the same as your lappy.
Could you post your full laptop type number: 2669-XXX

If ThinkVantage updated your EC and BIOS version it might have downloaded a different version for your laptop.

BIOS Update (Non-Diskette) - ThinkPad T43, T43p (2668, 2669, 2678, 2679, 2686, 2687) 2006-09-06

Embedded Controller Program (Non-Diskette) - ThinkPad T43 and T43p (2668, 2669, 2678, 2679, 2686, 2687) 2006-06-06

I find weird a T43 have the 128MB FireGL T2 card.

Chris001 · #10 Post by **Chris001** » Mon May 21, 2007 1:18 pm

kenny wrote:Hmm... I think it's impossible to downgrade the BIOS, but correct me if I'm wrong... I can't find any tools from IBM which are capable of doing it!

Nope, it can be done (at least in a T41 2373-xxx series). The BIOS software will tell you that what you are doing will downgrade the BIOS and you have to choose Yes/Accept or Cancel.

Chris

kenny · #11 Post by **kenny** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:40 pm

Sorry for the late reply, I've been busy with my exams. Hope you still read this!

#xtr#
The descripton you mention is not equal to mine. I have a T43 with the following specs.:

Model: T43 2669-CTO
CPU: Centrino 1.73GHz (M740)
HDD: 60GB 7200RPM
RAM: 1024MB
TFT LCD: 14.1" SXGA+(1400x1050)
GPU: ATI x300 64MB
Other: CD-RW/DVD, Bluetooth, 56k Modem, GigaBit Ethernet, Wireless, Secure Chip (TCPA), UtraNav, 9 Cell Battery, Windows XP Pro

## EDIT ##
I updated my Bios and ECP to the versions you linked to. I hope those are the correct ones?

#Chris001#
So I just need to find the old ones! Will try and search for them!

kenny · #12 Post by **kenny** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:06 pm

Hi again,

I tried to downgrade the BIOS and ECP, but neither of them would allow me to downgrade. I downloaded the older versions from IBM's support site, but when I tried to install them, they were simply skipped by the BIOS. So I guess that the newer thinkpad models have a feature that checks the current version of the BIOS and skips the update if it finds that, that version is older.

I was wondering if it is possible to check which FAN there is in my T43 without disassembling my laptop?

T43 FAN Problems!

T43 FAN Problems!

Who is online