Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys, I'm currently investigating a fan control issue with my X60s in that when docked in an Ultrabase, the fan kicks straight into medium speed; i.e. its fan cooling cycle is off-medium-off, rather than off-low-off, or off-low-medium-low-off. (You get the idea)

Because going straight to the medium state cools things so quickly, the result is a constant cycle of silence and significant fan noise that repeats every minute or two, which is quite distracting. When un-docked, my machine does what you would expect, and first tries the low speed fan state when cooling is required.

I have tried to isolate the catalyst for this behaviour, and have narrowed it down to a physical connection to the Ultrabase.

I've reached a helpful tech representative at IBM who is interested in looking into the problem for me, however we aren't sure if this is a one-off issue with my X60s/Ultrabase, the BIOS version, or some combination of things that happen to affect me -- or if it's a bug in the embedded controller firmware that may need to be patched.

I would be very greatful if those with either an X60 or X60s and an Ultrabase could try the following things for me, and report the fan RPM levels you see:

1. Download TPFanControl (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tp4xfancontrol/) or some other CPU fan monitoring utility

2. When not on the Ultrabase (AC power or battery, it shouldn't matter) and the fan is off, open TPFanControl and monitor the fan RPMs.

3. When the fan starts to kick in as part of its cooling cycle, record the RPM it spins at. (If you have set TPFanControl up so that it can take control the fan, you can save a bit of time by manually setting the fan state to "1".)

4. Dock the laptop into the ultrabase, wait 10-15 seconds for the docking station to initialise properly, and try steps 2 and 3 again. (In the interest of eliminating other possible causes, make sure nothing is plugged into the UltraBase, or in its Ultrabay.) If the issue I'm experiencing happens to you, the intial RPM reached when docked will be significantly higher, and louder.

Along with some basic info about your machine, Ultrabase and BIOS version, it may help narrow down the issue. For example, this is what is happening with my machine:

Model: X60s, 1702-4EM
BIOS: 2.07
UltraBase PN: 42W3107
Initial fan RPM when undocked: 2950-3000RPM
Initial fan RPM when docked: 3600RPM

Thanks in advance to all that can help!

Initial fan RPM when undocked: 2950-3000RPM
Initial fan RPM when docked: 3600RPM

it has the same behaviour as my X60s.
no worriy.

Same behaviour on my X60T. Haven’t checked the fan speed, but symptoms are exact the same. I’m nearly sure; the problem is bios or embedded controller related.

Machine: X60T – 6366 K7G
BIOS: 1.05
Tablet UltraBase P/N: 41U3120

Also have a look at this post:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=37792

Cheers!
jbee

I heard back from IBM today.. the tech spoke to their national specialist, and he found out it's a deliberate design decision to make the fan work that way when on the UltraBase

Soooo... anyone out there wanting to buy a barely-used Ultrabase X6 ?

maybe you can try tpfancontrol. use it at your own risk though.

ibear wrote:maybe you can try tpfancontrol. use it at your own risk though.

I've tried using TPFanControl, but the firmware acts at an even lower level than it; the software lets you set when the fans turn on and at which of the three levels, but what seems to happen is that it changes what each level actually is.

I'm glad now that I went for an external USB DVDRW and not the Ultrabase one!

ibear wrote:maybe you can try tpfancontrol. use it at your own risk though.

He already did:

1. Download TPFanControl (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tp4xfancontrol/) or some other CPU fan monitoring utility

2. When not on the Ultrabase (AC power or battery, it shouldn't matter) and the fan is off, open TPFanControl and monitor the fan RPMs.

3. When the fan starts to kick in as part of its cooling cycle, record the RPM it spins at. (If you have set TPFanControl up so that it can take control the fan, you can save a bit of time by manually setting the fan state to "1".)

Is it possible that this error is BIOS related?
I havent got it until last week when I updated the Bios of my x60s to the most recent version. As I dont need the BIOS Features and this seems to lead into the fan problem Im thinking about downgrading again. So perhaps anybody who got this Problem should report his BIOS-Version.

Greetings
TO

theomega wrote:Is it possible that this error is BIOS related?
I havent got it until last week when I updated the Bios of my x60s to the most recent version. As I dont need the BIOS Features and this seems to lead into the fan problem Im thinking about downgrading again. So perhaps anybody who got this Problem should report his BIOS-Version.

It is almost certain to be influenced by the BIOS, the embedded controller program in particular.

Which BIOS version were you running in the past? I might have to have another tinker with it... just have to make sure I don't try a BIOS so old it doesn't support my system time to hit the tabook and work out when my model was released.

on my X60s with base, running 24/7, fan rarely comes on..

per power manager both fan sound level and system temperature are low, showing two green bars, only..

Puh, thats the problem: I cant remember he old version for sure, but I think it was 1.10. I think Ill risk the downgrade as soon as I got some time.

I think the error must occur somewhere between 1.10 and 2.09