Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Is it possible to slow my fan speed down?

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
bass1175
Sophomore Member
Posts: 173
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:49 am
Location: Bensalem, PA

Is it possible to slow my fan speed down?

#1 Post by bass1175 » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:59 pm

My t41 fan is way more silent then my t43, not sure why. Is it possible I can slow the t43 fan down, its not spinning fast but still faster then my t41 and annoying to listen to. I got tp fan control but cant see the option of being able to control the speed.

mgo
thinkpads.com customer
thinkpads.com customer
Posts: 877
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:59 pm
Location: Tucson, Az

Re: Is it possible to slow my fan speed down?

#2 Post by mgo » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:29 pm

bass1175 wrote:My t41 fan is way more silent then my t43, not sure why. Is it possible I can slow the t43 fan down, its not spinning fast but still faster then my t41 and annoying to listen to. I got tp fan control but cant see the option of being able to control the speed.
I use the freeware program created by a user on this forum.

http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/tpfc_v041.zip

Carefully! read the instructions for installing.

You can make changes in the .ini file to set fan speed to suit your wishes. (so long as you don't allow the system to overheat and go into thermal shutdown, of course)

bass1175
Sophomore Member
Posts: 173
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:49 am
Location: Bensalem, PA

#3 Post by bass1175 » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:34 am

Excellent little program, just what I was looking for, thank you much mgo.

Johan
Moderator Emeritus
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 1998
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:00 pm
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

#4 Post by Johan » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:23 am

@ bass:

I suggest you read the thread T43 operating temperature (see the post of Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:06 pm), and get the (free and HIGHLY recommended!) program "Notebook Hardware Control" - this can be used to reduce the power consumption in your T43, which will have a significant (positive!) impact on the "fan on" time and also fan speed. Go get it!! :thumbs-UP:

Best regards,

Johan
IBM T42p's (2373-Q1U & -Q2U): 2.1 GHz, 15" UXGA FlexView, 2 GB RAM, 128 MB FireGL T2, 128 GB 1.8" SATA SSD, IBM a/b/g, BT, Win 7 Ultimate
IBM T42 (2373-N1G): 1.8 GHz, 15" SXGA+ FlexView, 2 GB RAM, 64 MB Radeon 9600, 64 GB 1.8" SATA SSD, IBM a/b/g, BT, Win 7 Ultimate

ulrich.von.lich
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:18 am

#5 Post by ulrich.von.lich » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:02 pm

It's a pity that NHC cannot be used simultaneously with the TPFanControl. They are both excellent programs.

From my experience dealing with the T43, TPFanControl does a better job of reducing the fan noise by slowing down the fan speed by force, in exchange for a hotter machine.

The NHC won't change the way the BIOS controls the fan speed. So when the fan speed is slowed down, it means less heat is generated in the system. (less power consumption & more battery juice)

So use NHC as long as the fan noise is tolerable; use TPFanControl when desperate (such as in a library)

davidspalding
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1593
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:39 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

#6 Post by davidspalding » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:18 pm

I haven't had the opportunity (or inclination, though that could change) to try NHC. I find that under different circumstances, I use Power Manager profiles along with TPFanCtrl to control fan speed and heat.

E.g., I have 3 main profiles I use called David Power Optimized (a variant of the standard "power optimized" profile my T43 came with), Adaptive, and Quiet. This first, as you can imagine, sets CPU as MAX with AC, and LOWEST on battery, with differences in HD, LCD conservation. Adaptive sets CPU as ADAPTIVE in both states, with differences in HD, LCD conservation. Quiet, sets the CPU at LOW (not lowest) in both states, with differences in HD, LCD conservation.

Because the CPU setting effects heat somewhat, with conservative settings criteria for TPFanCtrl (basically, fan off, then low, then spinning to highest as it nears 65°C, then switching to BIOS control at 67°). Right now I'm at the "Quiet" Power Manager profile, plugged in on a MiniDock, and the fan is at 4100 RPM with the CPU reading 48°C. If I put TPFanCtrl in smart mode, it turns the fan off. I'm saving power, and heat, and it's quieter. I don't need performance to run Firefox and type this.

YMMV. But I find that just looking up TV listings, answering e-mail, and reading online during commercials while watching TV, the battery lasts long, and noise is minimized, just by nature of the Power Manager profile, and TPFanCtrl cycling the fan based on the lowered operating temperature.
2668-75U T43, 2GB RAM, 2nd hand NMB kybd, Dock II, spare Mini-Dock, and spare Port Replicators. Wacom BT tablet. Ultrabay 2nd HDD.
2672-KBU X32, 1.5GB RAM, 7200 rpm TravelStar HDD.

FTC
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 343
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:02 am
Location: Barcelona, Spain

#7 Post by FTC » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:19 am

Guys, don't forget that NHC can be used also to control the fan speed and temp thresholds for it. You just have to download and install the appropriate ACPI module... look for it in the forum : http://www.p35-forum.de/board/index.php. Works great
760CD -> 770X -> 600E -> T23 -> T40 -> T42 -> T400 -> T430
Thinkpad T430 i5 3320M 320GB HD, 8GB Mem

WarMachine
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:38 pm
Location: Lyon, France
Contact:

#8 Post by WarMachine » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:16 pm

Hi,

I've installed TPFancontrol (service version) yesterday on my X31. (yep, it also works on this machine). Not that it runs hot, but I wanted to know the temperatures.

If you carefully read the readme file, it's very easy to install.

And when I'm too lazy to open the thinklight with <Fn>+<F12>, I use the option which appears when clicking right on the TPFancontrol icon. :lol:

I love this tiny little soft.

Also installed on my T23 (but not the service version), only the older, it runs great too. I plan to upgrade the soft on my T23, as soon as I'll have backed up my MP3.

I had tried NHC, and I must admit it's a nice thing, but it's too heavy and too complex if you only want to control your fans.

:)

W.
701Cs| 755Cs| 560| 600E| T23| X20| X24| X31| T30| R30| T41p| T42| T43| X41
T60 14.1"| T60 15.4"| T61 14.1″ WS| R60| X60t| X61s| X61t| X301| T400| T400s| W500| X200| X201| T410| T410s| X220| T420| T420s| W520| T430| X240| T440| T440s| T440p| T450s| X250

ulrich.von.lich
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:18 am

#9 Post by ulrich.von.lich » Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:01 pm

FTC wrote:Guys, don't forget that NHC can be used also to control the fan speed and temp thresholds for it. You just have to download and install the appropriate ACPI module... look for it in the forum : http://www.p35-forum.de/board/index.php. Works great
That's great news! FTC, do you have the link to the ACPI module that enables fan control feature in the NHC?

FTC
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 343
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:02 am
Location: Barcelona, Spain

#10 Post by FTC » Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:42 pm

Hi,

For NHC fan contro support, the file pointed by

http://www.p35-forum.de/board/notebook- ... tred-info/

Contains most ACPI modules. I belive the folders 112,78 and 91 within the "IBM Lenovo" one do contain ACPI modules for several flavours of T43s.. you'll have to do some testing and maybe edit the configuration file to match your specific model, but it is quite easy. I did this a few months ago for my machines and don't quite remember... but I am sure there are threads describing the process in detail here. Use the search button :-).
760CD -> 770X -> 600E -> T23 -> T40 -> T42 -> T400 -> T430
Thinkpad T430 i5 3320M 320GB HD, 8GB Mem

ulrich.von.lich
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:18 am

#11 Post by ulrich.von.lich » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:38 pm

Thanks FTC! I'll try it once I have some time.

mred30
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:53 pm
Location: Middletown, NY

Tpfancontrol

#12 Post by mred30 » Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:32 pm

I'm new to this web site. Please bare with me. I tried both the Tpfancontrol and NHC programs. At first I was using them both, but quickly found out that was a mistake as they are not compatible to run together.

I uninstalled the NHC; it was not as effective in my T43p as it is in my T41. Tpfancontrol gave me the best results and the most quiet fan operation.

My question is for those who use Tpfancontrol: How can I get this program to automatically start after a reboot? I have to manually engage it after a reboot.
Thinkpad T43p 2.10 Pentium M 1GB RAM
Thinkpad T41 1.6 Pentium M 1GB RAM

Johan
Moderator Emeritus
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 1998
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:00 pm
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Tpfancontrol

#13 Post by Johan » Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:55 pm

mred30 wrote:My question is for those who use Tpfancontrol: How can I get this program to automatically start after a reboot? I have to manually engage it after a reboot.
Welcome to the forum!

What you need to do (to get the ThinkPad Fan Control program stating automatically, on each boot) is to run it as a Windows Service - see e.g. the thread T40 fan control (see the post by xtr of Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:54 am pointing to the download site). If you use the Search function and search for the keywords: "Tpfancontrol service" (remember to check "Search for all terms"), then a good bit of information pops up about the Service version of TPFancontrol.

User troubadix has very recently released a new version of TPF - see this post.

Best regards,

Johan
IBM T42p's (2373-Q1U & -Q2U): 2.1 GHz, 15" UXGA FlexView, 2 GB RAM, 128 MB FireGL T2, 128 GB 1.8" SATA SSD, IBM a/b/g, BT, Win 7 Ultimate
IBM T42 (2373-N1G): 1.8 GHz, 15" SXGA+ FlexView, 2 GB RAM, 64 MB Radeon 9600, 64 GB 1.8" SATA SSD, IBM a/b/g, BT, Win 7 Ultimate

mred30
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:53 pm
Location: Middletown, NY

What are ini files?

#14 Post by mred30 » Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:22 am

May be slightly off this topic, but what are ini files?

I am able to now get Tpfancontrol to start at reboot. It took some time, but your help was greatly appreciated!

Thank you Johan!
Thinkpad T43p 2.10 Pentium M 1GB RAM
Thinkpad T41 1.6 Pentium M 1GB RAM

billymm
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:05 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

#15 Post by billymm » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:53 am

if you pull the fan out try a little switch cleaner lubricant on fan bearing

.... some fans make hideous noises

just a side note - wouldn't slowing down the fan increase the heat on the sink as its not removing it as quickly??
T40/P 2373 G1M

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T40/T41/T42/T43 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 13 guests