Thinkpad Fan Noise Problem: Light at the End of the Tunnel

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skygodtj · #451 Post by **skygodtj** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:37 pm

Doing testing on my T23, 2647-8RU (1.2Ghz, 512MB, 40GB CDRW/DVD) a fan setting of 63 goes to 0 RPM, seems anything from 7 to 63 gives about 47xx-49xx RPM. while... a 64 goes to a Pratt & Whitney 6039 RPM!!

On the T23, here is a speed table I came up with for each setting:

Fan Setting:
----------------------------
0=fan off
1=1800-2313 rpm
2=2284-2431 rpm
3=4386-4992 rpm
4=4742-5011 rpm
5=4705-4869 rpm
6=4833-5029 rpm
7=4802-4912 rpm

Above 7, from 8-62, rpm varies little from 47xx-49xx,

63=0

64=6029-6144 rpm!!!

It's interesting to note that a fan setting of 6 is a little higher rpm than 7. You can hear the slight auible change in fan speed. I am surprised tho that there is such a large rpm jump from 2 to 3, nothing in between 2400-4300 rpm, may be a bad harmonic range .

A setting of 7 gives these T23 numbers idling:

CPU 41°C (0x78)
APS 45°C (0x79)
PCM 43°C (0x7a)
BAT 26°C (0x7e)
BUS 0°C (0xc0)
PCI 0°C (0xc1)
PWR 0°C (0xc2)
XC3 0°C (0xc3

While 6 gives these:

CPU 38°C (0x78)
APS 47°C (0x79)
PCM 47°C (0x7a)
BAT 26°C (0x7e)
BUS 0°C (0xc0)
PCI 0°C (0xc1)
PWR 0°C (0xc2)
XC3 0°C (0xc3

TJ

mosche · #452 Post by **mosche** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:13 am

gunston · #453 Post by **gunston** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:22 am

read the "readme.txt" carefully,
there is a way to turn off the "Beep"!!

joschum · #454 Post by **joschum** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:14 am

Hi,

I would like to control the fan speed with the ibm-acpi Linux kernel module. This way worked before using Suse 10.0 on my Thinkpad T43p. ibm-acpi can be used to reduce fan noise (both speed and pulsing) and to decrease fan power consumption.

When this patch is applied and the ibm-acpi module is loaded with the experimental=1 module parameter, the following new capabilities are added to /proc/acpi/ibm/fan:

# echo level LEVEL > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan sets a fan speed level between 0 and 7, where LEVEL=0 means fan off and LEVEL=7 is the fastest speed.

Unfortunately fan control does not work with Suse 10.1:

# echo level 2 > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument

Are there any substantial differences between Suse 10.0 and 10.1 with respect to ibm_acpi?

Laptop: Thinkpad T43p
OS: SuSE Linux 10.1, Kernel: 2.6.16.13-4-default

joschum

cceye · #455 Post by **cceye** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:46 am

hello Guys,
I made a windows service program of this program .

feel free download it binary and soruce at here .

http://www.cceye.com/index.php?topic=73.0
what is it ?
it is a windows Service, basicly it port from the program from
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17715
the only different Just it running as background service, so once you install it, no need to bother to remember anything . for lazy people like me use only

what does this program do :

it control IBM 4X Fan Speed, so it won't make too much noise unless it have to .
I had use this program on my PC over a year, without problem.
But you are agree to use it with your own risk.

Install:
Download the smartfan.rar from http://www.cceye.com/index.php?action=d ... =73.0;id=9
unzip this file into anywhere at your hard driver , eg: c:\windows\system32\IBMFANSPEED\

Click on install.bat

Uninstall:

click on the Unstall.bat

ref links
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_fan_noise
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17715

Note:
1,sometimes system's Event log will full, please clean your event log every 2-3 months.
2,the program crash once a week or so, sorry I didn;t bother to trace out, instead just set the service to rerun itself after crash.

gunston · #456 Post by **gunston** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:26 am

Good one,
need to have a try!!!

lakersgo · #457 Post by **lakersgo** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:56 am

My FC seems to be more busy with APS temp than CPU temp. I like my system to be really really cool, so I have fan running at speed: 4 at 40C. The thing is that the CPU temp got down to 39C which means the fan shouldn't be running but it still does. The APS temp however is around 45C...and that seems to be the reason why the fan still works even though the CPU temp is below 40C. Anyone notice this?

gunston · #458 Post by **gunston** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:26 am

lakersgo wrote:My FC seems to be more busy with APS temp than CPU temp. I like my system to be really really cool, so I have fan running at speed: 4 at 40C. The thing is that the CPU temp got down to 39C which means the fan shouldn't be running but it still does. The APS temp however is around 45C...and that seems to be the reason why the fan still works even though the CPU temp is below 40C. Anyone notice this?

yes, it is

yiplong · #459 Post by **yiplong** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:52 pm

the fan my x60 is kind of loud, would this work on the x60?

yiplong · #460 Post by **yiplong** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:23 pm

I just tried this utility, it is working great. According to stats taken from this forum, the various 'fan levels' should correspond to these 'fan speeds':

Fan speeds are as follows:
0 = Off
1 = ~1600-1800 RPM (hd is louder)
2 = ~1600-1800 RPM (hd is louder)
3 = ~2800 RPM (audible) This is the speed the fan usually runs at when on BIOS. Once the fan turns on via the BIOS it doesn't turn off.
4 = ~2800 RPM (audible)
5 = ~2800 RPM (audible)
6 = ~3500 RPM (audible)
7 = ~3500 RPM (audible)

on my X60 however, Level 1 = 2700 - 2850, which can be quite audible. Is there any way to modify the speed associated with each level? For example, I want Level 1 to be like 1000, Level 2=1500, Level 3=2500 and so on.

I think if I set it to run at 1500 rpm all the time, it will produce cooler and quieter system.

troubadix · #461 Post by **troubadix** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:15 am

Hi!

easy trial tpfancontrol_as_service package:

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

features: 1-click_install, 1-click_uninstall

Ciao, troubadix

Tinus · #462 Post by **Tinus** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:47 am

Hi all,

I have a z60m and a have annoying fan problems. On bios/power manager/winxp - every scheme possible - the fan is spinning up when doing almost nothing. In Fancontrol, the only part that's getting hot is the APS:

CPU 38°C (0x78)
APS 51°C (0x79)
PCM 33°C (0x7a)
GPU 0°C (0x7b)
BAT 50°C (0x7c)
BAT 33°C (0x7e)
BUS 37°C (0xc0)
PCI 42°C (0xc1)
PWR 47°C (0xc2)

So, my HD is getting hot.
ok, so far so 'good'. But: after my fan it turned on, and the temp is again below threshold, it doesn't stop.
I noticed that I have this problem with all possible software. Power Manager isn't working...and even the FanControl utility doesn't stop. (threshold is 52C, during the above temps the fan is still running).

Interestingly, when I swith a powerscheme manually in Power Manager, or in fanControl...the fan stops.
What's happening here?: It stops by manually change some settings, but automatically it doesn't seem to be able to do so.

By the way, FanControl is working the first time when started, but after reaching the turning-on point, it isn't able to turn it off again.

Is there an explanation/solution for this?

ps. I already uninstalled power manager and disabled settings in bios etc etc. Doesn't help.

troubadix · #463 Post by **troubadix** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:08 am

Hi!

Do you have a zero level in fancontrol.ini ? As i.e. :

Level=50 0
Level=65 3
Level=70 6
Level=75 64

It is a must for turning off the fan coming down from higher temps.

Ciao, troubadix

Tinus · #464 Post by **Tinus** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:19 am

Yes I have,

Level=50 0
Level=52 2
Level=55 5
Level=60 7
Level=70 128

... it's still not clear to me if my z60m understands all the step-wise levels. I did try them manually. Sometimes it reacts on different on level 3 and 5 for example. But most of the time it seems that 3,4,5 are the same just as 1,2 and 6,7. Anyway, it doesn't fall back to the "0" level when reading 50C.
What about 51C with these settings? Does the tool wait for the 50C?

troubadix · #465 Post by **troubadix** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:33 am

mysterious

I got no idea ...
....and no experience with z60m. The posted scheme works well in my T40 and X31....

kw · #466 Post by kw » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:33 pm

Hi,

will there be a vista-compatible version in future?

NimnuL · #467 Post by **NimnuL** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:32 am

Great soft, works verry well with my notebook.

FAN Speeds:
0 - off
1 - ~3000rpm
2 - ~3130rpm
3 - ~3550rpm
4 - same as 3.
5 - same as 3 and 4
6 - ~4430rpm
7 - same as 6

CPU 45°C (0x78)
APS 45°C (0x79)
PCM 36°C (0x7a)
GPU 47°C (0x7b)
BAT 33°C (0x7c)
BAT 27°C (0x7e)
BUS 44°C (0xc0)
PCI 46°C (0xc1)
PWR 46°C (0xc2)

Thanx a lot for this program, it's verry usefull.

NimnuL · #468 Post by **NimnuL** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 4:29 am

Before I start to describe problem I like to forgive all of You for my english. I hope You understand what I want to say.

I use T43. Two days ago I used tool - Fan Control. Before that the FAN was a little bit noisy. But Fan Control work well and FAN quit to be audiabe. Till yesterday everything seemed to be right.
And now everything is wierd

I cannot start Fan Control, when I click on that tool I take that warning:

I don't know why. In Fan Control folder there are WinIO files. I didn't delete any files. But not this is wierd. Without running Fan Controll the FAN works verry quiet. When CPU temperature is below 47 deg C FAN will turn off. Whe temp. > 47 will start, but FAN is almost no audiable. When CPU temp. reaches 60 deg. C the FAN start to be noisy but for a while, then start to slow down. But the temp. never exceed 65 deg. C.
Before I used Fan Controll utility that won't happend.
What was change? I shold to be worry about that? FAN is now verry quite but I don't kow why after all Fan Control isn't running.

I hope You understand me.

Best regards!
NimnuL

zaku · #469 Post by **zaku** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:18 am

is there a way to go back to default?? even though i set the active back to 0 and choose the bios option, my cpu averages in higher temperature than before

troubadix · #470 Post by **troubadix** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:56 am

Hi!

To go back to default:

If tpfancontrol is NOT installed as service, simply remove downloaded files and .log-file i.e.:

Code: Select all

del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.ini 
del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.exe 
del c:\tpfancontrol\readme.txt 
del c:\tpfancontrol\WinIo.dll 
del c:\tpfancontrol\WinIo.sys 
del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.log

If tpfancontrol is installed as service (my package), first the service has to be stopped and removed

Code: Select all

net stop TPFanControl
INSTSRV TPFanControl REMOVE

INSTSRV.exe is in my pack (signature), as well as 1-Click-Installation and 1-Click-Uninstallation.

@NimnuL: service TPFanControl is started at boot time automatically and may be it is still running?

Ciao, troubadix

wayneh · #471 Post by **wayneh** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:21 am

Hi All,

I recently swapped out my 1.6ghz P4 for a 2.4ghz P4.

I just installed and tested T43 Fan Control v0.18
on my T30 - it seems to work fine.

However, I'm confused about something -

The list shows my CPU at 44, and my PCM at 48
"Highest" always seems to show the PCM value - 48, as does the popup in the task tray.

Can I get the task tray to popup the current CPU temp?

Thanks.

zacha81 · #472 Post by **zacha81** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:48 pm

hello!

thanks for the tool- it is working on my t43 (2668-74G) but I still am not able to get the annoying fan to totally stay off. I already set the CPU speed to 800Mhz, lowered the voltage and underclocked the GPU but the system temperature is still ~ 54 DEG while fan is rotating at level 1. As soon as I turn it off totally the temperature will rise to 60 DEG and beyond.

If if unplug the notebook from the power source within 2 minutes the temperature falls to ~ 47 DEG causing the fan to stay off. I assume this to be a problem with the GPU. Underclocking the GPU with ati tool does not help much- giving me about ~ 1 DEG lower teperature but when I unplug the notebook ATI Powerplay seems to "do something" and the temperature falls. I already tried to set the powerplay option for AC- power to "long battery life" too but this does not affect anything. The display driver still shows up "optimized performance" (sorry I translated this from German so I don't know if these terms are actually the same in the English driver version) and the teperature is still high (compared with values I read in this thread according to other T43 users).

Does anyone have a clue what might be wrong with my settings? And do you have the same issues with ATI powerplay?

BTW I have plugged this notebook into the IBM Dock II and a external Monitor is connected via the DVI port... may this possibly be an issue? Does the TDMS transmitter turn on as soon as a Dock/Port Replicator is connected? TIA

zacha81 · #473 Post by **zacha81** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:35 am

okay i did a bit more testing and found out that the problem actually seems to be connected with the usage of an external monitor. as soon as two displays are activated ati powerplay switches from "battery optimised" to "performance optimised"

dunno if this is a bug or a feature

btw it does not matter if the external monitor is connected thru dvi or vga. and does not matter if the thinkpad panel is switched on or off too. as soon as an external monitor is used in any way the ati driver uses "optimised performance" resulting in heating up of the gpu.

dsigma6 · #474 Post by **dsigma6** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:41 am

one happy "customer" with a super cool CPU thanks to shimodax. running well on a t23 2647-4mu and 2tu. the fan is on most of the time when i'm browing, which is kind of funny since most people wanted this to keep their fans off...i was sick of my fan not coming on until 82C, which is absolutely insane.

THANK YOU!!!

edit: I have also noticed that the APS and PCM temperatures are interfering with the fan cutoff temperature. I have set to ignore these values but it sporadically doesn't. If anything, the fan will just stay on longer, which isn't hurting anybody.

ircr · #475 Post by **ircr** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:10 am

Hello guys. I own a Lenovo 3000 C100 with a celeron. Does anybody have any clue how to fix the always on fan? The lenovo told me to change the settings in bios, but I can't find those settings. Please help me to turn off this monster.

Sorry for my non-perfect english, i'm from Slovenia.

#476 Post by **BillMorrow** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:56 am

hello ircr...

first, keep practicing your english..
it will get better..

second, lenovo will NEVer tell you to do ANYTHING other than what lenovo support supports..

it is like the mullahs in iran telling the muslims to think for themselves.. just will not happen..

have you tried running the fan control utility..?
of course, it was not written for the lenovo laptop but for thinkpad T43's..
if you DO try it be sure to monitor the fan and not let your cpu or gpu get too hot..

ircr · #477 Post by **ircr** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:26 pm

I entered bios and there are just a few settings there - no fan managment, just boot-usb-login and that's all. Rescue&Recovery at boot doesn't work.

Where could I get a never bios for my laptop?

I tried many programs, but don't work. The fan just keeps on going & going & never stops - it's just annoying.

Fan control keeps beeping....the pic:

error:

Code: Select all

[6.10.2006 1:50:24] Max. Errors: Set fan control to 0x80, Result: CMD IGNORED (PASSIVE MODE)
[6.10.2006 1:50:27] Warning: Can't read Status (possible conflict with other software)

[6.10.2006 1:50:28] Max. Errors: Set fan control to 0x80, Result: CMD IGNORED (PASSIVE MODE)
[6.10.2006 1:50:31] Warning: Can't read Status (possible conflict with other software)

[6.10.2006 1:50:31] Max. Errors: Set fan control to 0x80, Result: CMD IGNORED (PASSIVE MODE)
[6.10.2006 1:50:35] Warning: Can't read Status (possible conflict with other software)

[6.10.2006 1:50:35] Max. Errors: Set fan control to 0x80, Result: CMD IGNORED (PASSIVE MODE)
[6.10.2006 1:50:38] Warning: Can't read Status (possible conflict with other software)

zaku · #478 Post by **zaku** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:37 am

troubadix wrote:Hi!

To go back to default:

If tpfancontrol is NOT installed as service, simply remove downloaded files and .log-file i.e.:
Code: Select all
del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.ini 
del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.exe 
del c:\tpfancontrol\readme.txt 
del c:\tpfancontrol\WinIo.dll 
del c:\tpfancontrol\WinIo.sys 
del c:\tpfancontrol\fancontrol.log  
If tpfancontrol is installed as service (my package), first the service has to be stopped and removed
Code: Select all
net stop TPFanControl
INSTSRV TPFanControl REMOVE   
INSTSRV.exe is in my pack (signature), as well as 1-Click-Installation and 1-Click-Uninstallation.

@NimnuL: service TPFanControl is started at boot time automatically and may be it is still running?

Ciao, troubadix

how can we know if my tpfancontrol is installed as service or not and if i could simply just remove the whole tpfancontrol folder and its contents?

NimnuL · #479 Post by **NimnuL** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:20 am

troubadix wrote: @NimnuL: service TPFanControl is started at boot time automatically and may be it is still running?

Ciao, troubadix

You're dern tootin'! You're durn tootin'!
Thank You!

zaku wrote:

how can we know if my tpfancontrol is installed as service or not and if i could simply just remove the whole tpfancontrol folder and its contents?

It's easy to check. Press ctrl + alt + del and select "task menager". If "SmartFan.exe" is on the list it means SmartFan is installed and running.

troubadix · #480 Post by **troubadix** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:40 pm

@kw: tpfancontrol works with Vista RC2. troubadix

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