Acer Aspire 7730 Fan behaviour

Ive only had this laptop a couple of weeks but the fan behaviour seems rather odd to me.

The ambient temp in the room is normally 20c and the laptop is normally not subjected to much more than browsing but the fan switches on and off constantly. Running for 2-3 seconds, off for 2-6 seconds.

Speedfan reports HDO=40c Temp1=53c Core 0=47c Core1=47c

Is this normal or should I be concerned?

 

I have exactly the same problem with the same laptop (aspire 7730z). I think the fan starts every time the cpu is used, even for a minor action like opening a webpage by clicking on a link, and not according to the temperature.

It's very boring... The fan is running on (for 1 to 3 seconds) and off everytime...

I would like to settle the fan according to a given temperature in place of a given cpu percentage.

Does anyone else notice the same fan behaviour?

 

I'm contacting customer support and will report back once they respond.

Edit: The joke is I bought this to replace my desktop cos I was hacked off with the constant fan noise

 

This issue might be BIOS related, there are several BIOS updates for 7730..

Caution: faulty BIOS flash will brick your laptop, make sure you follow the instructions and please close all open programs, including programs running at the background as antivirus, firewall and such!

 

Been on to tech support (tech guys) but they were unable to shed any light

Apparently the bios is up to date, indeed its not even on acers website yet

 

The customer service was a joke.

Went kinda like this:

Me: [explains fan problem]
Them: Thank you for contacting us, Sir. Your fan is there to keep your system properly cooled.
Me: Yes I know, I just want it to not go on and off and on and off so much. Is there a way I can control it?
Them: Please contact 1-800-something for assistance in setting up Windows.

F**k me.

Right now, I'm to the point where I'm ready to disconnect the CPU fan from the motherboard entirely, and power the fan through a USB's 5V line (soldered directly, internally). And throw a resistor on the line to slow the fan down. At least then I would have a constant speed. If I undervolt, even that slow speed will keep the CPU under load cool.

 

I suggest you don't do that. Unless you're an electronic expert and soldering expert of course.

Did you guys even saw my post? Did any of you considered updating the BIOS?

 

I had this problem on my 5315 before I updated the BIOS to version 1.43, but it would only hapen after waking up from sleep.

 

Yes, of course I considered that, and did update to the latest version available. The fan behaviour did not change.

Well, I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm handy with a soldering iron. I soldered an SD/SDHC card slot into my WRT54GL for use with OpenWrt, so I'm sure I can manage with the two wires for the fan. I'd just ... rather not, if I don't have to. Sadly, this Acer isn't seeming to leave me with many other options.

 

You obviously missed my post

 

After much research using google I find that this fan problem is quite common on many acer notebooks.

some people have got round it by using earlier models 'settings(empoweringTech)controls' to enable the fan on all the time whereby it runs constantly but at a low speed (gotta be better than this constant surging) http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=217975&page=5

others have upgraded the bios and had success, many have done this finding no differance

but thats about it so far

is there a good article on this site regarding the best way to upgrade an acer notebook bios as acer have just posted an update for the 7730?

does it matter that a bios update is listed under 'vista' as I am running 'xp' ?

 

Just tried that older eSettings, the fan enable option doesn't do anything to my 4720.

 

you and me both

 

I no longer have the problem of the fan racing up and down on my Acer Aspire 7730g - (Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2*2,53 GHZ
Nvidia GeForce 9600 M GT 4GB Ram).

I did this by updating the Bios and the Nvidia graphics driver.

I have updated the Bios on my notebook several times. I have tried four different Bioses (or is the plural Bice?) and am now using v0.3611.

I am also using a graphics card driver that is more advanced than the one that acer posts on their site. I am using Vista 32 - Nvidia GeForce ForceWare 181.20 Vista 32-bit WHQL.

Your can down load the latests Nvidia drivers at either of these two sites:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers

or,

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Videocards---NVIDIA-GeForce-Vista-32|64_c32.html

I prefer the first site because if you poke around a bit you can find very clear instructions for updating the driver correctly. When you deinstall your current driver you should also use a small progam to clean up spare nvidia files that the nomal deinstaller does not remove before installing the new driver. "nVidia - Nasty File Remover" is t the second site above here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/Videocards----Handy-Utilities_c5.html

I am very happy with this notebook. I have tested it using the PC Pitstop Benchmark Tests ( http://pcpitstop.com/betapit/pitstop.asp) and it ranks in the top 13% of notebooks worldwide.

 

vemm

MY graphics card:Mobile Intel(R) GMA 4500MHD

I updated to bios v0.3611., no change in fan behaviour

I updated latest nvidia driver from acer europe, (could not find my way around the sites you mentioned)

unfortunately same racing fan is still evident

anyone have a driver for xp to try?

 

The only other changes I made since the racing fan stopped, is that I defragment my hard disk regularly so that it is usually at less than 1% fragmention. I aso turned off fast indexing on my C: drive by opening the hard disk general properties dialog box and removing the checkmark for fast indexing. The latter did cut down on hard disk be continually accessed by the indexer. Someone told me that might make a difference. This is on a Vista system --- I am not sure if XP has that harddisk option.

 

After I made that changes I addressed in my earlier posts, my fan runs steadily at a very low level that you must be next to the notebook to hear. When I run games like Fall Out 3 it speeds up considerably and stays at a pretty constant level. Before it would race up and down like crazy when I ran a game, much much more than when I was just surfing or doing word processing of playing simple games.

 

tried everything suggested, no joy

thanx anyway

 

I'm going to let this ride until Spring Break (last week of March) when I have some free time. If nothing working comes up by then, I'm going to do the hard-mod with the soldering and a resistor.

 

gave it three weeks to sort this prob, cracked the achi/ide mode thing but hey, bought this rig to get away from fan noise and would prob have put up with it constantly on if it was very low but this surging, especially as the machine is under minimal pressure, not for me

also defragged the hdd and it got to 55c ( 60c is max op temp)

after that started getting very light popping sounds from the hdd, not nice.

its gone back to the retailer

 

got my refund last week for the acer aspire 7730

gonna try to improve the desktop noise levels with some quieter components

shame no one on here could come up with a fix for this problem

but maybe this was one of a faulty batch

 

Looks like I've got the same problem here. I own a Acer 7730G notebook (the 734G32Bn model with the Intel P7350 processor).
When my notebook is on for about a half hour, the fan of the CPU is constantly speeding up for about 2-3 seconds, and then stops about 5-6 seconds. This goes on forever until I poweroff my notebook for a while. The problem is good recognizable when you do small actions like opening a link, scrolling down on a webpage, ect..

Here are things what I tried:

- Used different power management schemes in eSettings and in windows.
- Upgraded the bios to the latest version 0.3611
- Installed different nvidia drivers to check if the drivers can balance the CPU.
- Tried Linux to check if the fan was controlled by the OS.
- Searched for third party tools that can control the fan (found nothing for this type fan).
- I even removed the CPU from the MainBoard and added new heatsink paste on it.

None of these options worked for me. It looks like that the speed of the fan is controlled by the BIOS or by the hardware, and not by the operating system. It's also a pain that the BIOS of acer notebooks are just too limited to configure interesting things like fan control.

I don't waste my time by contacting Acer, because I already know that I probably get answers that gets me angry.
Next time I don't buy a Acer notebook. The fan behavior is really disturbing me when I'm working on quiet locations.

 

I have had this same problem on my new aspire 7730 with intel core duo t800 and on board intel graphics.

Its taken quite a lot of searching but i think i have found a SOLUTION from Andyxmas on this German site here:

7730 Quiet Make Fan!

The non translated version is here:
http://www.acer-userforum.de/tutorials-workshops/11813-tutorial-7730g-tutorial-fuer-nhc-luefter-leise-machen.html

Basically if you're on vista it involves

downgrading the bios to version 0.3503

installing NCH (Notebook Hardware control)

downloading two Acer specfic files from the german forum ACPI.zip and putting these in the acpi folder in NCH

adjusting the NCH settings as per andyxmas excellent tutorial.

I now have a constant quiet purr from the 7730 instead of that reving speed crazed scooter rider that was in there before!

Have had the occasional surge still so may need to amend the temp settings. but its so pleasent now.

On issue: to get the acpi script you need to register on the german forum - which was a bit of a challenge for me and the use of translation tools. As an anti spam half way down it asks for the name of our planet. You need to enter "erde"

Hope that helps some others.

 

Hi "nigelcooper66"

I have the same problem with my new 7730 as you have described.
But I can't download the acpi from the German site, although I am a registered member, so would you please have the inconvenience, and post it to me.
Thanks in advance.

Regards

 

There you go:

http://rapidshare.com/files/218602377/acpi.zip.html

 

Thanks a lot

 

Today I've found a better tool to control the Acer Aspire 7730 fan...

Acer Aspire-One Fan Control:
http://www.computentsystems.de/aceraspireonefancontrol/

It's funny that this tool was only made for the Acer Aspire One notebook, but it's working perfectly here on my Acer Aspire 7730G (734G32Bn model) on Windows XP x64 edition. The BIOS version of mine notebook is v0.3503. If you are running Vista, then make extra sure that you got this bios version or this tool will probably not work (because NHC also didn't work on vista with BIOS version other than v0.3503 said some people on the german forum, but I never tried that out by myself).

The big advantages about this tool against Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) tool is that this program also works on 64-bit windows and doesn't need the .NET framework.

 

Thanks chrissieboy, ive changed from nch and am using the aa1 fan control now.

seems easier and I dont get that UAC nag screen on start up i was getting with NCH.

i'm still on v0.353 bios.

 

I have now very good news for linux users to control the Acer 7730 fan
I've tested this on Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit with BIOS version v0.3503.
I'm using the script acerfand which was originally made to control the Acer Aspire One fan, made by author Rachel Greenham.
This script must be slightly modified (to bypass the BIOS check).

First, open up a terminal as normal user and download the acerfand script:

Code:

wget http://electronpusher.org/~rachel/acerfand

Then we need to download another script:

Code:

wget http://aceracpi.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/acer_ec/acer_ec.pl

Next step is to edit the acerfand script (use your favourite text editor, I use nano in this example)

Code:

nano acerfand

Now search for the line that says:
BIOS_VERSION=$($DMIDECODE -s bios-version)
And replace it with this line:

Code:

BIOS_VERSION="v0.3109"

Save and exit the editor (for nano, use ctrl+o and then ctrl+x)
Next step is (as root) to copy both downloaded files to the /usr/local/bin directory and make them both executable:

Code:

sudo cp acer* /usr/local/bin
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/acer*

Now you can start the fan control by typing this command:

Code:

acerfand

You probably want this script automaticly started while your linux distro is booting up:

Code:

echo "/usr/local/bin/acerfand" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local

 

Do you reckon this is something the technicians at Acer can fix by setting the fan speed to something which can actually cool the CPU at idle? Instead of it jumping from low to max every few seconds.

I would much rather prefer a fluent airflow!

 

i have had same prob. till i got aa1fancontrol 'you can get it here http://www.computentsystems.de/aceraspireonefancontrol/' i set it to fan on at 65c and fan of at 55c and my laptop 'acer aspire 7730 with intel core 2 due processor t5800 with a max core temp. of 85c so dont recommend setting fan on to more then 65c ' fan is working fine

 

i have had same prob. till i got aa1fancontrol 'you can get it here http://www.computentsystems.de/aceraspireonefancontrol/' i set it to fan on at 65c and fan of at 55c and my laptop 'acer aspire 7730 with intel core 2 due processor t5800 with a max core temp. of 85c so dont recommend setting fan on to more then 65c ' fan is working fine

 

i have had same prob. till i got aa1fancontrol 'you can get it here http://www.computentsystems.de/aceraspireonefancontrol/' i set it to fan on at 65c and fan of at 55c and my laptop 'acer aspire 7730 with intel core 2 due processor t5800 with a max core temp. of 85c so dont recommend setting fan on to more then 65c ' fan is working fine

 

I appreciate the suggestion, but I have already tried it for a while. Even though the fluctuation occurs less frequently, it still happens. (previously every 5 seconds, now every 20 seconds).

The CPU temperature keeps rising, even when idle. I would like to set the fan speed to something that is able to maintain it cool when not under load. Wouldn't this be something Acer support/service could handle?

 

I have the same laptop and the same problem. I've already contacted Acer support because of this, it's unbearable. AA1FanControl does work, but CPU is badly overheating. I've tried undervolting and as I've been running ORTHOS CPU Loader for 1 minute, the CPU temp. increased to 95 degrees! Even when the CPU is idle, its temperature kees rising and it climbs to 75 degrees easily. Any ideas how to fix this? My BIOS version is 3309. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

Many thanks gotit - my 7730's fan was driving me nuts and the aa1fancontrol solution works brilliantly. However, every time I turn off and on, the fan control's disappeared so I have to run it again. Can anyone suggest a way of avoiding this, i.e., getting the fancontrol program to stay permanently? Thanks.

 

I think Acer Aspire 7730 SUCKS! ,, 6 weeks after I bought it the first problems came . as first: the disc - player didn't want to open,, I had to press on the button to open it like 10 times... after a while it worked the way it has to work.. So I thought ,, ah 1 problem,, can happen,, but just a week later the 2nd problem started! and not an 'easy to solve' problem! the screen was shaking sometimes and at the shop where I bought it the dude who helped me said he worked there for 12 years and never seen anything like that! But ok, he sent it to acer ,, after 4 weeks it finally came back. and guess what?!! it wasn't fixed!! they didn't find a problem! that really sucked! when they gave the laptop back to me I went home and after half an hour the screen was already shaking sometimes!! DAMN ,, that made me so angry!! today I went back to the shop and they're going to send it again,, and worst of all if they don't find anything wrong I have to send it again and again because after 4 times the law says that I may have a new one... that means: 4 times 4 weeks no laptop... 16 DAMN WEEKS! it's a very rare problem but I know some other guys with acer laptops that have problems with it too... I think my next laptop / desktop will be an HP... in my opinion a way better brand!

 

I use an Acer 7730G Travelmate with ubuntu 9.04.
Your script acerfand helped me a lot in realizing the travelmate script version.
I let you have my new version of the acerfand.
Hope it may helps some other user.
Good luck.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#set -x
#.... omitted
# Changelog:
# 0.07 - change fan-raw-state setting for 3309. may fix people's issues
#        i didn't have same issues but did find it repeatedly switching fan off unnecessarily
#        because it was misdetecting the fan state, and which was logging and keeping my hard drive alive.
# 0.06.1 - experimental limited release with different fan-off controls for 3309.
# 0.06 - getBiosVersion before reading acerfand.conf, to allow user to force version
# 0.05 - Regognise bios 3309 and autoselect as default
# 0.04 - Recognise bios 3305
# 0.03 - Recognise bios 3109
# 0.02 - Added support for recognising bios version and selecting ec reg values accordingly
# 0.01 - Initial version, no bios checking, works on <=v0.3114


LOGGER=$(which logger)
if [ ! -x $LOGGER ] ; then
	LOGGER="/usr/bin/logger"
fi
if [ ! -x $LOGGER ] ; then
	echo "Warning, logger can't be found. Will log to stdout"
	unset LOGGER
fi

LOGLEVEL="info"

log() {
	if [ ! -z "$LOGGER" ] ; then
		$LOGGER -p daemon.$LOGLEVEL -t acerfand "$@"
	else
		echo "$@"
	fi
}

info() {
	LOGLEVEL="info"
	log "$@"
}

notice() {
	LOGLEVEL="notice"
#	log "$@"
}

err() {
	LOGLEVEL="err"
	log "$@"
}

info "acerfand $ACERFAND_VERSION starting"

if pgrep acerfand  | grep -v $$ > /dev/null; then
	info "acerfand already running"
	exit 0
fi

ME=$(readlink -f $0)

BIOS_VERSION_3109="v0.3109"
BIOS_VERSION_3114="v0.3114"
BIOS_VERSION_3304="v0.3304"
BIOS_VERSION_3305="v0.3305"
BIOS_VERSION_3309="v0.3309"

BIOS_VERSION_3509="v0.3509"

BIOS_VERSION_DEFAULT=$BIOS_VERSION_3509 #last known bios of 7730G
 
getBiosVersion() {
	DMIDECODE=$(which dmidecode)
	if [ -z $DMIDECODE ] ; then
		info "Can't find dmidecode. Assuming bios $BIOS_VERSION_DEFAULT"
		BIOS_VERSION=$BIOS_VERSION_DEFAULT
	else
		BIOS_VERSION=$($DMIDECODE -s bios-version)
	        #BIOS_VERSION="v0.3305"
		info "Detected bios version $BIOS_VERSION"
	fi
}

ACEREC=$(which acer_ec.pl)
if [ -z $ACEREC ] ; then
	ACEREC=$(dirname $ME)/acer_ec.pl
fi

if [ ! -r $ACEREC ] ; then
	err "acer_ec.pl can't be found"
	exit 1
fi

INTERVAL=5
FANOFF=60
FANAUTO=70

getBiosVersion

if [ -r "/etc/acerfand.conf" ] ; then
	source "/etc/acerfand.conf"
fi

case "$BIOS_VERSION" in
	"${BIOS_VERSION_3309}")
		#change: handle 3309 seperate 0xAF -> 0x20
		R_FAN=55
		R_TEMP=58
		FAN_CMD_OFF=20
		FAN_CMD_AUTO=00
		RAW_FAN_STATE_OFF="0x20"
		;;
	"${BIOS_VERSION_3304}" | "${BIOS_VERSION_3305}" | "${BIOS_VERSION_3509}")
		R_FAN=55
		R_TEMP=58
		FAN_CMD_OFF=af
		FAN_CMD_AUTO=00
		RAW_FAN_STATE_OFF="0xaf"
		;;
	"${BIOS_VERSION_3114}" | "${BIOS_VERSION_3109}" )
		R_FAN=55
		R_TEMP=58
		FAN_CMD_OFF=1f
		FAN_CMD_AUTO=00
		RAW_FAN_STATE_OFF="0x1f"
		;;
	*)
		err "Unsupported bios version ${BIOS_VERSION} found. Aborting."
		exit 1
	;;
esac

FAN_STATE_UNRECOGNIZED=0
FAN_STATE_AUTO=1
FAN_STATE_OFF=2
FAN_STATE_NAMES=("Unrecognized" "Auto" "Off")
FAN_STATE_CMDS=("$FAN_CMD_OFF" "$FAN_CMD_AUTO" "$FAN_CMD_OFF")

acer_ec() {
	perl $ACEREC $@
}

getTemp() {
	TEMP=$[$(acer_ec ?= $R_TEMP | cut -f 3 -d' ')]
	notice "temp: $TEMP"
}

getRawFanState() {
	RAW_FAN_STATE=$(acer_ec ?= $R_FAN | cut -f 3 -d' ')
}

getFanState() {
	FAN_STATE=$FAN_STATE_UNRECOGNIZED
	getRawFanState
	if [ "$RAW_FAN_STATE" == "$RAW_FAN_STATE_OFF" ]; then
		FAN_STATE=$FAN_STATE_OFF
	else
		let A="$RAW_FAN_STATE & 0x10" || true
		if [ "$A == 0" ] ; then
			# ASSUMPTION: All values with nybble 1==0 denote auto
			FAN_STATE=$FAN_STATE_AUTO
		fi
	fi
	notice "read fan state ${FAN_STATE_NAMES[$FAN_STATE]}"
}

setFan() {
	info "Set fan ${FAN_STATE_NAMES[$1]}"
	acer_ec := $R_FAN ${FAN_STATE_CMDS[$1]} > /dev/null
}

govern() {
trap "info exiting;setFan $FAN_STATE_AUTO; exit" INT TERM EXIT
info "Starting to govern acer fan speed. Interval: $INTERVAL, fan-off: $FANOFF, fan-auto: $FANAUTO"
while true; do
	getTemp
	getFanState
#	info "Raw fan state: $RAW_FAN_STATE ; fan state: $FAN_STATE ; auto: $FAN_STATE_AUTO ; off: $FAN_STATE_OFF ; temp: $TEMP ; autotemp: $FANAUTO"
	case "$FAN_STATE" in
		$FAN_STATE_AUTO)
			if [ "$TEMP" -le "$FANOFF" ] ; then
				setFan $FAN_STATE_OFF
			fi
			;;
		$FAN_STATE_OFF)
			if [ "$TEMP" -ge "$FANAUTO" ] ; then
				setFan $FAN_STATE_AUTO
			fi
			;;
		*)
			# weird state. Let's turn it off,
			# then decide next time around
			info "Unexpected fan state $FAN_STATE"
			setFan $FAN_STATE_OFF
			;;
	esac
	sleep $INTERVAL
done
}

set -e

govern &