DellFanManagement & DellFanKeepAlive – Tools for managing the fan speed in Dell laptops

New release: 3.0 beta 2.
Binary download: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsIwJHFk4EFdqIFyg4N3ia2vkaj0lg?e=5CDL2m

I'm releasing "Dell Fan Management, version 3.0 beta 2" today with some enhancements from the past month of work. I plan to continue with beta releases monthly until I am satisfied that the product is "done" enough for a final release.

Requirements/setup for this release are the same as the previous one, so I'll refer back to that post. Visual C++ redistributable is not required anymore though.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...d-in-dell-laptops.833340/page-8#post-11104029

I was hoping to have a final release for this month. However, my plans were derailed when I learned that the new Precision 7560 and 7760 systems do not support the currently used method of fan control. This actually caused the planned scope of my 3.0 release to increase somewhat.

I spent a great deal of time learning about other ways to interact with the Dell BIOS, with particular focus on Dell's SMI/WMI interface, to the point where I actually feel that this program is becoming the result of my own learning rather than just slapping together work done by other people. Dell's libsmbios code and contributions to the Linux kernel were helpful in understanding this. I already used this interface for reading and setting the "thermal mode", so I had some base code in place for this interaction. (This code was reverse-engineered from Dell Power Manager.)

I am using the SMI/WMI interface to read the fan speeds on the Precision 7560 and 7760. I have proof-of-concept code for fan control using this interface that works with the Precision 7530, but I have not yet had time to explore the possibilities on the 7X60 systems, so it is not activated in this release.

• First pull request on GitHub; GimpArm implemented the minimize-to-tray function, and that is included in this release.
• All of the C++ code left over from "Dell Fan Utility" by 424778940z has been migrated to C#/.NET; as such, the C++ redistributable is no longer required in order to run the program. (Other requirements are the same as before; in the future, the BZH driver will not be required to run the program on newer systems, but for now the program will not run without it loaded.)
• Now supports multiple methods of reading the fan speed: the BZH driver, WMI (requires Dell Command | Monitor), and SMI (no additional requirements – no extra software or driver needed at all, actually). The best method for your system will be automatically selected at startup. This allows for the fan speed of the new Precision 7560 and 7760 systems to be read and displayed. (Fan control on these systems is not yet available.)
• Added framework for supporting multiple methods of fan control, but for now, the BZH driver is the only method that the program uses.
• A "use at your own risk" disclaimer message appears when the program is loaded for the first time.
• All temperature values now show the minimum and maximum value observed for the duration of the session, in addition to the current value.
• Added some "sanity check" logic on the fan speed RPMs in "consistency mode"; the EC in my M6700 was periodically reporting very high fan speeds which would cause the application to erroneously enable EC fan control when the program was set to "consistency mode", which would usually just cause the fans to shut off.
• Fixed an issue with the tray icon not changing color in "consistency mode" when it should.
• With the "audio keep alive" feature, if it was activated for an audio device and that audio device disappears and then reappears, audio keep alive will be re-enabled on that device automatically. (My specific use case was connecting to the system via Remote Desktop which would disable audio for the duration of the session.)
• The NVAPI reader won't crash if the NVIDIA card disappears (i.e. during an NVIDIA driver update).
• Various small refinements.

 

Hello,
Thank you for this tool, works like a charm on my Inspirion 7580 !
Is there a way to go higher than 4800 rpm?

 

Sorry, no, the BIOS interface only allows for setting three speeds.

 

My Inspiron 7590 says:

Fan 1 level 0 speed: 0
Fan 1 level 1 speed: 2123
Fan 1 level 2 speed: 4769

Fan 2 level 0 speed: 0
Fan 2 level 1 speed: 2134
Fan 2 level 2 speed: 4761


DellFanManagement-3.0beta2 works fine, but I have a humble request. Dell thermal management has nothing between 3150 and 0 rpm, and if the speed is fixed at 3200 (consistency) the fans are quite loud. I would like to be able to select the "medium speed" of 2200 rpm instead when the consistency condtions (< 3200 rpm and low temps) are met.

Background: the Inspiron 7590 is badly designed with a potent processor (i7 - 9750H in my case which would like a package power of 45 Watts even without the GPU) and a puny cooling system wich is good for a package power of something like 15 Watts. Restricting the power limit to 10 Watts (with the help of throttlestop) leaves me with half the computing power and a quarter of the heat. But Dell still lets the fans roar or be quiet and then roar some more.

 

I'll see if I can work something like this out for the next release.

 

Am getting a missing dll error despite it being in the directory. Thoughts?

 

Check the top of this thread for a registry change that you have to make to allow drivers without a Microsoft signature to load. Have you done that?

 

Right, I added that reg key, still errors out saying the same thing.

 

I don't know...
I will add some log entries to the code that loads the driver and see if that can help narrow down where exactly it is failing.

 

Hello - I have just installed the latest beta, 3.0 B2 on Windows 10 20H2.

I currently have a new Inspiron 7320 and neither Manual nor Consistency modes work. The beta is able to properly read the fan RPM and CPU temperatures but I am not able adjust the fans. Is there anything I can test or provide to you to get this working for my model in a future version? Thank you.

 

I don’t have a solution for the new 11th gen systems. The next beta will at least be able to tell that fan control doesn’t work and disable the options. As soon as someone figures out fan control for these systems then I will implement it – I tried to figure it out myself but was unsuccessful.

 

Can't run this program from built-in Administrator account, getting stuck on this prompt.
(The program however run fine using another account)



Edit:
found a workaround in gpedit.msc -> Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> "User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode" -> -"Disabled"

 

trying to use the app DellFanManagement on startup but got error with bzh_dell_smm_io_x64.sys :/
windows 21h1 , app work fine windows but when try run on startup got error

 

App has to run "As admin". If you want to run it at startup, you need to set up a job in Task Scheduler to run at login with highest privileges.

 

I got this error

Failed to load driver. Make sure that bzh_dell_smm_io_x64.sys
is present in the working directory.Reboot the system if
the EV sign check pass registry setting was just set

 

In Task Scheduler, make sure that the "Start in" field is set to the full path to the folder containing the DellFanManagement.exe. The "Start in" field is in the same box where you give the path to the .exe.
(I'll make a note to have the program look in the program directory in addition to the working directory for the driver which should solve this.)

 

Thanks, it's working now, is it possible to start minimized in tray?

 

Not at the moment, I plan in a future release to have it "remember" if you had it minimized to tray at last exit and start back in the same state, but that is not in place yet.

 

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for this utility, I decided to finally look for a solution for my Inspiron 15 7559 which I've had since 2016 and often blasts the fans at full speed far often than I feel like it needs to.

I'm finding some strange results however! When I try ec-disable, it says it disabled OK and the fans run at 100% for about 5 seconds, then the EC seems to take back over and they go back to what they were before. Also, the "test" command successfully changes the fan speeds, but can't seem to reads the speeds correctly. Twice it's said both fans speed was 0 for all levels, and once it said around 3200rpm for level 1 and 2 on fan 2 but nothing for fan 1.

Is the utility just not quite compatible with my laptop?

Thanks!

 

Strange. Inspiron 7559 is on my list which means that another user reported that it worked fine some time back. It could be that a BIOS update has changed the behavior (this has been happening on XPS systems).

I've been working on another fan control mechanism which works on systems released between 2015 and 2020 which I believe would cover this system? I don't think that I'll have a release before October (at the earliest) though.

You can try HWINFO64 which has a function to control fans in these laptops. It uses the same mechanism that I use so I suspect the result would be the same, but maybe it has a trick to keep the EC control off.

 

Hi Aaron44126

I have some questions. My laptop is Dell 1555, I have Windows 7 x64 (I don't want to switch to Win 10). I've tried to run your software, some old version via cmd.exe but got BSOD. Now I have downloaded the new GUI Beta version but it doesn't work when I click it. Just nothing happens, I can't even see the main window. Is there any way to set the fan on Dell 1555 to constant maximum speed when I need it ? This is the only option that I need actually, just switch between constant maximum and default BIOS settings. Hope that you can advice something as SpeedFan / HWinfo doesn't work as they should. When I activate them, the laptop constantly freezes for 3 seconds then works for 3 seconds and them freezes again, it's not usable and I can't fix it. Thanks in advance

 

The method that I use requires a Dell system with Intel Sandy Bridge CPU or later (2011 models). Studio 1555 is too old.

You can try I8KFANGUI or some old models can actually be controlled with a keyboard shortcut to access a BIOS menu (can't find it off hand).

 

Thanks for the reply. Do you mean Fn+Shift+15324 ? Unfortunately it doesn't work on Dell 1555. I have another old Dell m1330 which works with this combination, but Dell 1555 doesn't.
Currently I'm running I8KFANGUI on Dell 1555, but have problem with freezing as I wrote above. The only way is to use Manual Fan Control option, this way I can set the fan speed to fast and it constantly works until the temperature hits 70-75 degrees and after that it seems that BIOS default settings activate - fan slows down, then activates fast fan only when I hit 80-85 degrees. After that it works like default BIOS settings. Seems like BIOS resets all settings of I8KFANGUI after I hit some marker
All other modes (Automatic temperature control / Force fans to high speed) in I8KFANGUI work with freezing each 3 seconds, so the laptop becomes unusable.
Is there any other possible way to set the fan to costant high speed when needed? Any advice / software / anything ?
Thanks

 

Sorry, I've got nothing more.

 

Hi Aaron44126

Could we do the reverse of "dellfankeepalive"? Set a maximum speed with the parameters and let EC control the minimum speed?

For example say that the maximum fan speed is 80% 4000rpm approximately is between 60 and 80 degrees. And if it falls below 60 it activates EC and if it passes 80 it activates EC.

 

This sort of functionality is outside of the scope of my projects but the code/support is there for anyone else who wants to try it.
This whole project is currently on hold for me, again... Other (personal) priorities are not leaving much time for side projects.

 

@Aaron44126 Just wanted to give my gratitude for this tool, has made the noise from my Dell Laptop more bearable. Thanks for very much for all the work you have done.

 

Hi @Aaron44126 , could you please re-upload the .exe for your beta tool? The links are not working anymore, I would love to try this as my last resort.

I have a Dell G3 3590, and the fan drives me insane. Until a few months ago, everything worked fine. Then I had a bluescreen and had to reinstall Windows (including Dell Update, which updated a few drivers and (not sure) Bios.
Since then there are times where the fan goes full speed (6000RPM) after startup even without any programs active and no CPU utilization. When this happens, I cannot control the fan using Dell Powercommander or HWinfo.
I have tried everything(using older/latest drivers, downgrading BIOS) without support.

In addition when using Dell Powercommander, the max. fan RPM is 4900 which causes the system to run into thermal issues after 30 minutes of gaming. When uninstalling Powercommander, the EC sets the max fan speed to 6000, which is enough to keep the temps low during load.

 

Hi,

For DellKeepFanAlive, has the stable GUI version been released?

As I recall, it was about to be released on September with stable version.

I have Latitude E6430s (identical to E6330) and the intermittent fan noise driving me crazy which turns on/off itself sooo frequently when controlled by EC (ACPI) controller. I hope it fixes that problem though I hesisate a bit even to try in case of any potential side-effects.

Best regards.

 

I put an expiration on the link because I expected to release a new build by now. Here's a new link.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsIwJHFk4EFdqIFyg4N3ia2vkaj0lg?e=5CDL2m

You can try "Dell Fan Management". It is stable (I'm using it continuously/daily) but not feature complete, which is why I am still labeling it "beta". Because of other demands on my time, I do not have time to finish it up right now.

 

Hi i download your app. Its first app that show my cooler RPM, but still no fan control, can you help me? I have dell vostro 14 5410. i5 11300h, gf mx450. win10x64.

 

11th gen systems are not supported. Dell has changed how fan control works and, AFAIK, no one has figured out a control override yet.
(But right, I do believe I have the first app out that can show the fan RPM of these systems in "real time" .)

 

A couple of intriguing findings:
The system is: Dell XPS 15 9500 i7-10750H
Not doing anything - fans are blasting full speed as expected.
Running " DellFanCmd.exe ec-disable" (or doing "High" options in the Dell Fan Management Beta app), fan speed is lowered a bit.

This is strange because I know that there are 3-speed settings only and running DellFanCmd.exe ec-disable should put fans at the highest speed possible.
So basically, I have something like A, B, C, D speeds.
With DellFanCMD I can select A, B, and C speeds which are 0%, 50%, and 100%, but then if I do ec-enable, I get full-blast D speed which is higher than C.

 

Correct, this is known behavior in all systems that I have tested. The highest speed that can be requested is not the highest speed that the laptop can handle. No way to address this, really; the BIOS interface is what it is. (This is partly why I implemented the "consistency" mode in the GUI app. After a temperature threshold you can hand the fans off to the EC for best performance.)

To extend your analogy, the EC can control the fans more granularly, so it's like the BIOS supports fan speeds A, B, C, D, E, F, G... and the BIOS fan control interface only allows selecting A, C, and F. (Or something like that.)

 

Nicely explained, thanks. I'm not really interested in getting those speeds (even if it were possible), these 3 ones you are manipulating are perfectly fine by me.
I'm still appaled on how Dell managed to mess fan control up. I don't think it could be any worse than it is now for me.

 

Hi Aaron, sorry for my confusion, but let me understand better, isn't "Dell Fan Management" the general suite name of related tools like DellKeepFanAlive, DellFanCmd etc...?

Are you referring to another standalone tool named "Dell Fan Management" with GUI which contains the feature of DellKeepFanAlive? Can you kindly send a screenshot friend?

My only aim is to boot into my Windows making my Cpu fan "always" running (disabling spin down) at lowest RPM then letting it go up automatically (respecting EC) whenever it needs, then letting the fan go back to lowest RPM state (no shutdown) against various CPU temp/CPU load changes. And that feature is supposed to done by DellFanKeepAlive, right?

Again sorry if I got misunderstanding. The only GUI I saw is a window containing a blue background with text and no any traditional Win32 elements/controls like any other app which I attached the screenshot to that post. Hope I'm not checking the wrong tool.

Regards.

 

I'm moving everything to a single tool called "Dell Fan Management" for version 3.0. It has a Windows GUI but also can handle command line switches that used to exist for DellFanCmd. There is a screen shot and beta download link further back in this thread.

 

I think I got it finally

You mean that post on July 1, right?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...d-in-dell-laptops.833340/page-8#post-11104029

Many thanks!

 

hey Aaron, new user here, landed from a google search, i can confirm both your new version with the GUI and the old version work flawlessly with a Latitude E6540 with the onboard dedicated AMD 8970M .

I can also confirm to you that it works on Win10 and Win11 even.

my current specs are a Core I7 4810MQ with the Radeon HD 8970M Graphics, 32GB RAM and a 512 Samsung SSD.

i have always preferred fans to be ramped to max, as im always on headphones or ear buds so sound is not an issue. and well, keeping temps down in the 50-60 range compared to 70-80 Range speaks for itself.

Thanks for the awesome tool

 

i think i have found a bug.

If you lock the system, but do not shut it down with closing the lid ( my power settings do not allow sleep mode with the lid closure on AC Power ) . upon logging back in, it attempts to start another instance of DFM and it throws the fan into absolute chaos.

it tries to spin up, but the second instance attempts to override it and shuts it back down, i literally just heard my fan going from max RPM to zero, to mid range, to max to mid range to zero to max..... it simply was out of control. then i noticed a second DFM icon in my tray, so it spawned a second instance.

 

DFM does not spawn more copies of itself so this must be related to how you have it set to automatically start?
(I will add "do not allow two instances to run" to my hit list for a future update.)

 

@Aaron44126 Hello, i recently accquired a Dell Latitude E6420, and was wondering if any of your tools support this model specifically ? Or even the "dell fan utility" from this thread ?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ol-fans-on-dell-laptops-under-windows.805317/

First of all, i only choose to use Windows XP for my own personal reasons (please dont hate me for this) - I realize you mention in your first post that every single one of these tools is Win 10 only, is it literally just restricted to that alone "only" ?

So far, im not really liking how the E6420 seems to keep the fan off at "almost" all times unless there's a little bit of CPU load...in which it then turns on...but only for about 30 seconds max, then immediately turn off again. Its "not" whatsoever because of me using XP ..that's not the point.

I really do not like the idea of this laptop staying idle at around 130 degree's Fahrenheit because of the fan being off 90% of the time.
It disappoints me alot because, I have a Dell Latitude D620 (XP Pro, T7600 2.3 GHZ, intel GPU) where the fan always on at all times, and idles between 95 to 105F, and doesnt ever go above 150 to 160F max, under full load and gaming. It's excellent, i love it ...but...totally the opposite case with this E6420, sad to admit.

I'd really perfer to have the same fan behavior if possible for this E6420 having the fan always on, at the very least in low speed when idle. I really hate that it constantly cycles on and off dozens of times just from simple web browsing.

I know "speedfan" does not help cause clicking the up/down arrow buttons to set the fan speed only makes it turn on for barely half a second, then turns back off immediately. I realize thats this "EC" you described that the BIOS is over-riding it with.
And the "Fn + shift + 15324" key combination does not seem to do anything either. I tried several times both from Windows, BIOS screen, BIOS loading. from this page:
https://forums.tomsguide.com/faq/ho...updated-any-info-questions-just-pm-me.339166/

So again, "not" because of me being on XP ...but rather are any of your tools supported with E6420 if you know by any chance ?? If not...what about Precision M4400 or 6400 ?? I spent many many hours searching google and and many forums/discussion sites about being able to force the fan on/controlling fan, until i came to this thread.

 

Latitude E6420 "should" work, looks like it has Sandy Bridge CPU which is at the very bottom end of systems that are known to work with my tools. (Precision M4400 or M6400 would likely not work. M4600/M6600 is the minimum that is known to work.)

You can look at this tool which uses a similar mechanism for fan control, but is more from the Windows XP era.
https://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html

HWINFO32/HWINFO64 can also control the fans — versions from 2019 and later only, I do not know if they will run on Windows XP.

My tools will not work on Windows XP; they are using at a minimum .NET Framework 4.8 which is not available for Windows XP. I don't have any intention of offering Windows XP support. I do not even have any systems that I could test it on. I don't really have time to work on it as is — indeed, this project is even lower priority for me now because it can't be used to control the fans on newer systems (...unless someone figures that out).

There's a fair chance that they would work on Windows 7 but I haven't tried it. It would take some tweaking, but the code is available for anyone who would like to give it a go on older systems.

 

Hmm i see...well good to know this model is supported at least. Bummed that i cant try any of them out. And about not adding support. Was afraid you'd say that.

I tried the i8kfangui first..but it only just BSOD's on "iofan.sys" from it's program directory. After googling about this for a bit, supposedly doesnt support anything past Intel 965 based chipsets (like D630 i think) ...well that was no good.

I tried the latest version of HWInfo32 you said, yes it does run just fine for me but not the fan control. It acts the exact same way as speedfan does. If i set the slider to "manual" 2500 or 4900 RPM ..i clearly hear the fan turn on for a "split second" only... then turn off.
What's interesting though is if i keep mashing the "manual control" button like crazy, just to test. the fan actually spins up between 2000 to 3000 RPM just going faster or slower depending on how fast i keep clicking the button...but the instant i stop....fan turns off immediately. ughhh this is so dang fustrating.

I tried turning on all the options ( and try with them turned off, i know EC is the most important option) mentioned in this thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...trolling-the-fan-as-we-want-in-hwinfo.782000/

But still the same result. Only can get it to turn on for barely 1 second and that's it. I checked the custom control options and made sure all the boxes had at least 2500 RPM by default, and trying it with CPU enhanced, CPU dst - Complete Package, core 1/2 ..no result. Only manual control button working for a split second.

 

After being unable to install Dell Power Manager on my G7 17 7790 for whatever reason after a windows update (tried so many solutions) I want to say thank you for making this program.

 

Hey again, i wanna mention something real quick. I tried that HwInfo program again, i didnt try touching the 2 boxes at the bottom before about "spin retry" and "wait --- milliseconds" - but..
if i set those to 0 seconds, and 0 miliseconds on those boxes, it actually will keep the fan on at about 2500 RPM (which is lower than the real "average" it normally would be at, at the slowest speed of 2800 or 2900.

It randomly keeps trying to speed itself up "whenver it feels like" while staying idle doing nothing. Only for half a second or less. What i mean is, sometimes it happens every 5 seconds, 20 seconds, 30... 1 minute. I'm assuming thats still the BIOS fighting to reset it huh ??

 

Hi @Aaron44126 could you include this post into the first (original) post of the thread? As it might be very hard for people to find your GUI version (Dell Fan Management 3.0 Beta) in the middle of thread? I found this by chance after asking you. Just a suggestion. Thanks.

 

I just want to post 1 more update about my situation. I recently looked at the i8kfangui again, while 3.1 version would only BSOD, i tried 3.0 and that actually opened up. So after spending some time reading about the program options and trying things, i got to manage to keep the fan always on ...only if i picked the lowest possible fan enforcment setting which was 10 milliseconds i think ...but...

It's exact same unfortantely as the HWInfo32 program does. Where the fan tries to keep speeding up to what it's normal range would be ...then slow back down to 2500 again within 1 second or 2. Just at completely random times -- 5 seconds... 15 seconds..whatever. (completely idle not doing anything for example) It's so furstrating and bothers me way too much.

I re-read your post at the start of this topic, and it sounds like " DellFanKeepAlive" would be the right choice for me about locking it to it's normal "idle" speed to prevent the nonstop "off-on-off-on" like you said. Literally almost any little tiny thing i click or do. Cause i cant stand that either. I tried to live with this for 3 days so far and i gave up.

i just stored the E6420 away in my closet now, and went back to my Latitude D620, since i cant get to use your program unfortantely. I would defintely edit the souce code of your program myself, to support XP since the last .NET was 4.0 ..but i dont have any sort of programming knowledge.

 

I wrote this on the other project I guess but this supercedes it so thought I'd repost it here. I have a Dell Precision R5500 system and the EC control seems to be broke and the fans not updating right. But it does with DellFanCMD. That said, I have 6 fans and this looks hard coded to 2 fans. Is there any way to handle additional fans? Really I just want all fans to change speed at the same time not individually but will take what I can get.

 

Hi, @Aaron44126!
Thank you very much for your cool (it's not a bad pun ) app DellFanManagement! It was the only application I was able to setting up on my laptop. And I encountered certain difficulties, and so I ask you to help me.
Apparently, on my laptop (Dell Latitude 5411, Core i5-10400H, BIOS 1.8.1, Windows 10 LTSC 2019, Dell PowerManager 3.10.0), the Consistent mode does not work, or I have not understand how it is configure correctly. At the same time, the Manual mode works good, but continuously switching speeds manually demoralizes me. For manual mode, Fan 1 medium speed is ~2400 RPM, high speed is ~5300 RPM. Fan 2 is not present on my system.
Consequently, I want to set up behavior of the Fan 1 in such a way that at the CPU temperature from 50°C to 70°C, the Fan 1 speed was controlled by the app and was set to 2400 RPM (Fan 1 noise on this speed more comfortable for me then minimal EC speed 2700 RPM), and when CPU temperature becomes higher than 70°C, EC must take control of the Fan 1 speed. For this, I have set next settings in the application window (see screenshot below). But DellFanManagemen can't control Fan 1 on my system in the Consistent mode, and I don't understand why .

P. S. Sorry for my gogletranslated English ).