HP ProBook 4530s - Fan always on - Help with DSDT editing or NHC ACPI module

Hello, i have this 4530s (2350m + hd3000) for about a month and the fact that the fan is allways on is bothering me. I have the latest bios - F.25, released on 27 mar 2012.

On this model the fan starts when cpu temp gets to 40C and will turn off at 31C. The problem is that it will reach 40C in a minute after login but can't ever drop to the point where it turns off. (Had to take cover off, hold it outside in the cold to test the fan off temp ).

Here are 8 pages of discussion on this issue where i have tested when the fan increases/decreases in speed. There is tool made for thinkpads that is compatible with this HP, as it writes values to the same offset 47 of the EC. This only helps in locking the fan at the lowest speed posible and somewhat lower noise, as the fan would wake and stay at a higher speed if left alone.

That thinkpad tool can turn the fan off but only when temp is under 40C, so this is not helping much.

Here is how the fan works:

"
- 0-39C, state is 255 (off)
- 40C, state is 82
- 50C, state is 74
- 60C, state is 65
- 70C, state is 59
- 80C, state is 49

- Drop to 70C ---> fan state 59
- Drop to 60C ---> fan state 65
- Drop to 50C ---> fan state 74
- Drop to 40C ---> fan state 82
- Drop to 31C ---> fan state 255

- Using tpfancontrol or acfancontrol to write decimal values at offset 47, we have the 0-255 range:

-------255 state - Fan OFF

-------128 state - Slowest fan setting other than off (129 to 254 make the fan sound exactly the same as 128 state). This state is never activated by the DSDT! The fan starts at a higher speed (82 state)

-------127->0 - The fan gets louder and louder the lower the state is set in this range"


The only "fix" for this insane issue is to get help from someone who understands how DSDT works to edit it or to make an ACPI module for NHC. I had a go with this ths tool and it seems to work with the 4530s. The problem is it needs a working ACPI module. This needs to be written from scratch. I had a look at a step by step guide for an Asus notebook and it seems doable for someone who understands this language, but i got stuck as only one other method is used on the 4530s dsdt.

I think that having a working NHC ACPI module is the best option. The user can change the temp when the fan is on/off, what speed at what temp etc.

This is the final step of the Asus tutorial and the fan control is amazing!

I would also be very happy if someone could help with dsdt editing so that the fan does not start at 40C, but at 65C or something like that and turn off at 55. Basically just move the temps 20C higher than the default table!

If only the cpu temp could be tricked in having an offset of 20C lower...

Here is my DSDT extracted from the latest bios and a screenshot from NHC where a value of 31 (fan off temp) can be seen...

 

This sounds very interesting and the tool seems to work with my Elitebook 8460p as well. However, the CPU temp is not read correctly.

 

this thread is relevant to this issue

Probook 4530s fan noise : DSDT table edition ? - Page 8 - HP Support Forum

 

You talk about tpfc? Thinkpads control fan speed from the same byte of the EC as some HP models, so this helps us a little. It's use is to lock the fan at the lowest speed posible. Too bad it can't lock the fan in the off state!

 

the problem is that the fan is really inefficient, i've compared it to few other laptops, and it seems that many other fans push out allot more air while making significantly less noise,

for the amount of air being pushed out at the lowest speed it should not be audible, ..

i would love to find a silent fan replacement that will work on this laptop.

 

we need our own tool coded for the 4530s,

if someone knows where to start i'd be willing to spend some time trying to code a tool like TPfancontrol tool but dedicated to this laptop.

 

There is a tool written by a German friend, for all HP notebooks that control tha fan using the EC - [AML] Lüftersteuerung per ACPI - Seite 3 - ComputerBase Forum
It's not available to the public yet, as he thinks more work is needed. I've been testing and it works fine.

The problem is the author can't get past the "fan can't be off at over 40C" limitation. Don't think anything can be done about this if HP doesn't provide EC documentation...

I've been asked to not make it public, so i will try to respect that. hhhd1, if you can help with coding, provide an email or something to make the latest version availabe for testing etc. Maybe you can register at the german forum and contact the author for the source (?!).

 

Sounds good.

i'd be really interested in contributing to the code, and maybe try to find a solution for the issue of "fan can't be off at over 40C".

i'll register at that german forum, .. and send you my email in a pm.

 

i have checked the nhc screenshots guide, and after doing some searches, i found the acpi language specs in here ACPI

and the language that is used to create modules in nhc i think it looks like C# ,

still looking.

 

a little correction, 255 does not mean fan off, 255 means leaving it auto controlled, and when temp is less than 40, the fan auto level is 'off'

if you set it to 255, and stress the cpu, the fan will keep changing variably.

 

That is exactly right. The problem is that if left alone, the fan will not turn off when temp drops under 40C. It needs to hit 31C for this.

Wouldn't it be nice if the EC had a value for off that you can enter at any temp?

 

fixing fan state to 128
ambient temp is around 30c (relatively hot)

cpu i3-2310 with enabled intel speed step, frequency from 0.8 to 2.1
average temp 43~48c , with short spikes to 50~60c

----

i guess i'll be looking at some open source fan control software to see what they do, .....

 

I HAVE DONE IT!!!!!!!!!

Major breaktrough by accident, thanks to troubadix, the author of TPFanControl and ACFanControl and Grantig, at computerbase.de

troubadix suggested acfc could read temps if the sensors was shown the right byte in the EC.

He thought byte 50 is CPU temp and byte 38 GPU temp.

It's actualy the other way around.

Long story short, open the EC in RW, go to byte 38, double click it, edit it to something under 40C and you can do whatever you want with the fan. I have used 31C (1F), as can be seen here - http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/4600/eccputempbyte.jpg

This is a quick prime run to show the temps rise high and the fan is still off!
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/318/quickprimefanoff.jpg

Using the "not for public tool", that has another method of reading cpu temp, i can start the fan when i want, like a boss!

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4425/temprise1.jpg

Auto = OFF. It works even if the speed is at 100%, it will turn the fan off, as the auto command (ff), resets the controler, and as it thinks cpu temp is 31C....

Can't believe i've done it. After so long i have full control of the fan.

All we need now is a few updates to the probook tool, as temp reading is a bit jerky sometimes + it needs to send the edited cpu temp value to the EC at startup, so opening RW at every boot will not be needed.

I've been using the laptop with the fan off for the last half an hour and idle temps are in the low 50s.

 

Warning! Setting the byte 38 in RW will stay locked at that value even after restart! To reset cpu temp reading i had do enter FF, but the laptop turned off right after with the gray screen "System was shut down to prevent overheating etc".

So use caution. If you set the byte 38 at 31C (1F), the fan will be locked off as cpu temp is locked This can cause overheating if you forget it off and prime etc.

You have been warned.

Edit: Just restarting the laptop keeps the saved value at byte 38. Turning it off and on is the same. Byte 38 will reset if you power off, remove battery or if not on batery, remove power plug. Easy.

Edit after a few days: CPU temp value can be reset instantly by writing 00 to the same byte 38!

 

That's very good news.

about requiring poweroff and then poweron, i noticed that as well for any fan controling method, the restart doesnt work.
a quick power off, leave it for 5 seconds, then power on. .. this should be enough without disconnecting the power source.

i'd be interested in knowing your ambient temp condition, the temp where is live tends to be high at summer, and reach 35~40c in some cases,

how does the temp build up over time in your case?

 

It's ~30C where i live now. I kept it fanless for ~ half an hour and idle temps were almost 55C. Case got a little warm, most of it in the lower left part, nothing to worry about. Hoping to have a fully working tpfc or the new probook control software soon.

 

Please send me on ([email protected]) or public this your version of probookcontrol,version from ComputerBase writes that you notebook not supported,my laptop is hp 4530s (a1d18ea)with i5-2430m.Windows 7 x64

 

I take it this should work on the Probook 4330s . I guess it has the same way to control the fan ?

So at the moment is there any way to have the fan off and turn it on when the cpu reaches 50C or something like that?

Or is that not possible yet? If so what tools do I need

 

1. There is a tool written by Grantig, at computerbase.de, (ProBook Fan Control) that works with most current HPs. It's in beta stage and will be available to all soon. Some testers had issues with it so it's not wise to use it.

2. To test your HP notebook, just download RW - Read & Write , open the Ec and go to 0x26 (38), like i did, here - http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/4600/eccputempbyte.jpg
Edit that value to a low temperature, like 31 (1f). Use a dec to hex converter - Binary/Decimal/Hexadecimal Converter
Also look at byte 2e an 2f. Editing 2f you can change the fan speed (255 (ff) = off, 0 = max speed).

3. While you wait for a new simple tool, just use tpfc_v062.
Edit .ini to Active=1, set it to bios mode or manual mode 128 and the fan will be locked at the lowest speed.

That's it for now, have patience.

 

How noisy is the lowest speed, I havent got my laptop yet

 

It's decent. You will need tpfc to lock it at the lowest speed, because if left on it's own, the laptop will start the fan when cpu temp gets to 40C, but will start it at a higher than lowest speed, that can bother some users.

 

hey jhonq!

thanks for putting in so much effort! i look forward to having the ability to control the fan on my 4330s.

hp should hire you, as you are gonna make a whole lot of us probook 4x30s owners super happy

cant wait!

 

Meh... i did nothing but some testing.

troubadix
is one who should get the credit. Guys like him went out and wrote the tools for us.

I think in ~ a week we should get a working TPFC for HP.

In the meantime, i just found a nasty EC bug and i'm stuck as i don't know how it can be easily dealt with:

After a standby, restart or even at cold boots, cpu and gpu temps are sometimes locked at 20C (14 hex) - http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6480/startupbug.jpg

This causes a major issue as tpfc can't use the gpu temp as cpu temp and doesn't know what tot do, so it just sets fan speed to max.

The EC gets reset and cpu + gpu temp are read OK when opening the sensors page in AIDA - http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6753/afteropeningsensorsinai.jpg

The moment the EC receives this "reset" and the GPU temp is reported as it should, TPFC works just fine - http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/2341/tpfcrestart.jpg

There are some minor TPFC changes needed to make it trouble free for most users and troubadix said he would implement them sometime next week.

If i don't find a way to fix this EC temp reporting bug at standby/restart/cold boot, users will have to manually open for a second the sensors page in AIDA64 to reset temps, then open TPFC and all will be good.

 

Soon...

 

i got a chance to test the method you posted in post #13 ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...dt-editing-nhc-acpi-module-2.html#post8489343 )

i edited byte '38' to 1D (29c), but the fan did not move, .. i then edited it to FF, the computer shutdown imediatly, next time i opened the bios displayed a message telling me that the computer was closed due to a very high temp.

i am guessing that different versions of bios behaves differently.

 

Well, think about it! When you wrote FF to byte 38, you just set the cpu at 255C!

Don't worry, i learned that just like you. To reset the cpu temp, you just need to write 00 at byte 38, not ff!

Did you verify though that when you entered 1d at byte 38, the cpu temp changed? Just have sensors page of aida64 open and look at the cpu temp.

Can you provide a print screen just like the one you see below?

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6881/aidarw.jpg

 

also, i was wrong, to totally reset the value of the EC to be controlled by the EC again, you must disconnect the power source. a simple power off/ power on might not be enough, even if it is enough to reset fan control.

 

just set ec byte 38 to '1D'

it does change 1 of the temps viewed by the 'speedfan' software that i have.
the "temp5".
the "temp5" does read the value of the EC's byte 38 properly.


just installed aida, and it does not see it like it is in your screen shot, now all the cpu * (under temperatures) temps are around 40



edit:
setting it to 00 resets it back fine

 

So can you provide a screen just like the one i posted?

Have RW with EC open and next to it aida sensors. It's super easy.

Also, try with 1f at byte 38!

Edit: Don't use speedfan, as it causes issues with editing byte 38! I've just tested and editing byte 38 does not turn off the fan if 1f is entered and speedfan is open/was open.

Close speedfan, open sensors page in aida (this does something and sends some "reset" to the EC), now open RW and edit byte 38 to 1f. Works for me.

Edit again: Just uninstall speedfan as it's useless for laptops. It can't change any speed, temps are read "temp1" etc and it also fingers the EC in a funny way, causing only issues. The only "approved" and also necessary tool (at this moment) is aida64. The sensors page has all the info one needs, plus, opening it (sensors page) resolves the EC bug i have described at post 23.

 

i think a screen shot is not necessary, it is just like yours, except the cpu temp was not displaying the correct value edited in the ec.

now the screen shot is not necessary at all even more than before, i just followed what you said, uninstalled speedfan, which unistalled also its service running in the background all the time, and now when editing the ec, the temp changes just fine like in your screen shots

i used to like speedfan cause it provided a way to do graphs of temps, and to display any temp i choose in the windows taskbar

now i am having problems activating aida64 , might only work for a month.


i am considering trying to disable dual core processor and hyper threading from bios, maybe it would affect the heat produced, and make it possible to run for longer periods with no fan ..

 

I wonder, after editing the EC temp manually, knowing that this temp is the temp that is responsible for shutting down the laptop when it goes over 85c, is the laptop now protected against high temps ??

Will it shutdown when the other CPU core temps hit 86c ?

 

It doesn't matter if aida is not activated now. Its use at this stage is just to "finger" for an instant the ACPI cpu temperature so that it gets it "unstuck".

So, with speedfan removed, aida open at sensors page, has the fan stopped when you entered 1f at byte 38?

My 4530s with f.25 shuts the fan off the instant 1f is edited in. Try more values and go from 35C to 25C, i don't know...

What os are you on?


--------------

The latest version of HPFC works like this:

It takes the value of byte 50 (GPU temp - hd3000 in our case) and treats it as "Cpu temp". Even if you don't lock the cpu temp value, you can see that both cpu and gpu temp are ~the same value all the time, as the real temp probe is in the same spot. Now, if you are in the manual mode of the tool and gpu temp reaches a certain value, it switches to smart mode. Mode that you have configured win the least amount of common sense to start the fan before 80C.... Maybe i'll think about implement another change: At ..C, change from smart or manual to bios mode, that resets the controller to default.

 

Setting the ec byte 38 works properly now after totally removing speedfan.
It works just like you described, fan turn off immediately (using win7 x64)

About HPFC:
Would working on gpu temp be the same in case of laptops running a dedicted ati card ?
Why not rely on "CPU Package" temp ?
Note that the fan also cools the dedicted gpu cores ... ...

I am still wondering about laptop security as i wrote in my previous post.
specially in case the program crashed , and left the fan in off state !!

 

1. It's great to hear that you finally turned off the fan!

2. HPFC works by reading an EC byte that displays a temperature. In our case, the EC only has byte 38 that is linked to the fan speed, that we have locked at the off value, and byte 50, where it reads GPU temp. The other values, like core 1, 2, cpu package etc are read straight from the CPU, and are not available in the EC. Yes, i agree, using CPU package temp would be better and would work for those with dedicated GPU, that might not have byte 50 in EC display a value to work with. But for this, troubadix would need to implement a dll for polling that temp (more work, time consumed etc). Grantig, the author of ProBook fan control used this open source implentation and it uses an avarage of the cpu temps it finds.

3. Ff the program crashes, it doesn't get the chance to send 00 to byte 38 and FF to byte 47. This would reset all and things would be fine. BUT, the chances are slim for the program to crash if the laptop is idle. And as i've tested, idle temps don't get over ~50C with the fan off.

If you have the laptop priming or doing very cpu intensive work, HPFC would have the fan spinning at over 65-70C, as i guess people will have the common sense of not editing the levels in the .ini to "fan off" for such high temps and let the fan start at 60-65-70C. In this case, if the program crashes, no harm is done as the fan speed value (byte 47) is the one stored before the crash...

 

jhonq did you try the new beta of probook fan control. Its meant to be able to stop the fan now.

But do you know what our config should be for the beta ?

Grantig has only included config for 6465b

We need these values for our model. Are these correct for our model ?

Edit : Got it from your pm cheers

 

Here is an interesting benchmark i just took for the cpu watt usage,
Watt usage is supposed to be directly proportional to the heat generated.


core i3 2310m
---
to stress the cpu: prime95 torture test: small FFTs
to read watt usage: coretemp 1.0 rc3
---
in all cases, idle watt usage were the same:
idle 2.8~3.0 w
---

2 cores 4 threads
0.8 ghz
load (4 threads) 6.0~6.1 w (2 threads) 5.2~5.4 w

2.1ghz
load (4 threads) 23.1~23.5 w (2 threads) 18.7~20.4 w

---

1 core 1 thread
0.8
load 4.3~4.4 w

2.1
load 13.0~13.1 w

---

enable hyper threading only:

1 core 2 threads
0.8 ghz
load 4.6~4.7 w

2.1 ghz
load 14.3~14.5 w

---

enable dual cores only:

2 cores 2 threads
0.8 ghz
load 5.5~5.6 w

2.1 ghz
load 20.5~20.7 w

 

dragonuk, after a profile for 4530s in created, edit it like this:

RegisterRead: 46
RegisterWrite: 47
MinSpeedValue: 255
MaxSpeedValue: 0
FakeCpuTemp : true
CpuTempRegister: 38
FakeCpuTempValue:31

 

And then with these values and the new beta we can turn the fan off in the program with only this tool ??

How do we reset the EC back to normal if we wish

 

Just close the program from the tray icon...

At exit it will reset the fake cpu temp + fan speed.

 

I can;t get it to turn off the fan completely with this tool. What do I have to do? I set it to fan speed 0 and it still is going

 

@jhong

Try this:
1. power of the computer, disconnect power source, wait 10 sec, connect power source and power on.
2. do NOT start aida tool, or any other tool.
3. start just the RW tool, and take a look at the byte 38, and even try to edit it.

when i did the above, the byte 38 had value of something like '1c' or '1d' , and it didnt control the fan at all.

now close RW tool, start aida, then open RW tool again, you will find its working fine now.

 

hhhd1, as you imagine, i have tested this in every possible way. I know what happens at a cold boot , after a standby, after a restart etc. That's why i wrote post 23.

To turn the fan off using the latest versions of the two tools we now have, the user MUST start aida64 and open sensors page!!!!!!!!!!!111111111. Yes, at every cold boot, maybe restart, and after a standby.

That operation "wakes" the ec and byte 38 + 50 are read as they should.

I hope this is a temporary solution, as i need to find out what AIDA64 sends to the ec when it tries to read cpu+gpu temp using ACPI.

 

Jhonq
; So with the pro book fan control beta by grantig how do we turn the fan off?

Have you tried his latest beta?

Can you detail the steps involved ?

Do we need to use any additional tools or just pro book fan control.

Thanks

 

For proper use of the new tools and to activate the ability to turn off the fan, users MUST start aida64 and open sensors page, at every cold boot, maybe restart, and after a standby. You can close aida64 after it "wakes" the ec for proper byte 38 editing by the tools.

This image is all you need. For threshold editing, use common sense.

 

jhonq , thanks for that it works

I have a hp probook 4330s , but it works fine with your settings so i think its all the same as 4530s just 13".

Did you speak to grantig about this problem with having to open aida64 .

Do you think he can implement a way to do it in his program without aida64.

Also jhonq I think your config values are wrong the min and max speed.

I think it should be

MinSpeedValue: 89
MaxSpeedValue : 47
Like the default 6564b one.

Because with min value as 255 and max as 0 , if you set the fan to 100% . It says the current fan speed is 76% and doesnt go higher.
And if you set the fan speed to 0.4% the current fan speed says 66.7% .and doesnt go lower.

If you set it to the values above the actual fan speed is displayed correctly.

 

Also when you have set byte 38 to 31C , when I close Probook FanControl
this byte stil stays at 31C and all temperature apps report 31C

How do I get rid of this value and reset it back to default.

What can i set byte 38 to ?

 

The issue is under investigation.

No. The values for your 4330s must be min 255, max 0. With min 89, max 47 you can't turn the fan off by setting the fan at 0%. Ignore the displayed fan speed and just use your ear. At values between 0.1% to ~60% the fan spins at the lowest speed posible, from then it ramps up gradually, untill 100%. Just read the first post again to understand how the 0-255 range works.

What you see as "fan speed" is just byte 46 read.Yes, it has something to do with a value for fan speed but must be used with an interpreter or some combination etc. Not an important issue now.

This is strange. At exit, the tool sends 00 to byte 38, reseting the fake cpu temp. Edit byte 38 as 00 with RW and have aida64 open at sensors page to note if cpu temp is reset.

 

It sort of works, its weird. Sometimes when you write 00 it doesnt reset and you have to do it 4 - 5 times.

Also when i have set byte 38 to 1f the fan is off

However i have ati 6490m graphics, and when this reaches 70C the fan turns on, even when cpu temp is still set to 31C.

You set graphics is byte 50. When I try to set byte 50 to 1f with RW it just resets back to its original values.

I can't set the graphics temp.

Any ideas?

 

I guess the issue of reseting the real cpu temp at exit could be resolved in a future update.

You have a dedicated GPU that gets very hot when the fan is off. I don't know how or if the issue of the fan on when dedicated gpu gets to a certain level can be resolved. I can't test as my 4530s only has the hd3000 inside the cpu. Byte 50 on your EC myght not be the dedicated gpu temp and as i've tested, editing gpu temp does not work like editing the cpu temp. The value does not stick.

You will just have to deal with the fact that a dedicated gpu causes a lot of heat. Have the fan off untill gpu = 70 and wait for it to cool at the minimal fan speed level. Observe at what temp the fan turns off when gpu temp drops and make a thershold in probook fan control.

This is all i've got for now.

 

Is this only for Probooks, or does it also work for Elitebooks? I would love to have a proper fancontrol for my 8760w.