T400 fan noise, can the fan be turned off completly?

Hi!

I recently purchased a T400 at work, because I needed a really silent computer. My colleuges T61 was completly noiseless during normal operation and I though this one would be too.

I selected the "maxmimum battery" powerscheme, and although the fan noise is pretty quiet, the fan is still on.

I tried the Leonovo power manager and made a custom scheme with as low speed as possible. The fan seem to have 7 levels, but I cannot find any settings that makes "fan noise" lower than "level 2"

I also tried with speedfan but it doesnt detect the fans at all.

Also, Notebook Hardware Control says that the CPU is always running at 2.4Ghz, regardless of powerscheme and load, and ic annot enable custom dynamic switching.


For most of the time, I want to run my laptop at 800Mhz or so, dont need the performance, but I dont want any fan noise at all.

Anyone been able to turn of the fan completly?


Henrik

 

Go onto windows power settings by clicking on the battery icon in the tray, and click on "settings" for the power plan, a new window will come up that has settings for standbye and screen brightness e.t.c click on the "advanced settings" button i think it is,and then go to processor power management, and set the "minimum" state to 5%, this will allow the cpu to scale down to 800 mhz.

Hope this helps

 

Hi, I dont have any of those settings, I just have the Leonovo power manager, and there is no percentage "state" setting anywhere.

Do you have these settings on a T400?

I run XP SP3

 

You have already done Mr. Bean's trick. Maximum battery life will downclock your CPU to it's minimum (probably 800MHz) already.

I don't know if it is possible to completely disable the fan on a T400. I would recommend against it, because the computer is designed to expect at least a little bit of air cooling the CPU.

I would recommend you install the latest version of Power Manager. Switch to advanced settings, and on a per plan basis adjust the fan speed. On my x200 Tablet I can either set it to "reduce noise dynamically", "balance all parameters", or "maximize performance". I usually set it to " reduce noise dynamically". This makes the fan very slow and quiet (much quieter than my old T40, or work HP), but it does still operate.

Also, make sure you are using Integrated graphics, and have the hard drive spin down when idle. Both the hard drive, and discrete graphics generate more heat. This heat must in turn be offset by increased fan speed and thus noise.

 

1. Download and install RMClock
2. Follow undervolting guide here at NBR
3. Download & install TPFanControl, make the fan start at something like 55C degrees and stop at 45.

I don't know if RMclock could undervolt your processor but at least it hopefully allow to run only on a fixed multiplier (800MHz).

 

I also have a T400 and there may be something wrong with your power manager's settings because the maximum battery life profile using the Lenovo Power Manager underclocks my 2.26Ghz CPU to 1.6Ghz.

Here'a a screenshot of my power manager, CPUZ, and HWMonitor when my computer is idle.



Your temps should be similar assuming you're on the energy saving graphics and on maximum battery life. As of this moment there is no fan noise with those settings. Also make sure your power manager is up to date.

Hope this helps.