Open question: Software that lets you control fan speed…?
- posted by Michael Walsh on September 17th, 2007
- (25)
Got another question in from Amine about the Aspire 5920.
My question is about the FAN, it kicks in way TOO often, even in 2D mode. Do you have a way to control the fan speed of the laptop ?
Now the obvious answer here is to just play with the Empowering Suite software. With ePower Management you can adjust the settings a little bit, but it’s not a complete solution. In fact, Amine’s response was:
When I unplug the PC from the outlet, the fan sure calms down… there is some sort of power management link between the power outlet and the notebook. It seems as if you unplug it, both the gpu AND cpu are underclocked, which makes the fan turn slower. Playing with empowering does lower the fan, but it does not replace the fact of unplugging the pc from the power outlet.
my question is : how to obtain the SAME result using a software, because i keep my laptop plugged in all the time. I want the quiteness of unplugged laptop with the ac outlet in. (same usage of course).
Now I don’t know of any other solution to this (other than Empowering Technology). So this time it’s an open question. Do any of you know of a software solution to this problem?
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Laura wrote, on September 17th, 2007:
I wonder if a laptop cooler pad would help? apparently with one of these you can adjust the fan speed (and obviously cool down the machine too). They’re not that expensive either, so it might be worth a try.
(P.S. I’m no computer expert or anything, so this may not be a solution to this particular problem).
Amine wrote, on September 17th, 2007:
So… your proposal would be to replace one fan, by three other fans ?
hehehe…
gotta try something else…
Jon wrote, on September 18th, 2007:
Try Notebook Hardware Control (http://www.pbus-167.com/). I don’t know if it works for this particular laptop, as I don’t have one…yet
amine wrote, on September 18th, 2007:
We’re getting closer guys… Seems like the problem is coming from the graphic card. I installed the software you refered to.
While Idling, the SpeedStep from Intel is working correctly. The status of the CPU is set to low.
BUT, the powermizer setting (nvidia card) is set to MAXIMUM performance. even though the system is on 2D and it’s idling. now i tried disabling the powermizer and letting notebook hardware control it, but it stays on maximum and never changes.
could this be the problem ? the nvidia drivers are not getting the ACPI switch for toning down the graphics ?
amine wrote, on September 18th, 2007:
update
http://nhc.justred.info/
here is the url for upload a so called ACPI module which will enable the program (NHC) to control all aspects of the laptop (LCD brithness, fans, etc…)
there are 3 modules for acer already, but none for the 5920.
any info on that ? maybe some acer tech guys ?
alvarozz wrote, on September 18th, 2007:
hi guys
all these tools are nice to play. The main issue with the fan is that is one fan for both cpu and gpu. This means that it’s hard to have low temp for both in the same time. For XP and Nvidia chips there is the coolbits registry key that help to manage better the gpu work, but it doesn’t works with vista, if you know how-to, you’re welcome. Also RighMark clock utilit work fine with intel CPUs but not with GPU. What i can see from my experience is that Vista is still not so good for this kind of tools. Have you seen all settings from native Vista power manager? i mean removing also eTool Power Manager and working aonly with vista settings. Anyway time can only help
amine wrote, on September 18th, 2007:
I am on windows XP and the coolbits hack is not installing.
Colin Welch wrote, on September 19th, 2007:
speedfan is a program that allows u to change the fan speed on computers but on my 5920 it dosnt do anything but detect temperatures
amine wrote, on September 19th, 2007:
I’ve tried all of them, the only solution is the one i stated above, make acpi module for 5920
Alan Jenney wrote, on October 2nd, 2007:
It seems that the Acer hardware and software controls the main fan speed in a proprietary fashion and you cannot get into it with any third party software.
Speed Fan will tell you the temperature sensors. In my Travelmate 6463 there are four active sensors: two are CPU, one is HDD and another is a generic ACPI sensor. The latter gets high quickly and seems to affect the fan speed most readily when the machine is relatively idle.
One early comment says that the fan speed comes down when the power supply is removed. With the Acer Empowering software, it is possible to have separate power schemes for AC or DC connection. The processor speed can be altered for each. This seems to affect the running temperature quite a bit.
If you’re not stressing the machine, reducing the speed to “Medium” will mean that the fan doesn’t kick up to full speed with the regularity that many people experience.
Alan Jenney wrote, on October 2nd, 2007:
In addition to my comments about the ePower software, you will have to make the change to the Processor Speed setting once with the power connected (and save the “profile” if you want to) and repeat the change with the power disconnected (and save a different “profile” again).
Lowering the speed to “medium” cuts out the noise without significantly affecting the general performance of the machine. It’s an “okay” solution to the problem.
You can also temporarily change the processor speed using the Empowerment icon’s right-click menu, but for some reason any change you make is saved into your power profiles, so you have to set it back again when you’re done.
I leave mine at “Medium” unless I’m going to run something intensive such as a 3D game or video conversion.
Sam wrote, on December 14th, 2007:
hey guys
now, while i don’t have this particular acer model YET, i have been using various acer notebooks over the years – and have found that the “irritating” fan is most easily solved by underclocking the GPU. It usually has different settings that are used depending on the power source.
Of course this only works well if you are not running graphically demanding programs…
Alex wrote, on July 20th, 2008:
Acer Notebook doesn’t support controlling the fan with a software. The only way is to under clock the cpu.
Blazic Fredheim wrote, on July 25th, 2008:
Hey!
I just wonder how i can set my fan at max all time, caus my computer overheat and turn it self of sometimes! And when i play “Counter Strike 1.6″ with grapics at low i start lagging. (By the way my grapic card is NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS)
Thank you : )
Athos wrote, on July 25th, 2008:
Bought the Acer 7730 this week and mostly very happy with it. But when I play games on it (ex. age of conan) the fan starts up as expected but instantly goes into a “wave” mode. It is adjusting the fan speed constantly.. as in 45454545454 etc…this is very annoying to listen to as well as I cant imagine it being any good for the components either…. Is there something wrong with my laptop or is it just throttling at the exact temp for going high/low/high speed on the fan?
Ive looked for bios upgrades but I cant find any info about the Acer 7730 on the official pages at all!
(Im running Vista btw)
Morris Lee wrote, on July 26th, 2008:
there seems to be very lack of support for that model, I had to change the link for 7720 to 7730 result in http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_7730.html works, but nothing there to download except one BIOS. 7730 was not even listed in the driver selection page
Seph wrote, on January 6th, 2009:
Has anybody updated the Bios on the Acer 7730 and if so does it solve the fan issue brought up by Athos (above). Just got one and found the same issue. Thanks.
Morris Lee wrote, on January 7th, 2009:
@Seph,
there are 3 BIOS listing now on the http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_7730.html page, to use them, make sure you don’t have any other programs like MSN, Skype etc running, use the WinFlash program provided in the archive.
Rene Schmidt wrote, on April 15th, 2009:
Hi
I have an Acer Travelmate 7730G and im running Vista. I work as an IT-Tech and through my job I think I might have found a solution for the fan throttling problem. Its caused by the fan on the graphicscard running wild eventhough its hardly used. I have determined that the problem is in the drivers for the graphicscard. The solution is to get newer drivers but there is a catch. As Acer is an OEM producer they only let you use drivers they support which often means that the drivers are old and outdated. Well you could try what I did. I got a free program called DH Mobility Modder (just google it). With this small program I modded my new mobility drivers and then installed them. After a reboot I noticed right away that the fan has stopped throttling and now runs at a constant level when just using Vista for smaller things. Have yet to test the drivers in a game but thought I would share this with you so you could try it and see if it would help you solve the problem. As mentioned im running Vista Home Premium with SP2 Build 6002 and ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB. Hope this tip will help you and please write back with your experience with this solution.
Rene Schmidt wrote, on April 15th, 2009:
Just a small update to my previous post. I forget to mention that I tested the modder on v.9.4 of the catalyst drivers. Also I have now several new settings in CCC which I did not have before. I can now adjust alot more settings and even get higher refreshrates for my external screen so now I can run it at 85hz which was limited at 60hz before. The fan is still running much better now so seems like this really has made a difference on my pc.
Morris Lee wrote, on April 16th, 2009:
@Rene Schmidt,
Mobility modder are not entirely reliable, current 3rd party drivers out there like Laptopvideo2go or donotargue drivers have issues with bluray and HD DVD playback.
Users may have mistaken that they need “WHQL” driver to support bluray or HD DVD, this is not correct, it is only due to the problem of the driver inf not configured correctly.
As for HD3650, you can get WHQL drivers from windows update. Latest driver version is 8.580.0.0, and no, it is not the number for the Catalyst Suite, Catalyst Suite 9.3 contains driver 8.591.0.0, so it is not far off. and Bluray and HD-DVD are supported flawlessly.
Rene Schmidt wrote, on April 17th, 2009:
@Morris Lee
Thanks for your input. I have a LG external bluray player/burner and I have no problems playing bluray movies after I modded my drivers. As for the version of the drivers they are seen as v.8.600.0.0 by my system but I dont know if thats the modder which causes this version or they actually are that version and you are correct that the version I stated first is the version of the Catalyst Suite. My Catalyst Suite is v.9.4 and as I wrote I have no problem with bluray playback even after modding the drivers.
Morris Lee wrote, on April 18th, 2009:
mobility modder uses old inf informations, so it messes up at certain machine, but yeah, seems like it is working in your case.
steve wrote, on October 31st, 2010:
Ive just bought a second hand acer 5735z with empower tech, and my fan is on all the time, can someone please please help me its driving me nuts..
Bruno wrote, on September 26th, 2011:
Hello Man,
I saw a lot of comments about the speed of the fan, I have an aspire 8943G and it just keep getting hotter and hotter when i play som gamoes. I alredy tried to modify the ACPI, but don`t have this fan configure line. Speedfan?? Tried too but doesn`t work too. The fan must be at the top of speed everytime for a giant notebook as mine and others!
Does anyone get close to this solution?