Fan noise HP 9470m

[kekarlsen]

I still have an ongoing case on this, HP has suggested to replace the keyboards on our machines. We have now three of them and they are all useless in an office enveironment because of the noise.

[WouterT]

After extensive search I found a workaround/tool. Since this thread comes up at the top of Google and I came by already a few times, I thought to share this:

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

Scroll down to HPFancontrol.

Or direct link to the download:

http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/HPFanControl_setup.zip

Website looks terrible, but the tool works!

I found it via this thread:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-e-g-Windows-8/Probook-4530s-fan-noise-DSDT-table-edit...

[a-back]

@WouterT - That`s awesome! Finally a tool which is working! Can you share your settings on it - Doesn´t have too many options as the FAQ page describes (only BIOS, Smart and Manual mode where 0 is 100% fan and 255 is 0%) - couldn`t find any options to control the "smart" mode.

Thanks a million!

[WouterT]

Nice to hear that the tool makes you happy as well!

It's not extremely easy to change the settings, but also not too difficult. You need to edit an INI file.

If you did the regular installation, you should have the following option in your Start Menu > Programs > HPFanControl > Edit HPFanControl.ini

Another way is to use Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\HPFanControl. Just double click on HPFanControl.ini and your Notepad will open.

I changed the following settings:

- SlimDialog=0

I don't like the slim widget, because when I look at it, I want to see as much information as possible, and otherwise it's minimized in the system tray.

- StayOnTop=0

No need to have the window stay on top of all my other programs

- Levels:

I'm only using the tool since 2 days, but so far I noticed that the default levels are fine.

But since you're asking I tested the different levels (Celcius!) that are used in the Smart mode:

- I noticed that between 254 (almost off) and 65 there is no difference.

- The same for levels between 30 and 0 (full fan, 7228 RPM).

So I came up with the following settings ( I included the fan speed in the comment behind // just for fun):

Level=60 255      // 0 RPM
Level=64 65        // 3840 RPM
Level=68 60        // 4165 RPM
Level=72 55        // 4468 RPM
Level=76 50        // 4915 RPM
Level=80 40        // 6144 RPM
Level=84 0          // 7228 RPM

I just changed the settings, so not sure if this will be better than the default, but definitely better than the default BIOS settings (without the HPFanControl).

HP has set these temperature levels too safe. But in addition to the fan speed, I believe that not every 9470m has the same noise level . With my company we buy 9470m laptops in bulk by +/- 10. I've been switching laptops regularly, because of different reasons. The laptop from the first batch in December had a decent sound level. The laptop from the second batch in April had a high pitch sound. The laptop that I got recently is okay again - although still too much fan speed by default, that's why I started searching for a solution. I'm still happy with what I found: http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

[D_Sonnichsen]

Hello everybody

I have now had 2 models with this issue.

The first one HP took back without question and now I have another one.

HP have never heard of this issue, but now I maked them create a issue elevation.

I tried the HPFanControl. This is actually great.

But it makes another problem that is called heat, especially when the pc i docked!

And when it comes up over 75 degrees Celtius then the fan really need to work hard. This means 7000rpm!

I really hope that HP acknowledges this problem

P.S. I'm located in Denmark.

P/N: H5F49EA

[D_Sonnichsen]

Hi all.

Just a status update on my problem with the 9470m.

HP suggested that we swapped the keyboard, so I did.

This has actually decreased the high pitchy sound (like a whistle) considerably much, to a acceptable level.

It is almost gone.

It must have been the keyboard that made the whistle, because of sucking in air to feed the fan.

I can strongly recommend you doing this keyboard swap!

Now the only thing they should do, is to modify the BIOS to lower the RPM/CPU degrees table.

Until then I can live with the HPFanControl.

HP have made several BIOS updates since I bought the ultrabook. But as I see it, there is only one regarding the CPU fan.  F.43.

Now as I write the newest is F.46

[D_Sonnichsen]

New update...

HP suggested another keyboard swap, which made the problem worse.

Then they got it in for a repair.

They swapped both mainboard and CPU fan.

Mainboard because the machine suddenly made randomly shutdowns on AC and battery.

Now the machine's loudness is acceptable, however still running with HPFanControl...

[kneeL]

So no word from HP on this? Seems like I am not the only one experiencing this problem.  My job has deployed these throughout all of corporate, and it's ridiculous this isn't a more widely reported and ackowledged issue that HP could be much more helpful in solving for everyone.  In my case its the "Temp6" sensor which stays at 127 degrees celcius (!!) at all times, resulting in fan constantly running. The main problem is that it annoys others around me.  Does HP pay attention to these forums?  Personally I will go through our corporate helpdesk, and you know how efficient those can usually be 😕

[kneeL]

My issue must be different than some others because HPFanControl will not affect the Fan.  I have changed the appropriate settings and no matter what I do, the fan stays running and continues to run at the highest RPM.  I tried manul, and bios, and I also changed the setting to Beep for 500ms when a successfull fan change is made, and no beeps.

Its looking like a hardware issue

[kneeL]

I must have a different issue than everyone else because HPFan Control will not change my fan speed no matter what I try.  Tried using manual and changing it to various values, no results.

The log is repeating the same thing over and over constantly, looking like its trying to set it to Oxff (off at value 255):

[4/2/2014 12:12:33 PM] Manual: Set fan control to 0xff,
[4/2/2014 12:12:34 PM] Change Mode from Manual->Bios, setting fan speed
[4/2/2014 12:12:34 PM] Bios-Mode: Set EC Byte 0x26 to HP32stop
[4/2/2014 12:12:35 PM] Fan: 0x41 / CPU-Temperature: 44°C
[4/2/2014 12:12:35 PM] Bios: Set fan control to 0xff,
[4/2/2014 12:12:35 PM] Bios Mode: Set EC Byte 0x26 to HP32stop
[4/2/2014 12:12:36 PM] Bios Mode: Set EC Byte 0x26 to HP32stop

It never turns it off though - no matter what, Fan speed stays at 8192 RPM

I tried many programs including SpeedFan, which is unable to find any fan controllers to control the fans, however, that program along with any others  (everest, CPUz/CPUid, etc) show a single sensor (temp6 sensor) consistantly at 127 degress celcius which is not true.  All the other sensors seem fine