Probook 4530s fan noise : DSDT table edition ?

[Capvermell]

OK I have now installed the final version of the utility on my HP stockcode number #LW813EAR HP Probook 4330s.  This is a 13.3" Core i5 2430M variant of the Probook family with a 640GB Hard Drive and, one USB 3 port and a Radeon 6490M dedicated graphics card.

After altering my Bios so that the fan does not run all the time when the machine is on AC Power the new utility does indeed shut off my machine's fan until the temp hits 60C and then does not turn it off till it drops to 50C.  However the problem I am facing is that just writing emails or doing Word processing and not doing anything demanding on the laptop the temp is regularly rising to 60C and triggering the fan to cut in until the temp drops back to 50C when the fan goes off.  This begs the question at what temp the laptop will stabilise if the fan is left permanently off.  Clearly the fan should only need to run if the unit is put under heavy processing load and/or graphics load and not if it is just sitting ther doing text editing.  Even at 60C indicated temp the palmrest does start to become noticeably warm compared to the normal cool state of the Probook casing when the fan is left to do its own thing and not interfered with.

On putting the fan state in Manual and 255 the temp does not rise at all fast beyond 58C but eventually it does creep uo to 60C and triggers the fan so given long enough might it not reach 70C or even 80C with the fan turned off and if so at what point would the extra heat begin to fry the processor?

Bottom line is the machine does start to get pretty hot with the fan completely off so is it actually safe in terms of the machine's longevity to strive to achieve the goal of running it without the fan being in operation?

[jhoonq]

Capvermell, the 4330 might be tougher to keep cool, as it's a smaller case and the Radeon 6490M does not help...

You could edit the .ini and change te temperature when the fan starts, something like this:

Level=60 255
Level=70 128
 

Go through this thread and maybe you can find some more info - http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-business-class-notebooks/657013-hp-probook-4530s-fan-always-help-...

The fan could be linked to the 6490M temp also. That might be the reason the fan starts at 60C when you have HPFC in manual mode at 255 state.

There is another tool that can fake both cpu and gpu temp.. That way you cand keep the fan off longer. It's normal for the palmrest to get warm, but i don't think there will be problems if cpu/gpu temps are kept under 70-75C.

The tool is writen by a german friend, but it's all in english, with a nice manual, so it's easy to work with.

http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1070494 

One last note:

- Do you have Power options set to "Maximum power saving" or something? This helps reduce the cpu voltage when idle. The gpu has some similar setting in its control panel. Look at the settings and set them right for both battery and AC use.

[Capvermell]

Thanks for your suggestions jhoonq.

I went in to the Catalyst Control Centre program that controls the use of the Radeon 6490M graphics card and changed the Switchable Graphics Method in the Power menu from "Select the graphics processor manually" and "High Performance GPU" to "Select the graphics processor based on application needs" (so hence in the main Power Saving GPU for most applications is auto selected) and now the machine settles at around 53C temp when just writing an email or Word document etc.  So the fan remains off and I do not have to worry about frying the processor.  It only comes on when starting to do more intensive stuff like watching videos etc.  The main thing is it is stable at 53C when doing only word processing whereas before I could not see where it would become stable without the fan running - probably it would have been around 70C - too high for comfort or lack of worry about not damaging the machine.

One last thing is that I notice that under More Power Options then Change Plan Settings then Change Advanced Power Settings there is a Processor Power Management setting with a System Cooling Policy subsetting which can be varied between Passive and Active for both Plugged In and On Battery states.  I wonder what practical effect this actually has?  For instance previous testing with the standard unmodified HP Bios power settings showed that setting Processor Powere Management to Passive instead of Active when Plugged in did not cause the fan to trigger any later on than before.

Lastly I notice now that the machine temp is hovering at 51C after some activity that took it over 60C and is not hitting 50C to turn the fan off.  So I think I'm going to need to alter the fan turn on and turn on off temps in the ini file a bit more to say 63C to turn it on and dropping below 53C as the point where it turns off again.

Anyhow its clear that even the 13.3 inch 4330 Probook machines can be set to mainly have the fan off when only doing web browsing, email and word processing so that only games playing and video watching etc should turn it on.

Many thanks to you and Troubadix for all your hard work on this.:smileyvery-happy:

[jhoonq]

Just ignore "System Cooling Policy" setting, it doesn't seem to change a thing on the hp.

I got hpfc set like this :

Level=55 255
Level=65 128

Just experiment and find a fan on value that you feel confortable with. Anything under 75-70 is safe. 

There is no reason a laptop should spin the fan when idle, when you write an email, or do some light internet browsing.  With hpfc + some tweaks to various gpu/cpu power settings, we've got it done!

Win!

[thisiswhy]

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@jhoonq wrote:

THIS IS IT!


HPFanControl by troubadix - Scroll to the download area and you will find the link to download HPFanControl. All the info needed is inside the .ini and on this thread.

Please send a shout-out or some $ via paypal to troubadix, as he wasted time for us, making his two year old thinkpad tool compatible with our HP!

---

This accessory program finaly did it. Thank you very much!

I tried first TPFanControl which didn't work, but this HP optimized version does the job. At least Windows users can be happy now.

However I still think HP made a big mistake with this episode and how they chose to handle it. No more HP computers for me, please.

[k3mp]

For all interested users:

On Mac OS, you can use a DSDT patch:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/72043-new-fan-control-dsdt-silent-fan-higher-temps.html

On Windows you can choose between:

- Notebook Fancontrol: http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1070494

- TPFanControl (called HPFanControl for ProBooks): http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

On Ubuntu (or other Linux distributions):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4537271/4530s.zip (by k3mpaxl on Twitter)

(I'm using it for several months now!)

PLEASE NOTE: Using these tools may DAMAGE your notebook. There is no warranty!

[HamidQ]

For all interested users who are not having any luck with the HP Fan Control or other suggested tools.

I have a 4530s which started showing symptoms of a pulsating fan i.e. fan going to full RPM and back to normal in matter of seconds. After couple of months time frame it continously ran on full RPM and no tool would slow down the fan or stop it.  Turns out that one of the fan cable (in my case blue one) had been crushed by the back cover and was possibly in a disconnected state. Fiddling with this cable immedietly slowed down the fan. I believe that over time the cable was continously pressed in its place by a plastic piece in the back cover which eventually caused it to break. I have sort of straightened the cable and placed the cover back and voila all works fine (even with out the HPFanControl). I did also get rid of the offending pieace from the back cover so that it can not damage the cable any more.