Full I8k fan control utility

Cool program. Do you know where I can get the header file from?

Congrats on a job well done !

Thanks !

-Andy

Guess you get into that hall of fame.
It's incredible, to say the least, how controlling those two fans makes everything so much better. A single fan ran continuously at low speed is really about all a person might need. That is, if at all like with mine here. I couldn't get a second fan to run automatically if one of them runs all the time. The bottom still gets warm but it really does make a difference.
Running two at low speed is bound to be the maximum cooling needed for most people, and it's quieter than a single one at high speed.
Reminds me of jetliner flights I've been on so if I can stand 6 hours of that sound on a plane I can probably live with it coming from this notebook.

Note:
Once, when I switched the inner for outer speeds (as in going from 0 1 to 1 0) the inner fan went into highspeed mode instead of turning off. Just some kind of program bug I suppose.
Was happy to find the usual use of the inner fan remains if told to turn off (0 setting). I thought it might be off until a reboot, so that was a good thing.
Kind of makes me wonder what goes on if it happened to be on (under usual usage) and you manually turn it off. Guessing there might be a cycle it must go through before being able to return to normal use. Maybe...? If so that would be the worst case scenario, not able to turn itself on until it was automatically off then turn on when needed as the sensors see it. I really have no idea but that sounds plausible to me.
Could have been a mistake to allow for a off setting if that's the way it works. Maybe I'll try forcing it off while it's on (without my setting it to be on) to see if it turns off or stays on or comes back on immediately.

Back, already tried that. It remained off when told to be off even though it needed to be on. I waited only 5 seconds but I didn't want to risk overheating.
So... definitely a danger!!! Be forewarned! And if you read Micha's web page you will be.

Inspiron 8000 800MHz P3 100MHz FSB Dual UltraATA100 IDE 64MB PC100 512MB PC133 SDRAM 32MB ATI M4 AGP 4X 14.1" SXGA+ TFT Active Matrix 10GB HD Hitachi UltraATA66 4200rpm 8X|4X|24X CD-RW Sony CRX700E fixed 8X DVD Toshiba SD-C2402 modular 1.44MB Floppy NEC Mini-PCI Combo 56K LT + 10|100 ActionTec 59WHr Battery WinME 4-Color Kit $2326+86 Jan. 26, '01 DellTalk: iKlaatu

Hi iKlaatu,


iKlaatu wrote:
- [...]
- Note:
- Once, when I switched the inner for outer speeds (as
- in going from 0 1 to 1 0) the inner fan went into
- highspeed mode instead of turning off. Just some
- kind of program bug I suppose.

No, it's seems to be a BIOS issue. If you turn the outer fan off and the inner to slow speed, it's actually running at high speed. The commands are ok, but the BIOS forces it into high speed mode. If you use "i8kfan 1 -" (so without changing the outer fan speed) it works if both were stopped with "0 0" before.

- [...]
- Back, already tried that. It remained off when told
- to be off even though it needed to be on. I waited
- only 5 seconds but I didn't want to risk
- overheating.

Hmm, yes. That's a problem. Maybe I should remove the off setting.

Michael

Hi !

Great utility! Any plans to make a Window's GUI version?

-Andy

Hi brianc45,

brianc45 wrote:

- Cool program. Do you know where I can get the
- header file from?

Do you mean this ?

//------------------------------------------------
int __cdecl hlcontrol( int fan, int speed );

typedef struct {
unsigned char v_a3; // = 0xa3
unsigned char v_1; // = 1
unsigned char unused1, unused2;
unsigned char fan; // number of fan (0,1)
unsigned char speed; // desired speed (0,1,2)
unsigned char unused3, unused4;
unsigned short v_01; // = 0
unsigned char unused5, unused6;
unsigned short v_02; // = 0
unsigned char unused7, unused8;
} FANCMD;
//------------------------------------------------

That's the structure for the fan control. The unused bytes are only necessary if you compile it with structure packing set to 1 (so effectively turned off).

Michael

I just tried this on my I3700 (BIOS A15). It works! Setting the OUTER fan (2nd arg) to none/low/high speed works. The setting for the inner fan is not important (the i3700 has only one fan - the util will report that the outer fan is unsupported in the smbios).


WHAT AN ABS.FAB. UTIL! (awaiting the Win2K version.....)

mr.pino



Message Edited on 09/09/01 05:34PM by Mr.Pino

AndyI8000 wrote:
- Hi !
-
- Great utility! Any plans to make a Window's GUI
- version?

Yes, of course. Wait a few days.

Michael

Thanks! You are the best!

-Andy

Hi Michael:

Thank you so much. I knew you were going to succeed by the way you described going about it.

It also works for my CPi.

You might want to have a look from time to time at the thread I just started on the latitude bios board under the same heading as here.

Don't need gui, this works fine as it is.


Frank



Message Edited on 09/09/01 08:12PM by fhryder

Message Edited on 09/09/01 08:13PM by fhryder

I made a shortcut on the Desktop for it, putting whatever parameters in the Program section of Properties. All I need is the i8kfan.exe - 1 for things to be so very cool. However, a setting of 1 1 is best if you want a "laptop" notebook, IMHO.

Anyone want to buy a used PCMCIA external fan? (asking that only in jest)

Inspiron 8000 A16 800MHz P3 100MHz FSB Dual UltraATA100 IDE 64MB PC100 512MB PC133 SDRAM 32MB ATI M4 AGP 4X 14.1" SXGA+ TFT Active Matrix 10GB HD Hitachi UltraATA66 4200rpm 8X|4X|24X CD-RW Sony CRX700E fixed 8X DVD Toshiba SD-C2402 modular 1.44MB Floppy NEC Mini-PCI Combo 56K LT + 10|100 ActionTec 59WHr Battery WinME 4-Color Kit $2326+86 Jan. 26, '01 DellTalk: iKlaatu

Message Edited on 09/09/01 11:04PM by iKlaatu

Does this work on a 8100 too?

fhryder wrote:
- [...]
- It also works for my CPi.

Oh yes. And it works on my 18 months old Latitude CPt S500GT, too. I didn't expect it to be that good ;-) Nice side effects.

-
- [...]

- Don't need gui, this works fine as it is.

But I want the GUI for Win 2k :-)

Michael

Hi again,

so here is the GUI application for all Windows versions including a driver for NT4/2000 (and maybe XP). You can download it from here :

http://www.geocities.com/micha_henze/i8kfangui.html

There you will find installation instructions and several hints. The application itself should be self explanatory.

So _that_ was the final step.

Have fun,
Michael

Hi:

- But I want the GUI for Win 2k :-)

Right, and a guy who responded to my post to the latitude bios board said he was having probs getting it to work under ME so I guess we need gui for that too.

Tho he subsequently posted that he did get it working, I'm not sure how.

Great stuff Michael

Frank