Same to me: my D420 with Core Duo runs hot. I use I8kfanGUI to contol my fan and RightMark CPU Clock Utility to control my CPU-Clock and Voltage. So my D420 runs with 60 C most of the time. My best Freind usese a Macbook wich runs realy hot, so I can life with the bug in the heatpipe of the D420.
Thomkat, thanks for sharing the info. Yeah, I use I8kfanGUI, too. I actually don't mind the heat - as long as the machine doesn't crash. It's the fan noise that really annoys me. It can get very loud. Anyway, I'm gonna try Dell tech support and see what they can do.
I have a U2500 one with copper heatpipe. It runs at 60C most of the time (on AC), but it doesn´t crashs. My fan noise at 66C or higher is very loud, so I look for an extern cooling fan.
I also picked up a D420 at the Dell Outlet recently with a U2500. It's for replacing a 300m and everything about it was better than I expected, except for the heating up with fan off followed by the vacuum cleaner noisiness that others have described when it came on. I was getting ready to return it under the 21-day policy, but I seem to have found a good solution.
The core of the solution is the I8kfangui utility. Since the slow and fast setting correspond to noisy and noisier, my goal was to set the fan to run all the time at a slow speed so it doesn't get hot. You can do this by disabling CPU Temperature Control on the Temperature Control tab and enabling automatic fan setting and hardware sensor support on the Autostart tab. You can then use the slider on Set first fan speed, which I set at 32. Then check Maintain minimum fan speed in the Main Window. After doing this reboot (having enabled Autostart).
The results for me is that temperatures at idle remain at around 40, going up some as you do various tasks. But unlike Dell's fan settings, when the machine is at idle it will return to 40. I8kfangui does not show any speed for the fan, but it must be on since the machine stays cool instead of heating up. I have to put my head about 8-10 inches away to hear it, and it's not very different from how it sounded before when it wasn't hot enough to turn on the fan.
One caveat. At this setting if you attempt to charge the battery, the system will begin to heat up; mine got to 50 before I pulled the plug, whereupon it cooled back down to 40. With the 6 cell battery, it's not hard to just put it into Standby for awhile, charge the battery up and have 4-plus hours with silence and cool temps.
One other item. I'm using Notebook Hardware Control, but the current version doesn't allow voltages below .9375 (stock for the 800MHz speed). Others mentioned using RMClock (I think). Does the current version of that allow lower voltages?
hmsrolst, your strategy sounds very promising. Will definitely try it. I need a bit clarification: I assume you need to select "Manual fan control" in the main window, right? And besides setting the fan speed under "Autostart" tab (which is under Options), do you also need to set the fan speed under "Manual fan control" in the main window?
fwud420, you're correct about selecting Manual Fan Control. You can also refer to the I8kfangui manual for instructions. Interested to see if it works for you.
Thx very much for offering up your solution...I am trying this out as I write this. This problem has been driving me crazy since I bought the system last month.
One question, when you have to change the setting on the main screen to "Manual Fan Control" in order to check the option "Maintain minimum fan speed", don't you lose the ability of the system to step up the fan speed to "high" if/when the temp gets to the point were the higher fan speed is needed? I'm concerned that if I am away from my PC or just forget about it that I will overheat the CPU if I am running on manual control.
Update on my testing....I started the fan on low speed 4 hours ago when I booted it this morning and the CPU temp has been staying right around 62-64 the whole time once it climbed there. The 65w charger is plugged into the machine. One thing is that I hear the fan about once every 30 secs to try an increase to the faster speed but it settles right back into the low speed within a split second before it even gets to the faster speed. I am very encouraged about this and look forward to hearing what others are experiencing.
Message Edited by ttrqClassic on 10-30-2006 12:54 PM
You raise an interesting point which I hadn't thought about given how I use my laptop. When I travel I use it for the usual things--email, office applications and access to the internet--none of which are CPU intensive. So if I leave it on and step away, it's basically at idle. It would be different if I left it running a program with high CPU usage which might cause it to heat up dangerously, but I don't. Even in those circumstances, if the CPU gets dangerously hot, it should throttle down, although perhaps not enough to avoid damage.
My brief experience is that in my circumstances of use, it tops out at 40. Besides not creating a racket, it's barely warm to the touch, unlike Dell's settings where it's downright hot. It's hard to imagine that running cooler doesn't promote longevity. Given my usage, these things seem to me to trade off well against the risk you raise.
I'm curious to see what you get without the charger attached. For me charging definitely heated up the system.
Hi, I using i8kfan with following settings: Automatic fan control, 1.step On with 60C, Off 58C, fan low.
2.step On 62C off 60C fan low, 3.step On at 64C off at 62C fan high and 4.step On at 85C off 64C fan high.
At CPU-Offset i made a change to - 6C (Important).
Now my fan runs in AC-Mode with 3800rpm at 65C and i don´t hear it. When i am using powerfull programms and the temparature goes over 70C, the fan runs with 5900-6600rpm until reaching 66C, then it goes back to 4000rpm with lower noise. That´s an ideal setting: Low Noise ín most cases and protected cooling while cutting DVDs.
RMClock speeds down my CPU-Clock dynamic to 400MHz at 0,938V. So i can work with my D420 (CoreDuo) in the office with minimum noise.
Very nice, Thomkat. Does RMClock allow voltage settings below .938v? I've typically been able to run Pentium M chips in the .7 to .8 range for the 6x multiplier, but NHC isn't allowing it with the Core Duo.
I encourage all of you who have had success with I8kfangui to make a contribution to Christian Diefer. He's got a paypal link at his site.
Your strategy did not seem to work on my machine. With just web surfing (Firefox), the CPU temp goes up to 55+ in about 20 minutes after startup, and it wouldn't cool back when CPU is idle.
Did you check "Enable first fan control" in Main Window as well? And did you set both first AND second fan for Autostart? Thanks.
I haven't checked either one. I manipulate the fan speed only in the Autostart tab. I did try to change the second fan, but it didn't seem to respond. Did you reboot after doing the settings? I suggest you look at the manual at the I8kfangui website. I found it confusing at first, but that's how I figured out what worked for me.
Thomkat
3 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 11:00
Greetings from Germany,
Thomkat
fwud420
6 Posts
0
October 25th, 2006 13:00
dljor
9 Posts
0
October 26th, 2006 00:00
here are the pictures of two different d420's that I have in hand now.
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread176082-2.html
Thomkat
3 Posts
0
October 26th, 2006 12:00
fwud420
6 Posts
0
October 26th, 2006 12:00
dljor
9 Posts
0
October 26th, 2006 13:00
And according to others' experience, the pipe isn't very helpful in case of U2500.
My second one seems better at cooling, but I didn't use it for a long time though.
Well, we have to live with the fan on all the time, as far as I understand.
hmsrolst
21 Posts
0
October 29th, 2006 21:00
The core of the solution is the I8kfangui utility. Since the slow and fast setting correspond to noisy and noisier, my goal was to set the fan to run all the time at a slow speed so it doesn't get hot. You can do this by disabling CPU Temperature Control on the Temperature Control tab and enabling automatic fan setting and hardware sensor support on the Autostart tab. You can then use the slider on Set first fan speed, which I set at 32. Then check Maintain minimum fan speed in the Main Window. After doing this reboot (having enabled Autostart).
The results for me is that temperatures at idle remain at around 40, going up some as you do various tasks. But unlike Dell's fan settings, when the machine is at idle it will return to 40. I8kfangui does not show any speed for the fan, but it must be on since the machine stays cool instead of heating up. I have to put my head about 8-10 inches away to hear it, and it's not very different from how it sounded before when it wasn't hot enough to turn on the fan.
One caveat. At this setting if you attempt to charge the battery, the system will begin to heat up; mine got to 50 before I pulled the plug, whereupon it cooled back down to 40. With the 6 cell battery, it's not hard to just put it into Standby for awhile, charge the battery up and have 4-plus hours with silence and cool temps.
One other item. I'm using Notebook Hardware Control, but the current version doesn't allow voltages below .9375 (stock for the 800MHz speed). Others mentioned using RMClock (I think). Does the current version of that allow lower voltages?
fwud420
6 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 01:00
Many thanks!
hmsrolst
21 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 08:00
ttrqClassic
26 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 14:00
Thx very much for offering up your solution...I am trying this out as I write this. This problem has been driving me crazy since I bought the system last month.
One question, when you have to change the setting on the main screen to "Manual Fan Control" in order to check the option "Maintain minimum fan speed", don't you lose the ability of the system to step up the fan speed to "high" if/when the temp gets to the point were the higher fan speed is needed? I'm concerned that if I am away from my PC or just forget about it that I will overheat the CPU if I am running on manual control.
Update on my testing....I started the fan on low speed 4 hours ago when I booted it this morning and the CPU temp has been staying right around 62-64 the whole time once it climbed there. The 65w charger is plugged into the machine. One thing is that I hear the fan about once every 30 secs to try an increase to the faster speed but it settles right back into the low speed within a split second before it even gets to the faster speed. I am very encouraged about this and look forward to hearing what others are experiencing.
Message Edited by ttrqClassic on 10-30-2006 12:54 PM
hmsrolst
21 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 18:00
You raise an interesting point which I hadn't thought about given how I use my laptop. When I travel I use it for the usual things--email, office applications and access to the internet--none of which are CPU intensive. So if I leave it on and step away, it's basically at idle. It would be different if I left it running a program with high CPU usage which might cause it to heat up dangerously, but I don't. Even in those circumstances, if the CPU gets dangerously hot, it should throttle down, although perhaps not enough to avoid damage.
My brief experience is that in my circumstances of use, it tops out at 40. Besides not creating a racket, it's barely warm to the touch, unlike Dell's settings where it's downright hot. It's hard to imagine that running cooler doesn't promote longevity. Given my usage, these things seem to me to trade off well against the risk you raise.
I'm curious to see what you get without the charger attached. For me charging definitely heated up the system.
Message Edited by hmsrolst on 10-30-2006 02:49 PM
What number did you set the fan to?
Message Edited by hmsrolst on 10-30-2006 02:49 PM
Thomkat
3 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 19:00
2.step On 62C off 60C fan low, 3.step On at 64C off at 62C fan high and 4.step On at 85C off 64C fan high.
At CPU-Offset i made a change to - 6C (Important).
Now my fan runs in AC-Mode with 3800rpm at 65C and i don´t hear it. When i am using powerfull programms and the temparature goes over 70C, the fan runs with 5900-6600rpm until reaching 66C, then it goes back to 4000rpm with lower noise. That´s an ideal setting: Low Noise ín most cases and protected cooling while cutting DVDs.
RMClock speeds down my CPU-Clock dynamic to 400MHz at 0,938V. So i can work with my D420 (CoreDuo) in the office with minimum noise.
Greetings from Germany,
Thomkat
hmsrolst
21 Posts
0
October 30th, 2006 19:00
I encourage all of you who have had success with I8kfangui to make a contribution to Christian Diefer. He's got a paypal link at his site.
Message Edited by hmsrolst on 10-30-2006 03:59 PM
fwud420
6 Posts
0
October 31st, 2006 02:00
Your strategy did not seem to work on my machine. With just web surfing (Firefox), the CPU temp goes up to 55+ in about 20 minutes after startup, and it wouldn't cool back when CPU is idle.
Did you check "Enable first fan control" in Main Window as well? And did you set both first AND second fan for Autostart? Thanks.
Message Edited by fwud420 on 10-30-2006 10:48 PM
hmsrolst
21 Posts
0
October 31st, 2006 08:00
I haven't checked either one. I manipulate the fan speed only in the Autostart tab. I did try to change the second fan, but it didn't seem to respond. Did you reboot after doing the settings? I suggest you look at the manual at the I8kfangui website. I found it confusing at first, but that's how I figured out what worked for me.