Alienware Fan Control

[Mumak]

This is UNOFFICIAL Fan Control which can damage your machine if not used properly !

Be sure you know what you're doing ! USE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK !

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Make sure to always use the latest build of HWiNFO32/64.


The Alienware Fan Control is divided into two major functional groups:
1. Alienware M11x-R1/R2/R3, M14x-R1/R2, M17x-R3/R4, M18x-R1/R2 (Models based on Compal ODM design)
2. Alienware M15x, M17x-R1 and M17x-R2

Current features for M11x / M14x / M17x-R3/R4 / M18x-R1/R2 Fan Control:
- On systems with 2-3 fans, I don't know how to control the 2nd/3rd fan separately yet (the firmware doesn't seem to be build to allow it), so all fans are controlled at once.
- Not all fan values might be accepted by the EC, you need to determine the valid range (min, max).
- There have been reports of various issues occurring on these models during monitoring/fan control (hangups, shutdown problems).
If these issues persist, then disable the "LPC & EC Support". See below for more information.

Updates:

• Some users have reported that when the battery is removed, the lock-ups and shutdown problems do not occur anymore.
• Some further testing (thanks to @Ripsaw) revealed that disabling the following sensors: Battery, Compal EC, Intel PCH
  can also help to solve the lock-up problems when using Compal EC mode. Additionally, if the user changes the controller mode (be it manual, system auto or custom auto) can also cause a crash in Compal EC mode. This means if the user wants to change mode are advised to save and exit the program to prevent potential problems.
• Note, that only certain systems seem to be affected by the above described problems. It's not yet clear how to determine if a given system is affected.
• Build 1855 and later add possibility to choose 2 sources of temperatures for fan control. Since all fans can only be controlled at once, this allows to use both CPU and GPU temperature values for thresholds. If either of both temperatures crosses the configured threshold, the given fan speed is applied.

Current features for M15x, M17x-R1 and M17x-R2 Fan Control:
- It is currently not possible to turn-off the BIOS automatic fan control, so only a workaround is available: after setting a desired speed, HWiNFO constantly overrides the fans to the desired speed (respin). You can change the Respin Period.
- Any desired fan speed (up-to the controller's limit) can be set


How to activate:
1. Download the latest build of HWiNFO32 or HWiNFO64: HWiNFO32 Download or HWiNFO64 Download
2. Run and open Sensors
3. On machines supported by fan control, a fan icon is displayed at bottom of the sensors window. Click this icon to access the Fan Control.
4. A new dialog will open

Modes available:
Set Manual - Switches the fan to the desired speed (slider)
System Auto - Switches the fan to the system default fan control method (BIOS/EC)
Custom Auto - Define your own temperature->fan look-up table to control fans by HWiNFO32 based on actual temperature

In order to automatically launch and activate fan control (along with HWiNFO Autorun), put the following setting at the end of the HWiNFO INI file (HWiNFO32.INI or HWiNFO64.INI respectively):
OpenFanCtrlMin=1

Users of models using Compal EC (M11x / M14x / M17x-R3/R4 / M18x-R1/R2) have 2 choices for fan monitoring/control available depending on the value of "EC Support" setting:

1. "LPC & EC Support" (or "EC Support") Enabled (default) -> direct Compal EC access.

Pros: More precise fan control (fan speed setting limited only by EC/fan min/max limits)

Cons: On some machines this can cause lockups or shutdown problems (on some machines it doesn't cause any issues)

2. "LPC & EC Support" (or "EC Support") Disabled and "SW SMI" Enabled -> a new DELL SMI Method used

Pros: I expect this method should run stable on all machines.

Cons: Allows only 3 fan speed levels - 0, low, high. Exact values are determined by EC (should be displayed).

Important note: On all models with DELL/Compal EC it doesn't seem to be possible to control fans independently, only all at once (firmware limitation). So on machines with more than 1 fan, if you setup a control for more than 1 fan, it may cause a conflict, because each fan control setting overrides all fans in system (i.e. CPU fan speed setting overrides GPU fan speed and vice versa). Thus I advise to set-up fan control for a single fan only !

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DISCUSSION NOTE:
For issues/discussion related to HWiNFO (Not fan control), please use the Official HWiNFO Forum: http://www.hwinfo.com/forum

For issues/discussion related to HWiNFO Fan Control, please use this thread (not the Official HWiNFO Forum).

For other discussions not related to HWiNFO, please use appropriate threads on this forum and do not overload this thread with off-topic posts (such posts will either be deleted or moved to other threads).

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[Michael]

All we need now is a tester with R3 or m11x

[freedomofthedarkendheart]

Is this for the m11x r1 or r2? I can test out the fan control for the r1 since its buggy anyway. Any interests in working to make one for the r2 and m15x?

[Mumak]

It should work on M11x-R2 and I assume on R1 as well, but I have no dumps from this machine yet. I'd appreciate if you could try it and let me know. I'd also need a HWiNFO32 Debug File from a M11x-R2.
M15x is in these terms very similar to M17x-R2 and requires different methods for fan monitoring and control. Although I have some knowledge here too, I don't know yet how to set a direct fan speed in RPM (only off/medium/high)..

Is this for the m11x r1 or r2? I can test out the fan control for the r1 since its buggy anyway. Any interests in working to make one for the r2 and m15x?

[Brian]

Mumak,

The unlocked M17x-R2 bios was released that was supposed to have fan trip point control but apparently it doesn't work. The trip points set for the R2 are far too low and they rev up too often. Any chance you might be able to work in fan control for us?

[Mumak]

Unfortunately I don't know how to modify the trip points on M17x-R2 either. The only thing I might know is to set fan speed manualy and only off/low/high. I guess that's not what you would like to have...

Mumak,

The unlocked M17x-R2 bios was released that was supposed to have fan trip point control but apparently it doesn't work. The trip points set for the R2 are far too low and they rev up too often. Any chance you might be able to work in fan control for us?

[Brian]

Well considering I have no control over them right now, if I could manually switch them to low while in Windows would be good too.

[Mumak]

I'm disassembling the BIOS now and try to find another method.. What are the fan speeds you observe on the R2? I see here some marginal values as: 0, 2000, 3800, 5000

[Brian]

I don't have any fan monitoring utilities available to me so I couldn't say. Do you have any suggestions?

[Mumak]

You mean you haven't tried the only one tool in the whole world that can read the additional temperatures and fan speeds on M17x-R2 ?
Wait.. how's that tool called..... ehm... HWiNFO32?

I don't have any fan monitoring utilities available to me so I couldn't say. Do you have any suggestions?