Installed Vista and my system fans are at constant aircraft volume. Speedfan isn't offering any answers. Please help.

July 21, 2007 8:49 PM

Installed Vista and my system fans are at constant aircraft volume. Speedfan isn't offering any answers. Please help.

My board is an Abit AN8-SLI, and it uses uGURU for fan speed and overclocking, but apparently Abit has decided to not support this board for Vista, and I can't find a compatible version of uGURU on the Abit site (although the site is a nightmare so i could be missing something). I have spent way too much time trying to configure Speedfan to do the job, but although it detects the board, and there are several configs for the board that are downloadable, I cannot get it to control the speed of my fans. The percentage boxes that allow you to adjust the speed (as seen in every tutorial i have found) simply aren't there when I install Speedfan. I guess it's not supported for fan speed adjustment(?).

Is my only option a hardware fan speed controller? I don't want to be that much of a geek.

posted by bradn to computers & internet (7 comments total)

I use NHC to control the speed of the fan on a PITA machine I have. You'd be after the opposite of what I use it for (keeping a crap machine cool), but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I'm sorry if this ends you up in geek territory, but it's quite painless once installed.
posted by pompomtom at 9:03 PM on July 21, 2007

Seconding NHC. You can have it display the CPU temp on the taskbar, and set dynamic CPU switching (with thresholds defined by you), and link its settings to the Vista Power Scheme. It will also warn you when the CPU starts getting too hot.

My laptop fans run like a jet most of the time. Every month or so, I have to remove all the built up dust and fluff but then it's better. In the meantime NHC helps me control and keep and eye on it. When the warning keeps popping up, it's time to get out the compressed air!
posted by blue_wardrobe at 6:39 AM on July 22, 2007

Secondary follow-up, since bradn will hit this. How can I get NHC to not be blocked at start-up by Vista? Currently, I have to authorize it every time.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 6:41 AM on July 22, 2007

I installed NHC (this is desktop system, however) and I don't see any controls related to fan speed. How do I configure it? Will it control my case fans as well?
posted by bradn at 2:05 PM on July 22, 2007

The idea is to let it throttle your CPU based on load, and the fan should switch off as the CPU cools.

You can go to the Voltage tab, and check all the multipliers that it suggests (based on your CPU). Only a geek would attempt to change the values.

Then click the Set button. And then on the CPU Speed tab, set Processor speed management / CPU speed to Dynamic switching both for Plugged In and On Battery. Or you can set Max. Battery for On Battery.

On the Settings tab, click "Show Advanced NHC settings". You can choose what appears in the taskbar, and what color to use. I choose to show the CPU temperature, CPU clock, load and voltage. And because I'm using Vista, I use white text.

That pretty much should do it.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 3:36 PM on July 22, 2007

BTW, I tried SpeedFan for my system, but it would not control the fan, as it didn't recognize the chip.

If your fans simply don't switch off or slow when the temperature drops, NHC won't help either. Hint: do they immediately go to full speed when you switch on, or do they only go on later when the temp rises?

I found, however, that if I controlled the CPU, the fan was throttled back as a consequence by my existing motherboard controls.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 3:38 PM on July 22, 2007

Make sure you have the appropriate chipset / motherboard drivers installed.
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:50 PM on July 22, 2007