Can't access fan controll on HP DV4000 series notebook.

[Andrius86]

**Long post**

Hi, have a bit of a problem and would appreciate some (or alot) of help.

I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 series, DV4388EA to be exact, where my CPU seems to be seriously overheating, while playing games that don't really require that much processor speed.

Now i noticed that my current cpu-fan works quite at a slow RPM rate, and i'd like to speed it up, as this, i think, would definitely solve the overheating problem. The problem is that i tried various software programs like FanSpeed, NHC and the like, and NONE of them can detect my fans, because both tell me that my ACPI is not configured. They can detect the temperatures and stuff like that, but can't access or detect fans.

My idle CPU temperature is anywhere from 56-59C, and when playing games it rises rapidly up to 75-82C, where my FSB automatically drops by half, thus slowing down performance and drastically reduces playability of the game. Or sometimes the computer just plainly reboots....


Now, the ONLY reason i can think of why my ACPI is not configured is because i changed the default BIOS that came with the system, with the new and supposedly supported PhoenixBIOS version. Now, when i go and check BIOS, there is absolutely NOTHING i can change. The only interactable things in bios are checking temperature, doing quick scans of my HDD and turning bluetooth/USB on/off... that's it.

So should i restore my previous (if rather old, year 2005) bios and see if that helps, or is there some other solution to controlling my CPU speed. My current bios is: Phoenix, Version F.21 01/18/2007 where it says that ACPI is supported and enabled....


Also, one other thing, i used NHC to reduce my cpu voltage by like 30% and it runs smooth as hell....But it STILL hasn't reduced my overheating problem, not by a longshot. Just reduced a few degrees...

As a sidenote: I'm used to running Quake 4 and stuff on this PC on maximum graphics with no problem, now it seems it's overheating... Maybe it's getting crummy and dusty inside, but the warranty is in effect and i don't wanna disassemble and clean it, since i'm not that good with notebook hardware.

Here are my computer specs, if anyone's interested and if they'll help, some info might be irrelevant:

Vendor: Hewlett-Packard
Name: Pavilion dv4000 (ES967EA#UUG)
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Alviso i915PM

System Memory: 1024 MB (DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM)
Memory Timings: 4-4-4-12 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) (is that bad? can it be more effective?)

Processor: Mobile Intel Pentium M 750J, 1866 MHz (14 x 133)
x86 Family 6 Model 13 Stepping 8
External clock 533Hmz
Voltage 3.3V, Legacy Mode: Yes

Video Adapter: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 (Omega 3.8.330) (128 MB)

Audio Adapter: Intel 82801FBM ICH6-M - AC'97 Audio Controller [B-2]

Disk Drive: FUJITSU MHV2100AT PL (100 GB, 4200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)

Optical Drive: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L532M (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD+RW:8x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-ROM:8x, CD:24x/10x/24x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)

Network Adapter: Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

Oh and my CPU Alias says for some reason "Dothan", but it's not, it's something starting with S, forgot.


The solution i'm looking for is someone suggesting some other fan speed controll software that might work for HP, or something HP-specific, or some other solutions of controlling fan speed and generally reducing heat. I don't care about the sound the fan will make, as long as it will work FAST and COOL. Or any helpful solution that might help my HP notebook to generally increase performance and reduce heat.


Well, that about sums up the gist of my problem. In short, i want to make the fans go FASTER.
Hope someone will take the time to read through and try to help me, and thank you in advance for your valuable time!

 

[Andrius86]

Oh yeah, or a solution to configure ACPI

 

[raybay]

The HP Pavilion DV4000 is a bugger... because there are 46 models, and nearly 50 drivers. It uses software (drivers?) for its power management and related settings. It does not like it when somebody messes with those settings... as changing some reflects on the operation of others.
Because of that series' relatively unique design for cooling, with multiple fans, you are risking ruining the machine unless expert on HP laptops.
I would just download all the right drivers for that exact model from the HP site to see if you can get it back to normal... then rethink what you want to do.

 

[Andrius86]

Yeah, i did full system restore. Works fine, but still, the problem persists when i run CPU-heavy games. I still need to find a way to speed up the RPM of all the fans, because i KNOW and HEAR that they aren't working at full capacity and could spin a hell of a lot faster.

Oh and there's another thing that's botherring me. Whenever the processor hits 74C it reduces the FSB by half, effectively cutting down speed from 1.86Ghz to 980Mhz.... Any way to disable that as well?

I'm beginning to think HP don't want people to mess with their factory settings, so they made them unchangeable or something....

 

[raybay]

Yes, you are correct. You are being thwarted by good design.
You are trying to make your laptop do something contrary to what it was created to do. Further, it is designed well to make it last long, and work well as a business computer. It has better cooling channels than most, and more cooling fans. It is designed for rugged use, but it is also designed for long battery life on the road, and better data protection. It will never do what you want easily, and will fail early if you are successful in bending it to your ways and requirements.
What you need is something like an Alienware gamer laptop, or one of a very few others designed for the wants of a gamer. They won't last long, but they will behave properly as gaming machines while they still run.

 

[tipstir]

AMD CPUs with these models are better than the Intel CPUs, but these type of laptops do get hot and a good ANTEC cooling fan for laptops there are better ones online that will help keep them cool. CPUs do run hot and the AMD models you can get some neat tools from AMD to cut the CPU power down. I use it to the MAX with HP 12 cell Li-ion battery. The 12-cell is bigger than the 6-cell that comes with these laptops but the time you can use is way longer.. I really don't have any issues..

 

[nismo91]

Yeah, i did full system restore. Works fine, but still, the problem persists when i run CPU-heavy games. I still need to find a way to speed up the RPM of all the fans, because i KNOW and HEAR that they aren't working at full capacity and could spin a hell of a lot faster.

Oh and there's another thing that's botherring me. Whenever the processor hits 74C it reduces the FSB by half, effectively cutting down speed from 1.86Ghz to 980Mhz.... Any way to disable that as well?

I'm beginning to think HP don't want people to mess with their factory settings, so they made them unchangeable or something....

hmm, it might be called turning off intel speed step.
I'm using program called Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) to set the cpu clock.when i'm doing lot of things, i just set it to the max performance so that it stays at the maximum level of speed and multiplier available.

however, not sure works perfectly with yours, but with many laptops i've been dealing it works, even with a acer notebook that goes to 100*C, NHC still works perfectly.

you might check it out Here

 

[Andrius86]

Yeah, i've been using NHC for a long time now, so i know about it. I use it to reduce cpu voltage and keep it running at max speed... But the internal (or some other software) controll keeps overriding the FSB settings as soon as the processor hits 74C+.

Besides, like i said, NHC can't detect my ACPI settings so i can't access fan control with it either.

Still need help.

 

[J0tar0Kjo]

same problem here from day one and older bios.
I installed omegadrivers and and downclocked vga to 300gpu and 300memory.
Temperature is high but it solved cpu drop problem.

 

[wertram]

there must be a solution

i have the same problem with my dv4266 cpu 1.73 sonoma and x700. it began3 months after i bought my computer and i took it to service and they say that they changed the motherboard and fun but after another 3 months past is started again. now problem continues and i can't find any solutions and i don't want to take it to service as only thing they do is to replace parts and it took so long( a month)...

i set powerplay function to battery optimized for all contidions to prevent warming up and power off but of course i can't play any games effectively.
i'll try to underclock ati it seems the only solution for now.

 

[Andrius86]

Still would be easyer to find some software or bios or whatever to forcefully speed up the cpu fan speed by a couple of hundred RPM

 

[yesrohit]

i have exactly the same problem as yours. I have a dv4394. At idle the temp is 55-60 C. (Notebook Hardware Control). When I play a demanding game, within a few minutes, the temperature reaches above 70 C and the FSB drops down to 1056 MHz... and the game crawwwls. I brought my laptop from Dubai and live in India. I sent my laptop back to Dubai as it was in warranty period. They replaced the Heat sink and fan.
My laptop ran fine for another few months after which it has come back to its original problem. I got the fan, heat sink cleaned from a HP technician i know. Even then, the problem persists. So, basically, with a high configuration laptop (atleast when i brought it), having graphic cards, 2.00 GHz processors, 1 GB Ram, I cant play any game. Even a simple game like Counter Strike does not hold for long before which it slows down.
All this had made me really regret my decision to buy this laptop. And the worst thing is, I have to somehow manage with this laptop for another 1 and a half years !!