Beta Testers Wanted - I9kfangui - Page 5

Let me know what you think of the new icon in build 4, I think it's WAY better then the "blue" one.

Thanks to donations, now totaling $40, I was able to get a real icon creation program that ties in with Photoshop. Thanks to everyone that's donated, it really does help out.

- Spuds

Let me give a brief overview of how the application works with the driver and installer.

Installer files (exe files only, leaving out the .txt stuff)
i9kfangui.exe - the application
Fanio.exe - the driver install application

Here's what the installer does on installation
- Checks to see if you already have a version installed (only the new installer installs are checked)
- Extracts the contents of the install archive to the specified location
- Runs fanio.exe to start the driver install process (which doesn't work correctly)
- Tell's windows that you have installed the application and writes the basic install registry keys

Here's what the installer does not do on installation
- it does not create the default set of i9kfangui registry keys for user specific settings, those are actually created by the application when you first run it.
- Does not remove the driver, this is done with fanio.exe

Here's what the installer does in uninstall mode
- removes the files and install registry keys, this does not include the settings for i9kfangui as those are handled outside of the installer

So what files does i9kfangui need to run?
i9kfangui.exe - the main application
fanio.sys - the driver that connects to smbios functions

Curently the only build that has been released in installer version was .006, while I have other builds I've been working on, they are not ready.

So why do i refer to install builds and then application builds?
Installer builds are just that, the build of the "install" application
Applicaiton builds are the i9kfangui application beta builds, these add features, fix bugs, and all that jazz

So to recap:
.006 is the first released installer build, this build of the installer contains build 1 of beta 3 for i9kfangui 2.3

The current release build of i9kfangui 2.3 beta 3 is Build 4.

The installer will get alot more tweaking once the i9kfangui application hits RC (Release Canidate). When the application hits RC, features are no longer being added, just bug fixes.

The installer will install files to c:\program files\mdi\i9kfangui by default in the next release, this will be the install folder for the application.

As long as you have the fanio driver (fanio.sys) installed, you can run the beta application builds from anywhere on your computer.

Hopefully that will help clear things up a bit.
- Spuds

I went ahead and changed over to the new site as maintaining both was getting to be a pain. All downloads are now in the downloads area on mckenziedev.com, Internal Beta versions are limited to downloading by registered beta testers only.

I went ahead and put build 4 of Beta 3 up for those non-beta testers to get a sneak peek at what's coming. With any luck, i'll have build 5 done up either this weekend or early next week. I'm going to get the rest of the graphing options in place, and see about some other items i've been wanting to add into that build.

In addition i've added some items to the FAQ's. If your a good writer and want to post up some other FAQ's, install notes, whatever, shoot me a PM and we can talk about giving access to post info.

Thanks!!
Spuds

I've fixed the fan driver installer error (it was missing the required driver file) and posted it to the downloads area of the site.

I am still working on the internal beta builds and hope to have the next stable build uploaded in the next few days.

Here's the bulk of the new features that I'm working on for the next build release.
- Adding in graph line size options (done)
- Adding in graph color selection options (in work)
- Adding in a new "Video Card" selection option, to fix offsets that are required for different video cards to correctly display the gpu temp. (in work)

- Spuds

pilotart is correct..
For the 700m, I'm classing that like the other single fan systems..

Max Speed has the option to select which fans to support single fan laptops. The temp control area can be set to higher values for now to allow it to work.

So it'll work, with abit of tweaking to the temp control temp. settings for the second fan.

Here's what happens when you hit the Stop button for max speed, it does a quick temp check on the cpu/gpu, and based on those temps will set the fans one last time to the max speed or if the temps are low enough, to low, and then stop sending the push commands. If you had temp control selected before running max speed, it will switch back to temp control. If you didn't it will basically be in type of observer mode, sending no commands to the fans to change the speeds.

It will never set the fans to off, while it could do that, and it could be based off temp, I decided that it wasn't a good idea to turn the fans off with any automation that the user doesn't select.

Max speed is designed to force the fans to the highest setting on a interval basis, this overrides the bios control as it will resend the commands to force the max fan speeds. Bios version A05 likes to slow down the fans to save battery life, which leads to about a 10c difference in temps.

Here's an example of Max Speed versus the bios (totally made up numbers, but this is generally what happens, temp increases over time as the bios slows the fans down before it's cooled completely)

Bios Control of the fans running BF2
GPU hits 80c, fan 2 goes to max
new map, gpu gets some cooldown time while it's loading
GPU cools back down to 60c, fan 2 goes to slow
GPU temp sits at 60c since at the slow speed the heatsink is saturated
map loads, gpu temp jumps back up from 60c to 85c
new map, gpu gets some cooldown time while it's loading
GPU cools back down to 60c, fan 2 goes to slow
GPU temp sits at 60c since at the slow speed the heatsink is saturated
map loads, gpu temp jumps back up from 60c to 90c

Max Speed running BF2
GPU hits 80c, fan 2 already at max
new map, gpu gets some cooldown time while it's loading
GPU cools back down to 50c, bios attempts to slow down the fan, max speed overrides that setting and fan 2 is on high
GPU temp sits at 50c
map loads, gpu temp jumps back up from 50c to 80c
new map, gpu gets some cooldown time while it's loading
GPU cools back down to 50c, bios attempts to slow down the fan, max speed overrides that setting and fan 2 is on high
GPU temp sits at 50c
map loads, gpu temp jumps back up from 50c to 80c

Give it a try yourself, play 3 maps (same maps) with the same video settings, one under bios control, the other under max speed. The example is for any 3d application (so 3dmark also works). Reset the max temp after bios control so it will show the max speed max temp.

And here's one example where max speed will fight with the A05 bios (temps at which this happens can vary, it's bios version specific).
cpu at 57c, bios says go to slow speed, fan attempts to go into slow mode, max speed forces it to high
cpu heats hits 58c, and back to 57c, bios again attempts to put the fan in slow mode, max speed forces it back to high
repeat

Temp control can do the same thing, and usually is where this problem appears.
so the fans are wooosh, wooom, wooosh, wooom, woosh, wooom as the two fight for control.
This will not happen all the time, and basically requires a steady load on the system that will put the temps in a range that the bios keeps trying to slow it down to give you more battery life.

I had A05 on my wifes 9300, and my xps2.. the keyword is had.. the increased temps where not worth the few minutes of extra battery life. Support for the 7800gtx appeared in A04 so A05 shouldn't be required to run it, however I don't have a 7800 to test this out.

One thing I am planning on adding to max speed is the option to give a buffer so this doesn't happen, basically allowing a temp range (anything below XX) in which the commands to push the fans to max speed will not occur. If the temp is over that value then the push occurs. This will be a drop down selection, located under the start/stop buttons or in the options menu. (TBD) I'm still coding some graphing options and gpu selector to adjust the gpu reported temp based on the video card. So this will be in the build following those changes and prob. be one of the last new features added before debugging in the release build.

If I can get my hands on a 7800 I could code a specific build that handles the 9300, with the A05 bios, and the 7800gtx. Tweaked for maximum settings and min. fighting for fan control. For now, the option for the temp buffer will allow a work around.

- Spuds

I guess that depends on how you use it and your laptop and what bios version you are running.

Running the fans with the "Max Speed" option will run those fans on higher longer then the dell bios will.

Running the fans with the temp control option is allowing you to select the temps and fan speeds.

Running it in observer mode doesn't change any fan controls.

Is it a required application to use the Dell laptops? Of course not. Neiter are the bios updates, bios hacks, cpu pin mods, gpu swaps, power supply and battery changes, getting the bluetooth module from spare parts and installing it yourself, swapping hard drives, freeing up hard drive space by removing the hidden partition, remove all the bloatware from startup, adding in a dvd burner, doing a firmware hack on a dvd burner for bitsetting, etc.

Do some of those make it a better laptop, they can.

What it can do is allow a smart user to change options, monitor temps, troubleshoot the system fans, and take control over them based on what they are using the laptop for.

It's all about options