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Doutlick 06-24-2004 10:04 AM

Power Supply Fan will not stop
 
I have just installed Mandrake 10.0 Official on my Sony Vaio PCV-RX650 desktop pc and I have everthing functioning with one annoying bug.

The power supply fan does not shut down after bootup. In the past, (with XP), the fan would kick on when the computer booted and then shut down after the OS loaded. The only other time it would kick on would be if I was burning a CD. The fan is very loud and extremely annoying.

I've read some older posts with similar issues using older versions of Mandrake with no real solutions offered. I would greatly appreciate any help with this one. My PC is lounder than my vacuum cleaner.

otish1000c 06-24-2004 12:39 PM

in all honesty, i've never had nor have seen a computer that shut down the power supply fan (or any fan) after it had booted. why would you want the fan to stop? i'm sure you're aware of the benefits of case, power supply, cpu, & various other computer fans? (not trying to be a smart a** here) i just never heard of a fan that stopped after boot. if i'm wrong, somebody please correct me. if i'm right, then i'd have to suggest looking into a quieter fan. there's many makes & models out there & they're inexpensive & very easy to install.

otis

Doutlick 06-24-2004 12:59 PM

I understand that the fans are needed to keep the system cool but the fact is that I can hear my computer from 3 rooms away in my house. It's loud. And the fans not making excessive noise from being clogged up with dust or anything like that. It has always been this loud. Its just that it used to shut off (or possibly slow down to a more silent speed) before when I had windows XP installed. I was only half kidding about my vacuum.

As far as a new (quiet fan) is concerned. The current one is riveted into the power supply box. This means I'd have to buy a whole new power supply. Quickly looking at the Nexus NX-350, which seems to be a quiet power supply, will run about $75. If there is something I can do to linux to make it control the fan speeds the way XP used to then I'd rather do that.

otish1000c 06-24-2004 01:10 PM

ok, you're reasoning is fair enough. to answer your question, no, there is no app that i know of that can control your fan speed, windows, linux, or other wise. unless you have a fan that's made to run at different speeds & have an external speed control switch of some sort or a bios setting to do that, it can't be done. a fan that is designed to run at X rpm's will run at X rpm's unless it's a specially designed variable speed fan. sorry........

otis

Doutlick 06-24-2004 01:30 PM

Mandrake Expert Link

Here is a link to an old incident on Mandrake expert. It's the same machine as mine. Maybe it's just an issue with this particular sony vaio model. I dunno. There is a difference between the way XP and Mandrake handle the PS fan on this machine though. I can say that.

I'll just have to keep a bottle of advil next to my computer unless I feel like switching back to XP.

Thanks for the consult though.

Asificare 06-24-2004 09:31 PM

Hi, I would be taking an educated guess here and say that no OS would shut down a power supply fan UNLESS it is thermally controlled. So, maybe you should look at a program that controls/monitors the sensinfg part of the power supply and the best place to start looking is the home page of the PS makers.

I am an electronics technician and do not see any advantage in having the fan turn off unless you live in an igloo! Another thing is, how noisy is it really? If it has always been that noisy, maybe it was faulty from the start? Maybe the bearings/bushings are all flogged out or even half seized up. I would seriously invest in a drill bit, drill the rivets out and replace the fan, it does not sound reliable to me, use some small srews and locknuts to hold the new one in place. Either that ar fork out for a new PS as I reckon $75 is a whole lot cheaper than a failing PS which causes the wrong voltages to be supplied to the MB or RAM/CPU etc.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

Cheers
Asif

Doutlick 06-24-2004 10:10 PM

Hmmm. Maybe I'm not saying this just right. If you look at the link provided in my last post, a person with the same sony computer system had the same problem with a dual boot system. When XP is loaded there is no problem. When linux is loaded the fan runs like the prop on an airplane.

I don't have a dual boot system set up but I would bet my first born child that if I did, the fan would shut off when XP loaded. I really don't think there is anything wrong with the fan. Like I mentioned before, this may just be some kink with the sony machine that I have.

I can assure you though. With XP, the fan DID shut off after bootup. The only time I noticed it coming back on was when I was burning a CD. Other than that, the fan remained off.

Now, with linux, the fan remains on all the time.

XP = Fan shuts off; Linux = Fan DOES NOT shut off. ~ I swear I'm not making this up. Anyone else with a Vaio desktop out there?

mdg 06-25-2004 09:42 AM

Have you looked in the bios to see if there are any options to control fan speeds in relation to temp? It sounds like you have fan monitoring running in XP, but that's usually set up for case fans or the CPU fan.

Check if your PSU fan is drawing power from the motherboard with a 3-pin plug. If so, the fan is being contolled by software in XP. To get the same result in Linux you would have to use lm_sensors and GKrellm

Doutlick 06-25-2004 10:39 AM

OK, this is what I have learned from some sony vaio message boards

1) They have multi-speed fans, they have a slow and a fast setting, you know this because they start up fast with your PC< then slow down as the CPU load drops down

2) Supposedly, there is a driver that controls the fan from windows in C:\windows\system32, a file named sonyfanc.vxd and in C\windows\system32\drivers for a file named sonyfanc.sys.

3) There is some Sony Fan Control software for XP. It is a 2 meg .exe file that updates the current fan control.

I will have to investigate a little further but that's what I have figured out so far.

Small_steps 07-18-2004 01:18 AM

not alone
 
having same problem with same model PC

DaUnKnOwN 08-19-2004 11:12 AM

I have a Sony Vaio PCV-RX640 And Have The Same Issue

DaUnKnOwN 08-19-2004 11:12 AM

I have a Sony Vaio PCV-RX640 And Have The Same Issue

rhb327 08-20-2004 07:45 AM

I have a sff system in which both the CPU and PS fan are thermally controlled. I use the following programs:

lm_sensors
gkrellm

lm_sensors may do the trick for you in this regard. Depending on what health monitoring chip the Sony has...YMMV. The great thing is that lm_sensosrs seems to have great support. When I upgraded to 2.6.7 kernel, I had to hack the it87.c module for my system so that the fan RPMs would not go to 100% and the BIOS would retain control! Eventually, lm_sensors will allow me to set the trip points and override the BIOS control mechanism.

HTH,
Rich

DaUnKnOwN 08-20-2004 08:10 AM

How Do You Proceed On Doing This? Im Using Mandrake 10

rhb327 08-20-2004 09:26 AM

I did this on MDK 10.0 official download. I noticed in XP that my two fans were running in the low to mid 2000s RPMs but in linux low 4000 RPMs and the noise was irritating. The problem I had was the fans would be on 100% when I installed lm_sensosrs 2.8.4 which if I remember is distributed with MDK 10.0. To use newer versions of lm_sensors, you will need to upgrade your kernel or wait for 10.1 release next month (I think). Of course my BIOS was set to "SMART" control vs. off or full on.

Another, important point, is whether or not your motherboard supports fan PWM. I presume since is is quiet in XP that you do have fan PWM control.

I would start here and identify your PC health IC:
http://secure.netroedge.com/~lm78/

Rich


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