Try my I8Kfan.kext for 64bit kernel

[Bronxteck]

the difference between .01 and .02 is the amount of fans it can control.

[seb43654]

Same here, I had it running on my D630 Intel and the constant fan flapping was irritating me. It all stopped after I disabled the BIOS Fan Control through the hidden menu. Then it works perfectly (or nearly perfectly as settings cannot be saved and need to be re-programmed after a reboot). My Tjmax is set at 100 (I have a T7500) and I notice a difference of a few degrees (3 to 4) between the T° reported by i8kfan and iStats, the latter being lower.

 

Re: hidden menu, I can report similar behaviour on the D630 nVidia: it is not displayed when calling it from within the OS, it has to be done at BIOS level or before boot time.

 

The way I run i8kfan on the Lion-based D630 Intel at the moment is as follows:

1) I copied the 32bit kext to /E/E then ran a full myFix.

2) I launch the app through the user startup settings, but this is not perfect as I get prompted for password every time I reboot or restart the session.

 

I could not do the same on the ML-based D630 nVidia, the 64bit kext just would not load after running a full myFix (whether kext was copied to S/L/E or /E/E). I have to load the 64bit kext via the "sudo kextload" command before I run the app. But it works well and on that system, i8kfan T° are aligned with that reported by iStats (taking the different iStats refresh interval into account). It's particular useful on the nVidia systems as these run much hotter than the GMA versions, so every bit of cooling fine-tuning helps (albeit at the exepense of quietness).

 

I've tried both v01 and v02 without problems.

 

 

I just managed to access the hidden menu you were talking about. After having my laptop on for a while, and then restarting into the menu I saw my CPU was about 50 and GPU about 65 which looked a bit worrying....

 

Because I am running Mountain Lion, and it is harder to get the fan control working, should I bother, or will it be better to prolong the life of my nvidia card?

 

Also, what does MSR CPU auto throttling and GMCH Throttling Control do?

 

Edit: I disabled BIOS fan control and ramped the fan to the max. The lowest I can get the GPU to go is 60C and CPU 46C. I also have the newer copper heatsink. What are the safe tamps for this graphics chip in these models - I have read that aslong as its under 85C its fine?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Seb

 

 

[Hervé]

I envy those readings. On my D630 nVidia, CPU T° is in the mid-60s to high-70s range most of the time. It idles around 58°C. I should reactivate my Coolbook license (mislaid many moons ago) and try to undervolt the CPU like I do under Windows.

 

This is the sort of things I run the D630 GMA on and it peaks in the low 60s (idles around 38-39°C):

 

Under Mac OS the CPU voltage is between 1.12V (@600Mhz) and 1.36V (@2.2GHz). Quite a difference...

[seb43654]

I envy those readings. On my D630 nVidia, CPU T° is in the mid-60s to high-70s range most of the time. It idles around 58°C. I should reactivate my Coolbook license (mislaid many moons ago) and try to undervolt the CPU like I do under Windows.

 

This is the sort of things I run the D630 GMA on and it peaks in the low 60s (idles around 38-39°C):

 

 

Under Mac OS the CPU voltage is between 1.12V (@600Mhz) and 1.36V (@2.2GHz). Quite a difference...

 

Hmm Yes I achieve about the same temps as you, i was just saying that when i ran the fan full for about 10 mins, that the lowest I could get it.

 

There is quite a difference. I am thinking of undervolting - does it damage the cpu or reduce performance? And if I undervolt so my CPU temp lowers, do you think it will affect the GPU temp?

 

I got a big shock when I saw my GPU at 60/70 because my desktop hackintosh only ever gets a maximum of about 45C

 

I assume the laptop is built to withstand it.....

 

Seb

[Hervé]

Undervolting the CPU will neither damage the CPU, nor lower performances, on the contrary. It simply aims to reduce power consumption and heat for any given performance. It is therefore a conservative/preventive modification that should, at best, maintain CPU life and extend battery usage (it discharges less rapidly due to reduced CPU consumption).

 

It should be without effect on the GPU since it does not alter its voltage or frequency. CPU sitting close/next to GPU, one could argue that it would reduce the surrounding heat and therefore improve GPU temp, but you'd have to see... Space remains quite tight within a laptop casing.

[tweakbsd]

The goods news are, I will release my I/O Kit based driver this evening. It is much cleaner than the i8kfan.kext. I have implemented setting the fan state using IOCommandGate with a dedicated IOWorkLoop, and using a customizable IOTimerEventSource that checks CPU Temperature and compares it to a configurable list of desired fan states that should be triggered at a chosen CPU Temp. At the moment this must be configured using the Drivers personality dictionary but most people will be able to do this as it is just editing an XML based property lists.

 

The IOUserClient device interface is also finished but yet there is no client written in Cocoa available.

I will spend several hours doing this at the weekend, if my family aggrees to it

 

All Testers are, of course, welcome to report there problems.

[jochenende]

well i got it to run much better by disabling bios control of fan..... it just kept bouncing between low and high before.

 

...

 

but that's a normal behaviour of this machines, isn't it? i've tested it with windows 7, and there you are getting the same behaviour of fan...

[Bronxteck]

if you do the above method it works allot smoother. as i8k control's it completely instead of fighting the bios for control.

[schmatzo]

This is a very, very quick and dirty update to allow for secondary fan control. If your laptop only has one fan, there really is no reason to upgrade.

Nice!

I will try it this weekend on a M6300.