Clevo N141WU noise when fan is cooling

Question

I just bought a Clevo N141WU (at system 76 it's known as the galago pro) from a Danish PC shop.

It mostly works really nicely, but when the fan is spinning down (after a hard workload) it starts making a really high pitched sound and the fan stops (it sounds like the fan isn't getting the needed voltage to spin).

I've called the shop, and their solution was some Windows software, but the PC came without Windows and I bought it to run Linux in the first place (since it was the same as the galago pro I thought it would work).

Since the laptop runs Linux from system76, I think it should be doable.

Is there anything I should install to make it run more better, or does someone know the bios trick to make the fan happy?

I'm running Solus 3.X where x is however many nines you want to spend your time inserting ;-)

Using the keyboard shortcut Fn+1 (found in a thread about the loud fans of the system76 galago pro) twice will turn on and off the fan. This will remove the sound until the next hard load is gone.

I've found two things since originally posting:

• system76 has some firmware update, but who knows if they'd be willing to send it to someone with a laptop from another reseller (I'll ask them nicely)
• System76 has a package in ubuntu called system76-dkms which might provide fan control, but it's not in the Solus repo. (I'll probably ask around in the Solus irc about how packaging works tonight.)

Answer 1

I was successful in Windows 10 with the code below. It handles both failures that the fan can have, being: "fan stops suddenly with fan duty=0" and "fan stops suddenly with rpm > 10000 with a electric noise that can be heard coming from the fan". It requires a program that loads Winring0 such as ThrottleStop running in the background. I have not tested it with Clevo Control Center installed. It compiles with MinGW-w64 with \yourmingwpath\i686-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe \yoursourcepath\main.c -o \yourexepath\main.exe -Wall -mwindows

#define UNICODE 1
#define _UNICODE 1

#include <windows.h>
#include <winioctl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stddef.h>

#define OLS_TYPE 40000
#define IOCTL_OLS_READ_IO_PORT_BYTE CTL_CODE(OLS_TYPE, 0x833, METHOD_BUFFERED, FILE_READ_ACCESS)
#define IOCTL_OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_BYTE CTL_CODE(OLS_TYPE, 0x836, METHOD_BUFFERED, FILE_WRITE_ACCESS)

#define EC_SC 0x66
#define EC_DATA 0x62

#define IBF 1
#define OBF 0
#define EC_SC_READ_CMD 0x80

typedef struct _OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_INPUT {
    ULONG   PortNumber; 
    union {
        ULONG   LongData;
        USHORT  ShortData;
        UCHAR   CharData;
    };
}   OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_INPUT;

HANDLE hDevice = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
char filename[1024] = {0};

WORD WInp(WORD port) {
    FILE *outlog;
    unsigned int error = 0;

    DWORD   returnedLength = 0;
    WORD    value = 0;
    BOOL    bResult = FALSE;
    bResult = DeviceIoControl(hDevice,
                            IOCTL_OLS_READ_IO_PORT_BYTE,
                            &port, sizeof(port),
                            &value, sizeof(value),
                            &returnedLength,
                            NULL );
    if (bResult) {
        /*outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
        fprintf(outlog, "port=%d, value=%d, retlength=%d\n", port, value, (int)returnedLength);
        fclose(outlog);*/
        return value;
    } else {
        error = GetLastError();
        outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
        fprintf(outlog, "DeviceIoControl (read) failed. Error %d.\n", error);
        fclose(outlog);
        CloseHandle(hDevice);
        return 0;
    }
}

WORD WOutp(WORD port, BYTE value) {
    FILE *outlog;
    unsigned int error = 0;

    DWORD   returnedLength = 0;
    BOOL    bResult = FALSE;
    DWORD   length = 0;
    OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_INPUT inBuf;
    inBuf.CharData = value;
    inBuf.PortNumber = port;
    length = offsetof(OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_INPUT, CharData) + sizeof(inBuf.CharData);
    bResult = DeviceIoControl(hDevice,
                            IOCTL_OLS_WRITE_IO_PORT_BYTE,
                            &inBuf, length,
                            NULL, 0,
                            &returnedLength,
                            NULL);
    if (bResult) {
        /*outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
        fprintf(outlog, "port=%d, value=%d, retlength=%d\n", port, value, (int)returnedLength);
        fclose(outlog);*/
        return value;
    } else {
        error = GetLastError();
        outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
        fprintf(outlog, "DeviceIoControl (write) failed. Error %d.\n", error);
        fclose(outlog);
        CloseHandle(hDevice);
        return 0;
    }
}

int wait_ec(const unsigned int port, const unsigned int flag, const char value) {
    int i = 0;
    unsigned char data = WInp(port);

    while (((data >> flag)&0x1)!=value) {
        Sleep(1);
        if (i>10) {
            //printf( "Still waiting on port 0x%x, data=0x%x, flag=0x%x, value=0x%x, i=%d\n", port, data, flag, value, i);
            return 0;
        }
        i++;
        data = WInp(port);
    }
    //printf( "Succeeded port 0x%x, data=0x%x, flag=0x%x, value=0x%x, i=%d\n", port, data, flag, value, i);
    return 0;
}

unsigned char read_ec(const unsigned int port) {
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    WOutp(EC_SC, EC_SC_READ_CMD);
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    WOutp(EC_DATA, port);
    wait_ec(EC_SC, OBF, 1);
    return WInp(EC_DATA);
}

void do_ec(const unsigned int cmd, const unsigned int port, const unsigned char value) {
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    WOutp(EC_SC, cmd);
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    WOutp(EC_DATA, port);
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    WOutp(EC_DATA, value);
    wait_ec(EC_SC, IBF, 0);
    return;
}

void write_fan_duty(int duty_percentage) {
    do_ec(0x99, 0x01, (int)(((double) duty_percentage) / 100.0 * 255.0));
    //FILE *outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
    //fprintf(outlog, "Fan set to %d\n", duty_percentage);
    //fclose(outlog);
    return;
}

int main(){
    // get the path of this executable and append "stdout.txt\0" to it for the log file.
    int i = GetModuleFileNameA(NULL, filename, 1024);
    for (;i>0 && filename[i] != '\\';i--) {}
    char *dest=&filename[i+1], *src="stdout.txt\0";
    for (i=0;i<11;i++) dest[i]=src[i];

    FILE *outlog;
    outlog = fopen(filename, "wb"); // clear the log at every start
    fclose(outlog);
    unsigned int error = 0;

    // I could loop CreateFile until a valid handle is returned (which means that WinRing0_1_2_0 got started by throttlestop)
    // but windows defender blocks the program at start for a few seconds with 100% core usage if i do that.

    Sleep(3000); // ... so this is what i have to do instead. Disgusting.

    hDevice = CreateFile(L"\\\\.\\WinRing0_1_2_0",
                        GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
                        0,
                        NULL,
                        OPEN_EXISTING,
                        FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
                        NULL);

    if (hDevice == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
        error = GetLastError();
        if (error == ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED) {
            outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
            fprintf(outlog, "CreateFile failed. Please retry as administrator.\n");
            fclose(outlog);
        } else if (error == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) {
            outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
            fprintf(outlog, "CreateFile failed. The WinRing0 driver is probably not loaded yet.\n");
            fclose(outlog);
        } else {
            outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
            fprintf(outlog, "CreateFile failed. Error %d.\n", error);
            fclose(outlog);
        }
        return 0;
    }

    int val_duty, raw_rpm, val_rpm, temp, last_valid_duty=50;
    while (1) {
        val_duty = (int) ((double) (read_ec(0xCE)) / 255.0 * 100.0);
        raw_rpm = (read_ec(0xD0) << 8) + (read_ec(0xD1));
        if (raw_rpm == 0)
            val_rpm = 0;
        else
            val_rpm = 2156220 / raw_rpm;
        temp = read_ec(0x07);

        //outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
        //fprintf(outlog, "FAN Duty: %d%%, FAN RPMs: %d RPM, CPU Temp: %d°C\n", val_duty, val_rpm, temp);
        //fclose(outlog);

        if (val_rpm > 10000 || val_duty == 0) {
            // there are two malfunctions that can happen:
            // - fan stops suddenly with fan duty=0
            // - fan stops suddenly with rpm > 10000 with a electric noise that can be heard coming from the fan.
            outlog = fopen(filename, "ab");
            fprintf(outlog, "MALFUNCTION DETECTED: val_rpm=%d, val_duty=%d\n", val_rpm, val_duty);
            fclose(outlog);
            // Panic :O
            if (last_valid_duty<80) {
                write_fan_duty(last_valid_duty+20);
            } else {
                write_fan_duty(last_valid_duty-20);
            }
        } else {
            // This is the custom fan curve code. Can be adjusted to your liking.
            // It's required because i don't know to to set the fan back to "automatic" without manual intervention.
            // Can definitely conflict with other fan speed programs, so be careful.
            // Writes to fan speed are limited to only if the target fan duty changes.
            if (temp<55) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 32 || last_valid_duty < 29) write_fan_duty(31);
            } else if (temp<60) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 42 || last_valid_duty < 39) write_fan_duty(41);
            } else if (temp<65) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 52 || last_valid_duty < 49) write_fan_duty(51);
            } else if (temp<70) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 62 || last_valid_duty < 59) write_fan_duty(61);
            } else if (temp<75) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 72 || last_valid_duty < 69) write_fan_duty(71);
            } else if (temp<80) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 82 || last_valid_duty < 79) write_fan_duty(81);
            } else if (temp<85) {
                if (last_valid_duty > 92 || last_valid_duty < 89) write_fan_duty(91);
            } else {
                if (last_valid_duty < 98) write_fan_duty(100);
            }
            last_valid_duty = val_duty;
        }
        Sleep(200);
    }
    return 0;
}

I have not ported the code for usage in linux-based oses tho. Doing so would require:

• replacing WInp(port) and WOutp(port, value) functions with inb(port) and outb(value, port),
• adding ioperm at the start like in this code snippet,
• replacing Sleep(milliseconds) with usleep(microseconds),
• cleaning up all the now useless includes, defines, structs and handles,
• replacing GetModuleFileNameA with an equivalent function.