minimum speed is too damn high!

[machi]

Sorry; this isn't actually an entirely new topic but the others I found through search aren't exactly the same. I'm on a MacBook Pro 4,1 (early 2008) w/OS 10.9.1, using Macs Fan Control 1.1.7.

Everything was fine and dandy until just now. When I restarted about an hour ago I noticed the fan speed was rather high (determined by the sound of the fans) and it did not drop as it normally would. I checked the speed shown in the Menu Bar icon and it was up around 5000rpm. Okay if you've just converted a video or something but not normal for sitting idle. Went to the app's Preferences and see that the minimum speed for both fans is 4564rpm! Minimum. And I am unable to change that. Previously I think that would have been something like 1200rpm.

Right now, the left fan is at 5050 and the right at 4562, with nothing other than Firefox running so I can send this.

The only thing I can offer - and, frankly, I don't know how this could possibly be a factor - is that I have an old (bootable) copy of my hard drive with OS 10.6.8 on an external drive. I shut down my laptop, re-booted from that external drive for two minutes, shut down and then re-started with 10.9.1. And that was when I discovered the fan speed was high.

On that older OS I used SMC to regulate cooling. When I migrated everything to 10.9 I manually went into the System folder to remove the auto-start daemons for SMC (as you know, Apple doesn't allow that any more) before installing Macs Fan Control. As I say, I've never had this issue with the fans running high until just today.

Thoughts?

- thanks

[Steven]

machi
Conflicts with other fan controlling software
One shouldn't use Macs Fan Control together with other programs that work with Fan/SMC controlling, it can cause MFC to malfunction. Examples of such apps: smcFanControl, Fan Control, HDD Fan Control and also iStatMenus (only fan controlling part). If you already have one of these apps installed, uninstall it, and either reset SMC (better) or put your Mac to sleep mode and wake.

[machi]

Thanks for taking a look at my issue. I may have left the misconception that there is a temperature control app other than Macs Fan Control running on this computer. What I thought I'd written was that I'd used SMC Fan Control previously, when using Apple's OS 10.6.8. When switching to Mavericks I deleted that application and manually searched my hard drive, including so-called "invisible" files, to remove any vestige of SMC Fan Control. This includes files in the System's Launch Agent and Launch Daemons folders. None of those files exist on my MBPro today. I'm sure of that because I looked before posting my question earlier today.

So, that out of the way, and while I still don't have an answer to why my fan speed was ramped up - including the shown "Min RPM" in the MFC Preferences window - after submitting that report I shut down and removed both the power cord and the battery, leaving the computer that way for 4 hours. I rebooted just a few minutes ago and now only one of the fans is out of control (see screenshot). Note one fan uses "CPU Proximity" control, while the other is set to "Auto" to establish fan speed.

If I switch that left fan to "Auto", as well, the speed immediately drops to c. 2000rpm. I'll leave it there for now, though I'd prefer a system that seemed somewhat more balanced, regardless of what the trigger sensor might be, and that didn't set an arbitrarily high minimum speed for the fans.

I read in a response to someone else's post that an update was on its way that would allow the user to manually set that minimum speed. Is that still in the works? Any idea when it might be available?

Thanks, again, for the suggestion.


Alex

[Steven]

Current minimum speed is correct and matches default value (both fans).

I read in a response to someone else's post that an update was on its way that would allow the user to manually set that minimum speed. Is that still in the works?

Yes, planned for 1.3 (after 1.2). This year definetely

[machi]

Me, again.

I woke up this morning and noticed I could hear my laptop's fans as I walked by. Unusual, as it was idle at the time. When I sat down with it I checked the readings on Macs Fan Control and saw a. the fans WERE running high and, b. my previous settings - including designating "Automatic" as the fan speed control criteria - were still in place. Since the System's minimum is about 1200 it's confusing that this readout displays 4281rpm. (In screenshot below you see "Bottom Enclosure" highlighted; that's only because I was scrolling through the options to see if that made any difference to the displayed minimum speed. It did not! But I think most would agree these readings are not particularly high.)

The other mystery is that at some point since my last post the settings changed on their own - at least, that minimum speed dictated by Macs Fan Control has changed. Hope the accompanying info helps track down the cause.

Here's the tech detail:
Macs Fan Control 1.1.7, MacBookPro4,1, Mac OS X Unknown (Edit: OS 10.9.1)

Fans:
Left side-min{4281}curr{4283}max{5976}mode{0}
Right side-min{4281}curr{4281}max{5976}mode{0}


TempSensors:
TB0T (Bottom Enclosure) - 28.2969
TC0D (CPU Diode) - 59.25
TC0P (CPU Proximity) - 53.75
TG0D (GPU Diode) - 64
TG0H (GPU Heatsink) - 54.75
TG0V () - 56.832
TGTV () - 58.75
TTF0 () - 70
TW0P (Airport Card) - 56
Th0H () - 53.25
Th1H () - 43.625
Th2H () - 45.5
Tm0P (Mem Controller) - 49.1875
Ts0P (Left Palm Rest) - 36.5

Screenshot follows:

[Steven]

I see two possible reasons:

1. Misfunctioning of SMC service in your macbook
2. Some other software is still running and increasing the minimum speed.