Macs Fan Control for Windows : Error initializing SMC Layer

[chano22000]

Hi,

When enabling "Autostart minimized with system", I always get the follwing error message during boot
"Error initializing SMC Layer, please make sure that your Mac system is supported and you have correctly installed the program." and Macs Fan Control is not lauched.

When boot is fully completed (Boot Camp icon present in system tray and services lauched), manual lauch of Macs Fan Control is successfull.

I therefore wrote a script in the windows startup folder to delay by 20s the lauch of Macs Fan Control which worked well.

I have updated to the last beta 4 and this does not work anymore (I have done some other updates so I am not absolutely sure whether the new version is responsible.)

Nevertheless, the "Autostart minimized with system" still does not work and manual launch after boot is still OK.

Thanks a lot for your work, hoping you can solve these issue.

Best regards.

Configuration
iMac 24' early 2008 - Machine:iMac8,1
Mac OS X 10.5.8 - Windows XP SP3 - Boot Camp 2.2

[Steven]

chano22000,

You need to make sure that the program is always launched with administrator permissions.
Do right click on the .exe, goto compatibility preferences and set check on launching the app always with admin rights.

If this doesn't help, we'll prepare a special version for you to track this problem.

Thank you

[chano22000]

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your feedback.

The issue is that the "Autostart minimized with system" feature does not work on my Windows XP system as i get the SMC initialyzing error. The delayed lauched I have implemented is just a workaround.

Permissions should not be an issue. The user under which I am logged has admin permissions.

Regards.

[Steven]

Hi chano22000,

I've prepaired a special version of the app, that will popup a message with error code on startup (if SMC failed to initialize), I hope this error message can help to track the issue

http://www.crystalidea.com/downloads/ma ... up_msg.exe

[chano22000]

Hi Steven,

Thank you for your special built.

Whith the option "Autostart minimized with system" enabled, I get the following error message during boot "Unable to open port, InpOutDriverOpen error 2".

Clicking OK, I get the standard error message "Error initializing SMC Layer, please make sure that your Mac system is supported and you have correctly installed the program."

When boot is completed, manual launch of Macs Fan Control is successfull.

Kind regards.

[Steven]

Odd. Is there anything in the event log ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

[chano22000]

Hi Steve,

Nothing special here, especially no Macs Fan Control or Bootcamp related error or event in the application or system log.

I have not noticed anything peculiar while looking at modified or created files during boot.

Kind regards.

[Steven]

There should be something related to inpout service

[chano22000]

Hi Steven,

As manual lauch of Macs Fan Control from the start menu is successfull when boot is completed, could it be that required services (such as Boot camp) have not yet started or are not fully initialized when Macs Fan Control is launched ?

(I nevertheless wonder why a delayed macs Fan Control start lauched within a script in the startup folder menu does not succeed any more).

Let me know what you know expect from my side.

Kind regards.

[chano22000]

Hi again,

I just checked the registry for some MFC related keys and I get duplicated ones in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run :
"MacsFanControl"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Macs Fan Control\\MacsFanControl.exe\" /minimized"
"BootCampFanControl"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Macs Fan Control\\MacsFanControl.exe\" /minimized"

I suppose this relates to a name change in the versions of MFC. I have installed the first version of MFC and upgraded with every new beta version without uninstalling the previous one

I have deleted the MacsfanControl key which seems not to be used anymore (BootCampFanControl is deleted/created when toggling the autostart option).

Still the same issue. Should I do a clean uninstall then reinstall and how to proceed ?

Thanks.

[Steven]

That all shouldn't matter. The problem is with inpout32.dll, for some reason its IsInpOutDriverOpen function returns false. I checked on Windows XP/7 on our systems, but it loads ok on system start

[chano22000]

Hi Steven

Some investigation regarding inpout32.

I have upgraded from the version you use (1.2) to the latest available (1.5) on http://www.highrez.co.uk/Downloads/InpOut32/.
I did it the following way :
- enable the "autostart minimzed with system" MFC option then quit MFC
- replace the dll by the new one in the MFC program directory
- delete the .sys driver file in the /windows/systems32/driver directory which is installed the first time the dll is launched

On the next reboot, everything is fine : driver is reinstalled and MFC is activated. Shutdown and next reboot brings the error message and MFC is not lauched.

On the first time, the driver is installed and loaded before the dll is invoked. For the following runs, there might no reason that the legacy inpout32 driver is fully loaded when MFC autostarts.

My iMac is not brand new and the boot process is quite long which can enforce such issues.

Kind regards.

Regards

[Steven]

I'm running out of ideas Maybe you'll be lucky to find the problem

I could use TeamViewer to debug the issue remotely but it wouldn't work - a reboot is required.

[chano22000]

Hi Steven,

A sucessfull workaround is yet in place using Startup Delayer to launch MFC when boot sequence is completed.

There seems to be nevertheless a design flaw such as MFC autostart not waiting for the inpout driver to be ready.

Kind regards.

[Steven]

Please try this now:
http://www.crystalidea.com/downloads/ma ... p_msg2.exe

[chano22000]

Hi Steven,

Thanks for this new built.

When installing over the previous version (*_msg.exe), I now get twice the message "SUCCESS! Time elapsed: 5000". A bit later I get the well known "Error initializing SMC Layer, please make sure that your Mac system is supported and you have correctly installed the program." and MFC is not lauched.

Kind regards.

[Steven]

Hi,

I have no ideas now

http://forums.highrez.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1284

[FranciscusX]

Hi

With latest version of Macs Fan Control for Windows (1.1.12.2) in Windows 7, I get this error message and the Fan controller does not auto-initialize, but this occurs randomly.

I am using this program for around 2 years now and this is the first time I get this error.

I have am 2011 iMac 27, with Windows7 running in a bootcamp partition

Regards

[Steven]

FranciscusX
We will put an extra delay when initializing SMC under Windows on Windows startup (about 2 seconds). It should help

[fbl]

I find I get this error the next time I boot up following any operation which modifies my Registry such as installing a new program, activating or deactivating a driver or service, or following a system crash.