Toshiba L20 BIOS modification (annoying fan behaviour)

[overclocler14]

Hello, I have sort of unusual problem. Some time ago I got my hands on really old Toshiba laptop. After cleaning it from dust, changing thermal paste I upgraded the RAM to maximal 2 GB and HDD to 80, installed Windows 7 and it seemed to work fine (it even found driver that supported transparency). Specs:
Intel Celeron M processor 1 core 1.6 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
GPU: Ati Radeon Xpress 200m

I use it mostly for school stuff (writing drafts, essays etc.) and sometimes web surfing. Howewer the cooling system behaviour was driving me mad. In BIOS there are two settings "Performance" and "Silent" but both are awful.
I used SpeedFan to check the temps and figured out the working prinicpal.

In the performance mode the CPU heats to 54 degrees Centigrade and fan turns on. First it runs on full power for about half a second and then drops to around 60% (based on hearing and later measurements). Then it cools the CPU to 50 degrees and shuts off (when system is idling it takes approx. 15 seconds to cool down). But as soon as fan stops the temperature rises almost immediately and the cycle continues. It's really annoying (like somebody turns on a vacuum cleaner every 30 seconds).

The "silent" mode is no better. The only difference is that fan turns later (at 69 degrees to be precised) and cools to 64 degrees and the cycle continues.
I got so annoyed that i dissasembled the computer, took the fan and tried various voltages to see, at which voltage it can run reasonably quiet all the time.
I found that about 3V is the best balance between temperature and noise. I took the motherboard out and started poking around winth multimeter for a suitable voltage. I found an diode on the motherboard and the voltage on it's positive side was 3.3 V. I soldered the fan (+) to the diode. I took long breadborad cable and connected it to the (-) of the fan. Now i can touch this cable to anything that is connected to ground (even to the heatpipe fins). I chose VGA port ground. I redirected the wire near the air exhaust and connected it. But it still was a bit too loud. Exept that everything is working fine and i have to operate the fan manually in 47-65 degrees area by pulling the wire out from the hole in the VGA port (it's still less annoying for me).
But the problem is the fan stays always on, even if the laptop is powered off. Only way to stop the fan is to remove battery and power brick, or manually disconnect the fan, so I need another solution.

I have an original newest BIOS V2.5 along with flashing tool for windows. Is there a way to modify the BIOS and then flash it so that it will turn on at ex. 65 degrees and turn off at 48? Also I'd like to the fan start immediately at 60 % to avoid the noise. But it's not necessary. (I'm pretty sure it must be controlled by bios).

I appreciate any help.

Regards,
Chris
PS I also have some strange battery problems but i want to fix this one first.

 

[jjspelen]

Hello, I have sort of unusual problem. Some time ago I got my hands on really old Toshiba laptop. After cleaning it from dust, changing thermal paste I upgraded the RAM to maximal 2 GB and HDD to 80, installed Windows 7 and it seemed to work fine (it even found driver that supported transparency). Specs:
Intel Celeron M processor 1 core 1.6 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
GPU: Ati Radeon Xpress 200m

I use it mostly for school stuff (writing drafts, essays etc.) and sometimes web surfing. Howewer the cooling system behaviour was driving me mad. In BIOS there are two settings "Performance" and "Silent" but both are awful.
I used SpeedFan to check the temps and figured out the working prinicpal.

In the performance mode the CPU heats to 54 degrees Centigrade and fan turns on. First it runs on full power for about half a second and then drops to around 60% (based on hearing and later measurements). Then it cools the CPU to 50 degrees and shuts off (when system is idling it takes approx. 15 seconds to cool down). But as soon as fan stops the temperature rises almost immediately and the cycle continues. It's really annoying (like somebody turns on a vacuum cleaner every 30 seconds).

The "silent" mode is no better. The only difference is that fan turns later (at 69 degrees to be precised) and cools to 64 degrees and the cycle continues.
I got so annoyed that i dissasembled the computer, took the fan and tried various voltages to see, at which voltage it can run reasonably quiet all the time.
I found that about 3V is the best balance between temperature and noise. I took the motherboard out and started poking around winth multimeter for a suitable voltage. I found an diode on the motherboard and the voltage on it's positive side was 3.3 V. I soldered the fan (+) to the diode. I took long breadborad cable and connected it to the (-) of the fan. Now i can touch this cable to anything that is connected to ground (even to the heatpipe fins). I chose VGA port ground. I redirected the wire near the air exhaust and connected it. But it still was a bit too loud. Exept that everything is working fine and i have to operate the fan manually in 47-65 degrees area by pulling the wire out from the hole in the VGA port (it's still less annoying for me).
But the problem is the fan stays always on, even if the laptop is powered off. Only way to stop the fan is to remove battery and power brick, or manually disconnect the fan, so I need another solution.

I have an original newest BIOS V2.5 along with flashing tool for windows. Is there a way to modify the BIOS and then flash it so that it will turn on at ex. 65 degrees and turn off at 48? Also I'd like to the fan start immediately at 60 % to avoid the noise. But it's not necessary. (I'm pretty sure it must be controlled by bios).

I appreciate any help.

Regards,
Chris
PS I also have some strange battery problems but i want to fix this one first.

I have one question for you can you make a picture or screenshot of the bios so I can take a look only one picture, and than I will probably ask for more but for now jsut one where I can see the tabs for all the settings (if you can) and otherwise just take many pictures of where you think it will probably be.
but I don't think you will find it in the bios, but I can try because it is a older model than I'm normaly used to.
I hope I can answer your question! oh and correct me on any mistakes in spelling, I'm trying to get better so if you could help me with that it would be helpful for me! ;-)

 

[overclocler14]

Thank you very much for your response! I was worrying that my problem is so complicated that nobody will answer.
Ok, here are two tabs that I think are important:
https/mega.nz/#!6LI2wARa!CsaofoL3fTaY8V9JnuyF3yTia8WyFmU0wyU7UiBr7AA

https/mega.nz/#!7SAC0ahJ!pgBD1CQGTpUDVktrMrLH3EQJYlMq_QGo6qQ8PZnTtLY

If you need more photos, I'll add them.
Overall This BIOS is really primitive. I didn't add the "Main" tab because it only contains option to select video memory (sadly the only available option is 128 MB, I wish it had more), language and power on display: Auto and Both.

Should I paste the archive with BIOS? Because I'm 100 % sure you cannot edit these values within BIOS itself but you have to modify the file and then flash it onto the chip.

 

[jjspelen]

uhm, I will look look into it but it will not be very doon i think because it is or a very simple fix or a really really hard one and i will probably contact some other people to help with this one! I will do everything in my power to help you me friend! ;-)

 

[jjspelen]

ok, I have though about it again and could you watch this vid and follow all steps exactly but set the curve higher that jay has, and ofcource for the cpu, and try and get your mobo + fan setup like it was before you modded it.
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OkBRELqEgM

 

[overclocler14]

Sadly, speedfan was the first idea I came up with and it failed. It couldn't find any advanced fan controllers whatsoever. I couldn't even read fan speeds. Just two temp sensors for HDD and CPU.
If it had worked I wouldn't even try modyfing the actual bios file. I think it's time to give up. Meanwhile I bought a new fan because the old one just died (probably at least 10 years of dust) and it's plugged back in as it was. Just a little bit quieter but the behaviour the same. I think I'll look for a new (used of course) laptop. If you have any suggestions you can tell me.
Thanks again for help. At least you tried.

 

[jjspelen]

Sadly, speedfan was the first idea I came up with and it failed. It couldn't find any advanced fan controllers whatsoever. I couldn't even read fan speeds. Just two temp sensors for HDD and CPU.
If it had worked I wouldn't even try modyfing the actual bios file. I think it's time to give up. Meanwhile I bought a new fan because the old one just died (probably at least 10 years of dust) and it's plugged back in as it was. Just a little bit quieter but the behaviour the same. I think I'll look for a new (used of course) laptop. If you have any suggestions you can tell me.
Thanks again for help. At least you tried.

do you want me to find a laptop on a site you know or should I help you find a laptop that you want and check if that one is anywhere used? and if I need to find a used laptop on a site then which site?

 

[overclocler14]

You can just give me the brand and the model (should be availible in Europe) and I'll search for it.