Acer Aspire 5050 - Fan Control/Overheating - v3315

Don't ask how to hack password. (BIOS Passwords)
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kk1101
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Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:20 am

Hi, I have an Aspire 5050 that's running hot - 80c idle, 90c in use and 105+ within 5min if video is playing (then automatically shuts down). The latest BIOS (3315) has _PSV (passive cooling) set to 105 so the fan will not turn on until it's hotter than that, spins up momentarily before the system shuts down.

Unless Acer's trying to cook older models I have no idea why the latest BIOS refuses to use the fan until it's way overheating, but here's what I've tried so far:

Installed Notebook Hardware Control to manually tweak the ACPI settings, but apparently Acer uses proprietary methods for fan control and nobody knows how to get it to work with NHC. Found this:
edit: won't let me post links, was on ubuntuforum

Solution's for Ubuntu linux, but figured could make it work for XP. Downloaded the 5050's ASL, used iASL (Intel's ASL compiler) to make the DSDT, then realized I have an ATI CPU - stopped pursuing this route.

Hours later, found this guy:
edit: won't let me post links, was on aspiregemstone dot blogspot

And he actually figured out how to change the passive cooling setting to get the fan to spin up -- problem is it's for an Aspire 4350, so I haven't tried to use his patched DSDT.

I did edit the 5050 AML file I got (found for the linux solution), found where _PSV was set to 105 (in hex), and knocked it down to 44 (in hex) to hopefully have the system run the fan constantly. Intel's compiler builds it fine, but the Microsoft ASL compiler used by the guy with the 4350 gives me this error:
Copyright (c) 1996,2006 Microsoft Corporation
Compliant with the ACPI 3.0a Specification

acer-aspire-5050.asl:

22: External (\_PR_.CPU1._PPC, IntObj)
^***
acer-aspire-5050.asl(22): error: parent object \_PR_.CPU1 does not exist
Odd, so I took out all references (6 or so) to any CPU1 calls, and it now gives me this error:
aspire-5050.asl:

22: External (\_PR_.CPU0._PPC, IntObj)
^***
aspire-5050.asl(22): error: parent object \_PR_.CPU0 does not exist
Odder. No idea how to proceed from there, so scrapped that route too.

Many more hours and I've read through this and other fine BIOS forums, and now have a decent grasp on how to edit the .WPH itself. Found a copy of PBE 2.21, fired it up and opened ZR3_3315.wph (provided from Acer) but I get a ROMEXEC not available! error - and can't edit anything packed in it.

Very frustrating, because I'm fairly sure this is exactly what I need to do to fix the problem - edit the wph's ACPI module (contains ACPI0.aml and ACPI1.bin), then re-flash.

But I can't. Apparently Acer didn't include ROM executable code with the .wph:
edit: won't let me post images?

and I have absolutely no idea where to go from here.

Physical solutions are already being used - uncovered all the vents, have it on a cooling tray and it's still running hot. Should I scrap it, or is there any way to get PBE to work without a romexec? Or any other solutions?

Thanks
TechXcell
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Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 8:30 am

Jai Ho!

I salute you Mr. kk1101 for the best written forum query I have ever come across! It is so perfect that it took me a few minutes find words to appreciate it! ... and yet I feel I didn't do it any justice! Write a book man.. one of the "How to" kinds! I'm sure it'll be a hit :D

Coming to the point, I am using Acer Aspire 5052NWXMi of the Aspire 5050 series notebook.

Original BIOS was ZR3_3303 and I have recently updated it to ZR3_3315.

No problems with the ACPI settings. Maybe they fixed it.. been almost a year since your post after all!

I too need to edit the .WPH bios file and can't seem to get anywhere. Incidently I've been following the exact same route as you... and almost gave up on it when I found this post.

It is a pity that no one has replied to your query. If you did find a way to edit the Acer BIOS ROM file please be so kind to let me know.

Till then... Moving on with the quest... :wink:

Regards.
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