Fan noise

chrisf

zuppi replied at 2020-12-07 17:13
Thanks Chris! Great suggestion, could you attach a procedure to carry out the project?

How to carry out the project for solving the fan noise issue:
I will send you an email to beelinkservice@bee-link.com with the reference to my posts and my contact details.

I used to work in with suppliers in Shenzhen/Guang Dong, but I can't speak mandarin/cantonese.
But I still know a few people which may help me in translating technical things, if needed.
It would be great if we could have an video chat to get started.

If I am correct, the main problem is the firmware of the ENE KB930 controller which controls the fan.
I believe the settings are just wrong or the FW was actually for some other main-board.
I am a 8051 firmware expert, so I could modify or fix that firmware if you have some source-code.
If you don't have the source-code, I still may be able to modify the HEX file.

Let's see what you have got and then exchange ideas how we can get that thing working nicely :)
So, check your mail - you'll get one with my details.

BR, Chris

chrisf

zuppi replied at 2020-12-07 17:13
Thanks Chris! Great suggestion, could you attach a procedure to carry out the project?

Sure, I can do that and post some instructions and photos.
BUT: you need to wait a bit until Christmas...
Currently my job is eating away most of the free time, so I won't have time to prepare that until Christmas holidays.
Hope this is OK for you?

Anyway, you would need to order the fan-controller which takes about 3 to 4 weeks to arrive from China.

Additional info:
Beelink just came back to me.
Maybe we can work together in improving the U57. It's not only the fan issue, you see.
If you browse the forum you'll see that the BIOS is also very limited end e.g. does not recognize other SSDs or HDDs.
This has to be fixed too in my opinion.
Let's see and hope that together we can improve that machine. It's definitely worth it if you ask me.

BR, Chris

zuppi

chrisf replied at 2020-12-08 01:55
Sure, I can do that and post some instructions and photos.
BUT: you need to wait a bit until Chris ...

No problem! I will wait patiently :)
Thanks Chris

beelink

zuppi replied at 2020-12-10 16:15
No problem! I will wait patiently :)
Thanks Chris

We have released an EC program to solve this problem. You can contact our after-sales staff, send us your SN code and EC version number, and we will send the corresponding EC to you.

zuppi

beelink replied at 2020-12-10 17:58
We have released an EC program to solve this problem. You can contact our after-sales staff, send  ...

Can you explain to us where to find the EC version ?
Can you give us the after-sales email to write to?
Thanks

chrisf

zuppi replied at 2020-12-11 17:34
Can you explain to us where to find the EC version ?
Can you give us the after-sales email to writ ...

Hi zuppi,

Please write a mail to <beelinkservice@bee-link.com> asking for the EC-firmware.
But don't be too enthusiastic about it - I have just tested it and here is my reply I sent to them:

Dear Beelink team,
I have tested the U57 "EC update" (VB1_0008200707) and upgraded from EC-version 0.002 to 0.008.

My conclusion:
Now the fan spins full-speed all the time, even when the CPU is cool.
This was NOT the expected solution, because now the fan is constantly very noisy.
But this is at least a bit of an improvement, because now it's not changing speed every few seconds, that was very annoying.

I am still not fully happy with the solution.Now the fan turns full speed all the time.
But the EC has temperature sensors it can use, so why should the EC firmware not use them?

A nicely configured EC senses the CPU temperature and gradually increases the speed.
So, normally the fans are turning slow and are silent when the CPU is cool.
And then, under heavy CPU load when temperature increases, fans should turn faster - gradually.

As usual, I am offering my help for testing or even finding the proper settings of the KB930.
I am looking forward to your reply.

BR, Chris

zuppi

chrisf replied at 2020-12-12 03:41
Hi zuppi,

Please write a mail to  asking for the EC-firmware.

Oh my God... Thank you so much Chris.. I'm sorry for your bad experience :(  You saved me ...

Please Beelink listen to Chris suggestion, LET HIM HELP YOU!!!

chrisf

zuppi replied at 2020-12-12 22:12
Oh my God... Thank you so much Chris.. I'm sorry for your bad experience :(  You saved me ...

Ple ...

UPDATE 1 on the status:

Today I have received a BIOS update (VB1004_U57.exe).
The mail repose said "This is the BIOS of U57, you can change the fan speed."

So, I was happy, but after a closer look it contains: "Core version 5.011, BIOS version VB1 0.04 x64".
It's the same version as the U57 had when I received it.

Anyway, I flashed the update. No change, just resets everything back to defaults.
Because I updated the EC a few days ago I'm now running "EC 0.008" ==> the version where the fan runns all the time with about full speed.

Still, I have tried all settings in "Advanced -> Platform Thermal Management", but no change.
The fan is still running at full speed.

I've sent a mail reply now. Let's see what happens.
Maybe controlling the EC via the BIOS does work - I doubt it, but I'm not sure.
I'm waiting for a reply, maybe they will send a short tutorial what to set and how.

As to my previous mails offering my help and support:
Unfortunately I never got a real reply so far.

Let's hope for the best, I'm still willing to support and make the U57 a great mini PC.


BR, Chris

UPDATE 2:
I've got a mail reply from Beelink now:
"HiSorry for the wrong description, this BIOS is optimized for the fan.
If you update the latest BIOS, it still has no effect, you can only wait for other solutions."

So.... what should I say....
Well, so far Beelink was not comming back to me or anybody else and were not accepting any help.
Too bad (for them, I guess...)
I think I should come back to that "add your fan controller board" again to help everyone else out there.
With less than 3$ any techically skilled person can craft a working system.
I'll keep you posted.

BTW: for all IDA/Ghidra firmware hackers out there...

I've collected the ENE KB930 datasheets.
I've loaded the EC binary into Ghidra in the meantime, working on adding more comments etc.
I've identified already most of the interesting parts of the firmware which are setting the PWM and the FAN controller part.

I'll probably start another thread for that later - during Christmas vacation.
Maybe we can A) patch the EC firmware or B) identify how we can access the PWM/FAN registers via LPC interface using a Windows app.

BR, Chris

zuppi

Thanks again Chris for your explanation.
I keep my finger crossed...

gambetta

Hi Chris and thank for your help. I'm not able in soldering so I hope that we will find the solution via Firmware.

I keep my fingers crossed too.....