Toshiba Satellite A110 (PSAB6E) unlock please

[Em3rs0n]

Dear Gurus!

I upgraded my CPU in my laptop, and the CPU fan does not work anymore under the OS (Windows XP SP3), though the processor is detected and working well under it.
The CPU fan works fine when rebooting and when checking parameters in the BIOS. No program (HWMonitor, Speedfan, FinalWire) shows anything about the fan speed anymore. It used to, with the original CPU.

Old CPU:
http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL8W2.html
New CPU:
http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL9SF.html

The main issue is that even with the latest available BIOS from Toshiba, I cannot modify anything, since nothing is shown in the BIOS, and nothing can be modified. The BIOS also recognizes the Core 2 Duo processor just fine (CPUID, Speedfan, Finalwire shows them well as well).

So the problem is that I have no more automatic temp sensing on the CPU, and as a consequence the fan never starts to work. So the CPU shuts down the laptop when reaching 100C, which is great, but I can't use my laptop then, more then 2 minutes.
When I put a vacuum cleaner on the fan exhaust place and suck the air out, the CPU temp is fine.

I tried both of the latest BIOS here (Does not really matter which one is unlocked, but preferably the Vista version (anyway what is the difference?) ):

For Vista machines (version 5.20):
http://support.toshiba-tro.de/tools/eula...p?ID=66236

For Non Vista machines (version 1.70):
http://support.toshiba-tro.de/tools/eula...p?ID=66234

DMI BIOS
vendor TOSHIBA
version V5.00
date 12/20/2006

DMI System Information
manufacturer TOSHIBA
product Satellite A110
version PSAB6E-00Z00WHU
serial 96155172K
UUID {D0F8B641-B73E-DB11-A411-0016D42AEEC4}

DMI Baseboard
vendor TOSHIBA
model HTW2E
revision Null
serial 0123456789AB

Motherboard chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
North Bridge ATI RC410M
South Bridge ATI SB450

I am really desperate to make this work. Please help!
If you could unlock for me the advanced BIOS settings concerning the FAN speed, and thermal control, I may be able to "hardwire" in the BIOS to always make the FAN work at a certain speed/level/temp.

I also attached the above linked 2 rom files.
  roms.ZIP (Size: 1.01 MB / Downloads: 14)

Many thanks in advance!

Best regards,
Em3rs0n

[AHMED HOSSAM]

Hi Em3rson ,

Happy new year for you

First you should knew several things to determine the problem :-

1 ) fans and temps are controlled via the Embedded Controller and normally when settings for fan is found in bios setting , then it send commands to the EC chip to controll the fan.
But in notebooks most of these setting not working .

2 ) the DSDT table has an interface for all drivers including the fan , may be the problem is there , however i dont think its the problem but we should check it as well.

If the problem is the Embedded Controller Firm ware , then if anything goes wrong hile flashing , you cant recover from this except by removing the chip and flashing it with the original firmware .

I will let you knew more information and solutions to choose from it today a im using mobile now .

Thank you,
Ahmed

[Em3rs0n]

Hi Em3rson ,

Happy new year for you

First you should knew several things to determine the problem :-

1 ) fans and temps are controlled via the Embedded Controller and normally when settings for fan is found in bios setting , then it send commands to the EC chip to controll the fan.
But in notebooks most of these setting not working .

2 ) the DSDT table has an interface for all drivers including the fan , may be the problem is there , however i dont think its the problem but we should check it as well.

If the problem is the Embedded Controller Firm ware , then if anything goes wrong hile flashing , you cant recover from this except by removing the chip and flashing it with the original firmware .

I will let you knew more information and solutions to choose from it today a im using mobile now .

Thank you,
Ahmed

Dear Ahmed,

Thank you so much. I replace the Celeron M 1.4 GHz processor, and it works just fine, and the fan is regulated automatically under the OS. (I tried speedfan software again and it does not see/access the fan control, with this CPU either.)

I will wait for your considerations, in order to make the new CPU work with the fan.

Best regards,
Em3rs0n

[AHMED HOSSAM]

I have checked your bios options and there is no thermal options hidden which can help in this problem ........ options needed is like fan trip points and thermal control circuit and passive cooling ...... all these features are unfortunately not found in your bios .
I don`t prefer to make an EC modification because no recovery is possible for this if something goes wrong ........ you have to change the mother board in this case .

But after some search , i remembered a small trick i used to do which will be very useful for your case :-

The fan has a routine to work on it ............. there are normally 3 thermal zones in the cpu , the EC ( embedded controller ) receives the 3 zones temps through one of its bins , then fan sends it speed through the sensor wire and then the EC firmware decides to increase the speed for the fan or decrease it or even stop the fan if the temps are too low .

there are two types of fans :-
one with 3 wire and other with 4 wires .
the 4 wire have these objects :-




1 GND black
2 +12VDC yellow
3 Sense green
4 Control blue



some other fans got only 3 wires :-

1st BLACK ------ GND
2nd RED ---------- 12V DC OR 5V DC
3rd yellow ----------- FAN TECHNOMETRIC SIGNAL

you have to only keep the GND and the voltage wires and remove the other 1 wire ( in case its only 3 wires ) or remove the other 2 wires ( in case its 4 wires ) ........ then the fan will not receive any commands from the EC and will run in 100% of its speed all the time .
some fans has different colours for wires or even the same colours as i mentioned but not the same object for every wire ............. in this case , just remove the first wire then see if fan worked or not ... if not , return the first wire to its place and remove the next wire and so on till the fan works .

the advantage is that you get the fan working for 100% of its speed .
the disadvantage is that the speed is not regulated and only runs at 100% .

for me , i have removed the last wire ( fan has 3 wires ) the the fan is working in 100% of its speed ...... but can be shut down by the EC if the temps are too low ....... so let the notebook on for 5 minutes to see if the fan is working or not afters the wires mod as may be the temps are low .

try it and i`m waiting your reply

[Em3rs0n]

Dear Ahmed,

Thank you for trying. I thought myself about the hardwiring the fan, yesterday, when I placed back the slow CPU in the socket. I remember well the fan, it has only 3 wire: black, red and yellow.

I will try to take out the yellow or red. We'll see.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Em3rs0n

[AHMED HOSSAM]

Don`t take both yellow and red as normally the red is for voltage and the black is for GND ..... you should remove only the yellow wire and see if its working .
If still not working , then put the yellow back to the socket and remove the red .
If still not working , then put the red back and remove the black wire .

only one of these wires is for technometer and control .... only one wire in you case needs to be removed not 2 wires .
I will wait your reply after trying it

Thank you ,
Ahmed

[Em3rs0n]

Don`t take both yellow and red as normally the red is for voltage and the black is for GND ..... you should remove only the yellow wire and see if its working .
If still not working , then put the yellow back to the socket and remove the red .
If still not working , then put the red back and remove the black wire .

only one of these wires is for technometer and control .... only one wire in you case needs to be removed not 2 wires .
I will wait your reply after trying it

Thank you ,
Ahmed

Hi Ahmed,

I replaced now the CPU, taking out the yellow wire only, because on the others the fan did not even startup during the power on process. Unfortunately the fan spinup is temporary, since after the bios procedure the fan stops, and windows starts to load in without any fan action. I suppose I would have to wait till the CPU shuts down instantly the laptop when reaching the 100 degree internal core temperature. At least this is how it was last time.

How could we hardwire the fan spinning?

Regards,
Marton