[Unlocked] LG A510 bios thermal control menu unlock

[eduparise]

Hello there!
I was getting disappointed at my LG's bios, but finding this forum was like finding new hope.

I have an LG A510-6000 laptop computer, with InsydeH2O bios completely locked. There's not much in the bios that's possible to change except for the very basics. The problem is that the CPU seems to run on a temperature that is just on the edge of the cooling fan's activation limits, so it keeps revving up and down all that time, and that's very annoying. Tried sending it back for a technical review, but the technician said everything seems to be normal. I've heard other people complaining about this issue with the A510.

So I'd like an unlocked menu to be able to tweak the cooling fan's temperature range to keep it running constantly, instead of varying speed, that's all I need really. I don't mind the noise, as long as it runs cooler and more constantly. If it's possible to do it, i'd be very very happy! And it would work for other A510 owners as well.

The latest BIOS version is 3G11, it can be found in this page under the Drivers & Software tab (filename QL9L3G11_UI.zip)

According to Phoenix Tool, it is not RSA signed.

BIOS sreenshots:
















Thanks in advance!

[camiloml]

http://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS/Insyde/LG-...miloml.exe

Hope it works for you the way you like

[eduparise]

http://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS/Insyde/LG-...miloml.exe

Hope it works for you the way you like

Update went okay, everything is as it should be.
Now just gotta tweak the temperatures properly hehehe
Thank you very much

[camiloml]

Thanks for confirming,



Moved to unlocked /mod

[berdinatilli]

i got this laptop too, unmodded yet, its still in warranty.

@ eduparise, did it solved the thermal issue? have you full control of the fan? and pls post some photos like you did before thx in adv.

@ camiloml, im curious, any particular reason you modded the older bios? thx in adv.

[eduparise]

Sorry for the late reply, I was kind of busy lately and was procrastinating my response or just forgetting to do it altogether

It turns out that the BIOS menu was okay, with new thermal options unlocked, but changing them had little or no effect whatsoever. I'm thinking it's a hardware issue. Mine's still got some warranty time, so I'll probably hand it over to LG's assistance once again next week or so.

[berdinatilli]

Sorry for the late reply, I was kind of busy lately and was procrastinating my response or just forgetting to do it altogether

It turns out that the BIOS menu was okay, with new thermal options unlocked, but changing them had little or no effect whatsoever. I'm thinking it's a hardware issue. Mine's still got some warranty time, so I'll probably hand it over to LG's assistance once again next week or so.

@eduparise

thx for your answer,

it is most unfortunate that it does not solve the cooling issue.

since i got this laptop i researched (with my limited understanding) the issue on the web, and i came to strongly suspect that a bios mod would not help at all in this case.

we actually need a software solution that has control over the EC (embedded controller) chip, i found several of them for other laptops on the web and i tested them with mine, but unfortunate none of them are compatible with our a510 series.

about the lg assistance, i do not believe they help, i already spoken with them about the issue several times, they will tell you what they tell everyone: the laptop is working within its parameters...
but who knows, maybe you get lucky if they do not use the fact of a modded bios to cancel your warranty.

if you choose to go to the lg assistance and talk to someone there that is actually willing to help, it might be good for you to know that the bios updater from lg just update the bios but not the EC.

[eduparise]

Sorry for the late reply, I was kind of busy lately and was procrastinating my response or just forgetting to do it altogether

It turns out that the BIOS menu was okay, with new thermal options unlocked, but changing them had little or no effect whatsoever. I'm thinking it's a hardware issue. Mine's still got some warranty time, so I'll probably hand it over to LG's assistance once again next week or so.

@eduparise

thx for your answer,

it is most unfortunate that it does not solve the cooling issue.

since i got this laptop i researched (with my limited understanding) the issue on the web, and i came to strongly suspect that a bios mod would not help at all in this case.

we actually need a software solution that has control over the EC (embedded controller) chip, i found several of them for other laptops on the web and i tested them with mine, but unfortunate none of them are compatible with our a510 series.

about the lg assistance, i do not believe they help, i already spoken with them about the issue several times, they will tell you what they tell everyone: the laptop is working within its parameters...
but who knows, maybe you get lucky if they do not use the fact of a modded bios to cancel your warranty.

if you choose to go to the lg assistance and talk to someone there that is actually willing to help, it might be good for you to know that the bios updater from lg just update the bios but not the EC.

I already updated the bios to the latest version (QL9L3G11) so it's all back to factory defaults. While it is (kind of) working within its parameters, the cooler still keeps throttling up and down every 2-3 seconds, and most importantly, the cooler's silent/normal switch has no effect whatsoever, that would count as a problem in my view. Hopefully I won't have open my consumer's rights toolbox...
Does your laptop have the same issue with the cooler mode switch? (mine's activated through Fn+F11)

[berdinatilli]

I already updated the bios to the latest version (QL9L3G11) so it's all back to factory defaults. While it is (kind of) working within its parameters, the cooler still keeps throttling up and down every 2-3 seconds, and most importantly, the cooler's silent/normal switch has no effect whatsoever, that would count as a problem in my view. Hopefully I won't have open my consumer's rights toolbox...
Does your laptop have the same issue with the cooler mode switch? (mine's activated through Fn+F11)

about the throttling, i have it too, but not so frequently as you report, maybe because i use the balanced power profile from windows 7 or perhaps it has to do with the bad and badly applied factory thermal grease that i replaced with a good one and also applied it correctly.

those modes indeed have no effect over the fan on most or perhaps all newer LG laptops.
this has been reported on several laptop related forums all over the web.
also, LG discarded the third mode that was available and working in the past "cool mode".

i have run several tests with those two modes that we have available "silent and normal mode" and the strange thing is that if you set it to silent mode the fan rotation does not change, but you get a temperature reduction on CPU at full load from 5 to 10 degrees celsius.
the CPU on idle you get it actually a little hotter, weird.
anyway, i thought a lot about this and came to the conclusion that at silent mode must be actually undervolting the CPU at full load.

[eduparise]

I already updated the bios to the latest version (QL9L3G11) so it's all back to factory defaults. While it is (kind of) working within its parameters, the cooler still keeps throttling up and down every 2-3 seconds, and most importantly, the cooler's silent/normal switch has no effect whatsoever, that would count as a problem in my view. Hopefully I won't have open my consumer's rights toolbox...
Does your laptop have the same issue with the cooler mode switch? (mine's activated through Fn+F11)

about the throttling, i have it too, but not so frequently as you report, maybe because i use the balanced power profile from windows 7 or perhaps it has to do with the bad and badly applied factory thermal grease that i replaced with a good one and also applied it correctly.

those modes indeed have no effect over the fan on most or perhaps all newer LG laptops.
this has been reported on several laptop related forums all over the web.
also, LG discarded the third mode that was available and working in the past "cool mode".

i have run several tests with those two modes that we have available "silent and normal mode" and the strange thing is that if you set it to silent mode the fan rotation does not change, but you get a temperature reduction on CPU at full load from 5 to 10 degrees celsius.
the CPU on idle you get it actually a little hotter, weird.
anyway, i thought a lot about this and came to the conclusion that at silent mode must be actually undervolting the CPU at full load.

Just updating: I was called by the technical assistance where I left my A510, and according to them, the fan is working "within the factory parameters" and the only problem they found were bad sectors in the HDD (!!!) which I really didn't notice, although I was a bit worried about my HDD as it was quite hot according to the temp sensors (between 60C-70C on full CPU load), and that's enough to kill any HD as far as I know. I told them to check the thermal grease, but the operator couldn't tell me if it was done or not by the technician, so I guess I'll find out when I get it back. Very annoyed by LG's quality control so far... will update this thread again once I get my laptop back and run some tests.