I just replaced the stock liquid metal on my Framework 16 (Ryzen 7040 w/7700s, running Win10 22H2 and BIOS 4.03) because the CPU was always at ~90C even at <5% load. Everything went well and temps are significantly better, but the dGPU module’s right fan is always running on full blast as soon as I boot, no matter what. The left fan behaves normally and follows the standard fan curve, only kicking in when temps hit around 50C. I also tried the standard Expansion Bay Shell, and both of its fans behave normally as well. So just one fan on one module is causing issues.
Things I have tried already:
Switching from battery to AC power
Switching Windows power modes (efficiency/performance)
Switching profiles in AMD Adrenalin
Reseating the fan’s connector cable
Reseating the dGPU module
Cleaning the GPU interposer contacts with 95% IPA and a bulb blower
Reinstalling driver bundle 3.02
Things I have yet to try:
Reinstalling BIOS 4.03
Downgrading BIOS versions
Installing Linux
Ritual sacrifice
I’m not sure that any software issues are to blame since it seems to just be the one fan/connector causing issues, but I’m far from an expert. Would love to hear any ideas y’all might have. Thanks!
I wonder if the PWM portion of the fan failed and it is just running full tilt in a fail safe mode.
This might be an exercise in patience, but try removing and then reversing which side each fan plugs into and see if it follows the fan. If it doesn’t then something is up with the circuitry on that side of the yard driving the fan (can’t remember if it is the same circuit or a different one).
Don’t think that the ritual sacrifice went unnoticed, might I suggest a quality chicken sandwich from a well known franchise nearby? Be sure to leave the bag/box near the graphics module for added effect. Sadly a quick glance shows the 1st gen graphics module fan as “coming soon” i.e. out of stock.
I wish they were the same fans as the base module so they could just be repurposed or substituted. The graphics module 2nd Gen Right fan is showing stock but support would be the ones I would want to confirm they are backwards compatible. Clearly something changed,
Congrats on your thermal paste venture. I need to do that to mine too just haven’t gotten up the patience to order the kit.
As @pkunk suggested I tried swapping the fans (which I would Not recommend, it took a lot of jury-rigging and I pushed the limits of what flex PCBs are capable of) and they both operated normally. Once reversed to their original locations, they continued working normally. Not sure what changed compared to the 3-4 other times I removed and reinstalled the right fan cable, but I’m not complaining. If anyone has any insight on the root cause here I’d love to hear it; otherwise this’ll just keep bugging me.
@Charlie_6 I tried that for kicks, but the bay uses a different fan design (only blowing out the sides of the laptop instead of both sides & back) and it seemed to recognize that I’d swapped the parts (threw a “Fans not Detected” warning on boot). Definitely could have kept going to see if it sent power to them anyway, but I stopped there. This makes me a bit concerned about switching to the 2nd Gen fans in the future too, since those seem to just have a redesigned blade geometry but could get flagged by the module if it recognizes the model number’s changed. Dunno