It seems that HP designed the "turbo" fan mode t

[Inignot]

It seems that HP designed the "turbo" fan mode to keep the tc1000 cool on your arm as you carry it around, NOT to keep the device from overheating. As we know, in laptop mode the fan goes turbo rarely, if ever. As soon as you swivel the screen away from laptop config, the fan goes crazy. Same thing happens when the keyboard is detached. Of course, heat is a factor in this, and if the TC isn't hot enough the turbo fan doesn't kick in. But the tc1000 can get extremely hot in laptop mode and the fan remains on low. For these reasons the turbo fan exists to keep the computer comforable to hold, and is not for overheating protection.

I would much prefer the computer to be hot than to be obnoxiously loud during meetings and class. So, I tried to do something about it...

Here is what I have so far. I opened up the keyboard and shorted out the connection to the switch that toggles when the keyboard rotates to laptop configuration. The result: whenever the keyboard is attached, no more turbo fan. When the kb is attached, the tc thinks it is in laptop config no matter what, so the fan never goes psycho.

There are two things I think still need to be done: First, it would be great if we could monitor the cpu/case temperature. I want to make sure that blocking the turbo fan won't cause an overheat. I tried Motherboard Manager 5, but I dont know the correct settings for the tc and cant get it to work.

Second, I wonder if it is possible to monitor the tc1000-keyboard connection to learn what is going on, and write a prog to send a fake "laptop mode" message to the tc. That way nobody has to open the keyboard, and the hack could also be used without the keyboard attached. I don't know where to start on this so if anyone has ideas please share them!

Inignot

[Kupe]

Interesting theory Inignot. I agree the fan comes on at rather arbitrary times. I suspect the VIA implementation in the TC-1000 motherboard is incomplete compared to a lot of motherboards, with one of the omitted elements being an accessible CPU temperature sensor. If Compaq engineers couldn't access the CPU temp, they may have just added some simple logic to the BIOS to turn the fan on full blast based on specific user actions. Reasons the fan comes on would be "nice to know" information so we don't inadvertantly burn out our tablets by experimenting. [B)]