1.8 Beta (Public Build 7)

Please be sure to read the beta issues and please do provide feedback on the beta version.

What's new in build7

A new (rewritten - not tested on all chipsets yet) driver that inludes an idle loop. You can control the loop via an checkbox in the standard dialog. When checked the loop will put the CPU to sleep while vcool.exe is not running, i.e. before someone logs in and starts vcool.exe or after vcool.exe has been terminated normally (no crash).

What's new in build6 (+build 5)

B6: build 5 contained a bug that would prevent the PCI options from working on some kt266 boards - fixed.

B6a: added check for enabling icon background - if disabled the background is transparent.

Fixed a bug with the PCI options settings.

Added Halt Command Detect option for KT266 boards.

Increased the beep threads priotity to make the beeps occur even when the CPU is VERY busy.

Added L1 and L2 registry settings (HKCU/Software/MPET/VCOOL) to allow tweaking of the "smart" idle loop:

L1 - period of non-C2 idle time after that the CPU enters C2
L2 - if the C2 sleeping time is shorter than L2 when the CPU wakes up, fall back to non-C2 idle.

So basically increasing L1 and L2 (default: 400, 1000) will reduce the cooling effect but increase performance and vice versa. These settings are only active when the "smart" idle loop is activated. Please let me know what settings are optimal on your system.

You can now divide the fan rpms by modifying the FD1, FD2 and FD3 registry entries (default=1). B6a: fixed problem with some sensors.
Note: This does not change the internal hardware divisor of the chip, i.e. it won't help if you're having problems with the readout - it'll just devide the calculated rpm by FDx.

What's new in build4

This version should work with the SiS735 chipset and SiS950/IT8705 sensors.
Also some PCI Options are now available for the kt266.

Apparently the ALi Magic has problems with the disconnected system bus - at least I've heard of no working system so far. The first tests on SiS systems also showed lockup problems.
Please provide feedback if your own such a system.

What's new in build3

This version should support ALi Magik 1 chipsets with Asus or Windbond temperature sensors.

Since I've overhauled the whole chipset detection process it is possible that some boards that did previously work now won't - please provide feedback.

You can now choose between an "smart" Idle Loop and the old one.

What's new in build2

There was a problem on NT/W2k with the old (1.7) driver on kt266 boards. Build 2 now contains an updated driver that should fix this problem.
Simply replace the old vcool.sys with the one from the 1.8 archive.

What's new and why a beta ?

This version supports VIAs KT266 chipset and its Idle Loop has been improved to cause less performance loss due to entering C2 state only after being idle for some time.

Since I don't have the datasheets of the 266 I had to find the necessary registers myself. Also it has been tested on very few boards and it is likely that there will be problems on other boards - especially with the thermal sensors.

Installation

Windows 98 and Me only (manual installation)

Simply download this beta archive and extract the executable (VCool.exe) to a folder of your choice. To run VCool double-click on Vcool.exe.

Windows NT, 2000, XP

Then download the beta archive and put executable (VCool.exe) into a folder of your choice - if you're upgrading from 1.7.2 replace the old executable.
Copy the driver (vcool.sys) into the system32 folder, e.g. c:\winnt\system32 - (replacing the one of 1.7.2 if present).

Use Loaddriver.exe (part of the beta archive) to install the new driver, i.e. enter the full path to vcool.sys (including the file name) and press install and start.
Note: If you had 1.7.2 (or any of the betas) installed before, you can skip this step - just stop and (re-)start the driver ot simply reboot.

Removal

If you want to remove the beta from your system either run the uninstaller (Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs) or (if you didn't have 1.7 installed before) delete VCool.exe and use Loaddriver.exe to remove the driver and finally delete vcool.sys.

If you also want to clean the registry open the Registry Editior (Start->Run... Regedit - Regedt32 on NT, W2K, XP) and delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/MPET/VCool key.

There may also be a HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_VCOOL key that you might want to delete - however you'll need to get the appropriate rights first.

Beta issues

Autostarting VCool does not work on XP ("Driver required")

If starting VCool.exe manually some time after log in works then XP processes the autostart folder before all drivers are loaded and VCool fails because vcool.sys is not running yet.

Solution: Change the startup type of vcool.sys to "system":
Open the hardware device manager (right click on MyComputer->Properties->Hardware Tab- >Device Mgr button) and select "show hidden devices" from the View menu.
There should be a "non-pnp-devices" group now containing a "VCool Driver" entry. Right click- >Properties on that entry and switch to the Driver tab. You now can select the startup type: try "system" to make it start earlier in the boot process.

Error messages during install

If you get an error message when attempting to start the driver (file not found) please follow these steps.

Make sure that you mainboard is supported by VCool (KX133, KT133(A), KT266(A), SiS735, Ali Magik 1, AMD 751+VIA 686 combo).

Completely remove VCool, i.e. run LoadDriver, enter the complete path (incl. filename) to vcool.sys and press stop and remove.
Then open regedt32 (Start->Run..) and delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_VCOOL key. You'll need to get the necessary rights to this key first by using the Security menu of regedt32.
Also remove the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vcool key and the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MPET\VCool key if present.

Reboot and try a fresh install - make sure you're using vcool.sys and vcool.exe of the beta archive (if you had 1.7.2 installed before).

Registry entries

Unless states otherwise all registry entries are DWORDs and can be found in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MPET\VCool key. Please be careful when changing these settings.

Temperature sensors

It is possible that temperature sensors are not working for some boards or they return bogus data.

PCI Options

Although PCI options are enabled in this version it is likely that they won't work as expected on KT266 boards as it seems VIA has changed the responsible registers.

Idle Loop

The Idle Loop has been designed to enter the C2 state only after the CPU has been idle for some time. This should improve the performance - especially with disk access.
On my system benchmarks with HDTach show no loss while Sandra indicates a small drop.

When the Idle Loop is active the current system utilization is indicated by a bar in temperature icon.

Freezes on ALi Magik and Sis

It seems the ALi Magik chipset doesn't like the bus disconnect - at least all users with such a chipset have reported freezes. This seems to be true for the SiS chipset as well.

vcool.sys driver on KT266 and ALi Magik and SiS 735

So far the vcool.sys driver does not support the "set cool bit on driver startup" setting for these chipsets.
Please do not select this option as it might prevent the driver from starting.

Feedback

Please do provide feedback so I can improve VCool further:

Send an email with "VCool beta" as subject to mpet@bigfoot.de with the following information

If you're having problems please also indicate whether you're willing to spend some time on running diagnosis programs and debug versions of VCool.

You can also contact me via ICQ #137516918.

Note: There are known issues with system lockups and sound distortions.