MSI PS63 "Modern" 8RD

[nlgranger]

This laptop is not supported by any NBFC configuration yet. As often, the default bios settings are fairly conservative and therefore noisy. I might return it back if I can't make it silent but until then I will try to gather as much information as possible in order to help add support for it.

• The dsdt file (obtained from linux sysfs with the iasl tool): dsdt.txt
• its header:

  /*
  * Intel ACPI Component Architecture
  * AML/ASL+ Disassembler version 20190816 (64-bit version)
  * Copyright (c) 2000 - 2019 Intel Corporation
  * 
  * Disassembling to symbolic ASL+ operators
  *
  * Disassembly of dsdt.dat, Sun Sep  8 10:55:11 2019
  *
  * Original Table Header:
  *     Signature        "DSDT"
  *     Length           0x0003C59A (247194)
  *     Revision         0x02
  *     Checksum         0x22
  *     OEM ID           "MSI_NB"
  *     OEM Table ID     "MEGABOOK"
  *     OEM Revision     0x01072009 (17244169)
  *     Compiler ID      "INTL"
  *     Compiler Version 0x20160527 (538314023)
  */

• From several runs with ec-prober, it seems that the register 0x68 reads some temperature, and 0xCB and 0xCD the fans speeds. Oddly enough, the latter two seem to increase as RPMs decrease, except when the fans stop where they read 0x00.

Misc. notes:

• MSI provides a tool called Creator Center to alter fan curves at runtime (EDIT: to switch between predefined fan curves), so it is feasible in theory.
• This software has a silent mode where the fans stop when the laptop is under very light activity (the temperature threshold seems to be as low as 40°C)
• writing to 0xCB and 0xCD doesn't do anything.

Unfortunately I cannot make sense of the dsdt de-compilation result so this is as far as I got by following the instructions from the wiki. Please, let me know if I should run any other tests or provide additional information.

[nlgranger]

So I went the bruteforce way, that is to say I recorded the ec register values when silent mode is enabled under windows, and wrote them back. It does indeed stop the fans on linux when the computer is cold.

Firstly, the GPU fan won't start automatically anymore regardless of the temperature. Moreover, I can't find any ec-register correlated with the gpu temperature.

As for the CPU fan, I am under the impression that ec-registers only toggle between predefined fan curves. After writing back the dumped register values of the silent mode in MSI Creator center, the fan started again at 45°C and stopped when the temperature went below, meaning it doesn't lock the fan speed nor does the laptop fall back to the default startup curve.

As a result, I'm not sure the fan RPMs can be set precisely which is a shame because the CPU tends to be a bit hotter under linux and makes the fan run all the time. I would have liked to raise the fan kickoff threshold to 60°C.

[nlgranger]

As a side note, this laptop runs quite hotter than my older HP elitebook at the same room temperature. When the latter hover at 35°C under light load, the MSI rolls around 40°C while idling on windows and almost at 50°C on linux with the fan on!

[nlgranger]

I sent the laptop back for a refund, so I won't be able to work on it. Due to the way fans are controlled on it, I doubt it will ever be relevant for support in NBFC, so I'm closing this issue.