Maximum PC - UK (2020-03)

THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...

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Fan Controllers

Kick-Ass PC Tweaks

Browser Backups

Faulty Fan Controllers

In May 2018, I built a new PC

and put it in a Rosewill Thor

V2 case. This is a great case,

but the documentation is

sorely lacking, as it makes

no mention of how to hook up

the fan speed controllers—in

fact, neither they nor the two

Molex plugs are mentioned

at all. I was never able to

determine if the speed

controls were working, but

the fans were on, so let it go

for 18 months.

Over Thanksgiving, I

opened the case to install a

second SSD. I then took the

entire case apart to address

other problems and ended

up disconnecting all the fans

and going online for advice.

I found a post advising me

to hook up controllers A1

and A2 to the top and rear

fans, and B1 and B2 to the

front and side fans. But there

was no mention of where to

hook up the two front-panel

Molex connectors. I went

ahead and hooked them

up daisy-chain style to the

Molex connectors powering

the fans they’re supposed

to control. But I still don’t

see any indication that the

controllers are working. So,

can you tell me how to hook

these things up?

–Charles K. Ballard

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

Your problem is that you’ve

got power going directly to

the fans. The fans shouldn’t

be plugged into your PSU, but

connected to the fan speed

controller using a three-pin

cable, rather than the four-pin

Molex connector. Assuming

the fans don’t come with a

three-pin connector, you

need to buy one Molex-to-

three-pin fan adapter, like

that at http://www.newegg.com/p/

N82E16812189119, for each

fan. Plug in your fan’s Molex

connector at one end, then

plug the three-pin connector

into the sockets behind

the front plate on the case.

Finally, plug the two Molex

power connectors for the fan

speed controllers into the

PSU. This means all power to

the fans is distributed via the

controllers, enabling you to

adjust the flow of electricity

to—and therefore speed of—

each set of fans.

Delay Hibernating

I’ve often got a large file to

synchronize with Dropbox, so

I want to delay shutting down

my PC for 15 minutes while it

completes. That’s easy with

C:\Windows\System32\

shutdown.exe -s -t 900

Is there a way to apply a

similar delay with hibernate?

Replacing “-s” with “-h”

doesn’t do the trick, whether

the target is System32 or

SysWOW64. –Jay Frank

THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:

There’s no way of setting a

“-t” flag with the hibernate

command, but a workaround

is to run the hibernate

command after using

“timeout” to provide the

desired delay. The following

works from the command

prompt, not the PowerShell:

$ timeout /t 900 /NOBREAK >

NUL && shutdown /h

The “&&” flag allows

you to cancel the hibernate

command during the delay

by pressing Ctrl-C inside the

command prompt. If you’d

like to jump to the hibernate

command instead when

pressing Ctrl-C, use:

$ timeout /t 900 /NOBREAK >

NUL || shutdown /h

Dual Displays

My current PC is a 2012 Dell

Inspiron 560 with Win 10

Enterprise, running two

displays: a Dell IN2020M

and a Samsung SE310 S22.

I’m looking at purchasing

the $350 Kick-Ass PC from

your August 2019 issue and

would like to know whether

I need to add a dual-monitor

graphics card to use the two

displays. If I do, which would

you recommend? Also, would

I struggle to incorporate my

two optical drives—one of

which is Blu-ray?–Bill Boyer ©^ W

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Your fans need to be powered via the fan speed controller, not

directly from the power supply unit.

quickstart

22 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com