Fix: MSI Afterburner Fan Speed Locked / Can't Change It

If you are trying to change your fan speed but the MSI Afterburner Fan Speed is locked or won’t work, this article is for you.

While MSI Afterburner lets you push the limits of your hardware for more computing power, impediments like faulty settings or out-of-date drivers can cause it not to work. Follow the steps below to quickly fix it.

How do I fix the greyed out fan speed on MSI?

1. Unlock the fan speed

1. Open MSI Afterburner.
2. Click on the Settings Icon.
   
3. Go to the Fan tab.
   
4. Check the box called Enable user defined software automatic fan control.
   
5. Set the Predefined fan speed curve to Custom.
   
6. Click Apply then Ok.
7. Make sure the Auto option is disabled.
   

MSI Afterburner has an auto-fan speed mode. This adjusts the speed based on the factory settings of your GPU. To make sure it works, you have to give it the right permissions.

Note: If you are using an NVIDIA 20x series GPU, your Fan setting will be missing in most cases. You should use the beta version of the software which you can download from their official site.

2. Do a clean GPU driver install

Use DDU

1. Download DDU.
2. Go to the Windows Start button, Shift+right-click on the Power button, and select Restart.
3. After it restarts, click on Troubleshoot on the screen that will pop up.
   
4. Click on Advanced Options.
   
   
5. Then click on Startup Settings.
   
6. Select Restart.
7. When asked to, press 4 on your keyboard.
   
8. Run DDU.
9. On the right-side sliders, select GPU and your manufacturer, then select Clean and Restart.
   
10. Download and install your new GPU drivers from the manufacturer’s website.

Uninstall GPU drivers manually

1. Open Windows Search Bar and search Device Manager.
   
2. Click on Display Adapters to expand it.
3. Right-click on your GPU name and select Uninstall device.
   
4. Visit your GPU manufacturer’s site, then download and install the latest driver available.
5. Restart your PC. The drivers will automatically reinstall.

3. Adjust the power options

Note: Laptop users come with power plan options that limit their consumption to reduce the risk of hardware damage. Therefore, you need to make sure that your fans are enabled

1. Open the Windows Button and open Control Panel.
2. Go to Power Options.
   
3. Click on Change Plan Settings.
   
   
4. Then click on Change advanced power settings.
   
   
5. Expand Processor power management, then expand System Cooling Policy.
6. Set it to Active for both on-battery and plugged-in.
   

Note: Some high-end gaming laptops have a special button on their keyboard that controls their fan speed.

4. Reinstall MSI Afterburner

1. Open the Windows Button and go to Control Panel.
2. Set View By to Category.
   
   
3. Click on Uninstall a program.
4. Find MSI Afterburner, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.
   
5. Download the setup from their official site and reinstall the software.

Sometimes updates or changes to your system or corrupted files can cause your software to break. Reinstalling MSI Afterburner can fix many issues, so give it a try.

There are multiple reasons why your MSI Afterburner doesn’t allow you to change the speed of your fans. This article provides all the information you need to resolve your issue.

To quickly adjust your GPU settings and underclock your PC, you can always use power limit feature in Afterburner.

If you have anything important to add regarding the subject of our article, feel free to do it in the comment section below.