Rem0o
FanControl crashes during PawnIO driver install after clean reinstall (Win11 24H2 build 26100.6725)
Describe the bug
FanControl worked fine until today (Oct 14, 2025). Suddenly stopped detecting all sensors during normal use.
After full reinstall, it now crashes when PawnIO tries to install its driver.
Happens every time during setup, regardless of Safe Boot or unsigned driver mode.
Steps taken
- Uninstalled FanControl and PawnIO completely
- Deleted all leftover folders
- Updated Windows 11 to current version: Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (KB5065789) build 26100.6725
- Disabled Windows Defender Threat Protection
- Installed
FanControl_244_net_8_0_Installer.exe - Accepted PawnIO install prompt → crash (see screenshot)
- Repeated 5x with Safe Boot on/off and Test Signing enabled/disabled → same result
Windows EventViewer + log.txt
[Attach both here once uploaded]
Relevant hardware setup
- Custom-built desktop PC
- Windows 11 Pro 24H2
- PawnIO driver install fails on all attempts
- Previously fully functional until today
Do you have Face IT AntiCheat installed ? See: https://github.com/namazso/PawnIO.Setup/issues/1
Seems like the FaceIT issue.
Yes, I have Faceit AC installed and I’ve heard about that issue. Strangely, it worked fine for me until yesterday, and I’ve been playing Faceit CS:GO almost every day, so I assumed I wasn’t affected.
No.
The driver (PawnIO) needs to have a different signing certificate, which is quite expensive and apparently requires to have a registered company for the creator. You can see estimated cost and a bit more detail by following the link to the issue I posted.
If the driver was signed with that kind of certificate you would have to update the driver and possibly use a new version of LibreHardwareMonitor & therefore FanControl (the modules have to be re-signed too, I believe).
I'm perplexed by what FaceIT is doing policing this when their AC isn't running. Shouldn't this only be a problem if you wanted to actually play FaceIT?
I'm just uninstalling the AC all the time to work around this for now.
I assume it is not not running. There is probably a service or something running all the time which is blocking the driver. Could somehow make sense from their perspective, though from a users view it's simply stupid.
I'm perplexed by what FaceIT is doing policing this when their AC isn't running. Shouldn't this only be a problem if you wanted to actually play FaceIT?
I'm just uninstalling the AC all the time to work around this for now.
It's a kernel level AC that runs at the kernel (ring 0) level. It loads when the OS loads, and will block drivers or digital signatures that are potentially used by cheats. I am using the AIDA64 plugin to get around this until it's corrected in PawnIO which sounds like should be fairly soon.
I'm perplexed by what FaceIT is doing policing this when their AC isn't running. Shouldn't this only be a problem if you wanted to actually play FaceIT?
I'm just uninstalling the AC all the time to work around this for now.
It's a kernel level AC that runs at the kernel (ring 0) level. It loads when the OS loads, and will block drivers or digital signatures that are potentially used by cheats. I am using the AIDA64 plugin to get around this until it's corrected in PawnIO which sounds like should be fairly soon.
I'd expect the driver to unload and require a reboot to reactivate, not meddle in what we do with our machines when the anticheat isn't running.
Edit: Maybe this isn't possible. I guess it would depend how FaceIT designed the driver and how resistant it needs to be to malicious unloading. It's just annoying.