New Laptop - Fan Issue

Millionaire

Hi,

I received a New Dell Laptop today and set it up and tested and all is well apart for one thing that is acting abit weird, the Fan

Basically when the Laptop is running, even idling, out of the blue the fan goes into overdrive, then runs for a bit then goes back to normal.

Anyone had this before and know what might be causing it?

Thanks

davb

The fan is probably speed controlled and linked to the temperature of the unit - so when the temp reaches a certain level, it speeds up and sounds loud.
The issue is, why is it getting so hot. The vents underneath need to be free to circulate air, so running on say a carpet, or cushion, or even your knee can cause problems - the best thing is a flat hard surface such as a table.
Other things that could cause it to happen are CPU or graphics intensive applications such as gaming.
Dell have had a number of issues in the recent past with graphics chips overheating and failing, so maybe they are playing safe.
If it is very noticeable in normal use though it could indicate a fault.

Millionaire

davb wrote: »

The fan is probably speed controlled and linked to the temperature of the unit - so when the temp reaches a certain level, it speeds up and sounds loud.
The issue is, why is it getting so hot. The vents underneath need to be free to circulate air, so running on say a carpet, or cushion, or even your knee can cause problems - the best thing is a flat hard surface such as a table.
Other things that could cause it to happen are CPU or graphics intensive applications such as gaming.
Dell have had a number of issues in the recent past with graphics chips overheating and failing, so maybe they are playing safe.
If it is very noticeable in normal use though it could indicate a fault.

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

The Laptop is used on a proper hard top desk, Interestingly the air out the vent at the back is cool, not even warm.:think:

It also has the integrated Intel GMA-4500MHD Graphics chip and not the nvidia chips that they had failing.

It just happens randomly, 1 minute it sounds like the fan is not even running and then whoosh it goes off then slows down.

I'm running some Dell diagnostics and hardware tests on the Laptop now.

pcombo

If you check the bios the fan will be set to auto more than likely and will operate what the laptop thinks it needs to.

computershack

Many models of laptop run the fan continuously when powered by the charger. Usually it is an option you can disable in the BIOS. AFAIR, you press f12 to get into the BIOS on a Dell or you can access it with the Quickset application.

A new laptop when apparently doing nothing will be busy in the background indexing the hard drive.