laptop fan

[sara3]

why is my laptop fan going crazy? it's been noisily whizzing away for a couple of days and the lappy is still quite warm.

I only have Windows Mail and Firefox open.

thank you :o)

[Hymie]

A temperature sensor within the laptop processor provides an output signal that is used to determine the voltage applied to the fan – and hence its speed.

Without heavy processor usage (which would cause heating of the processor), possible reasons for continuous fast fan operation include dust within the laptop preventing normal cooling, a fault within the fan control circuitry, or within the fan itself.

If at initial switch on the fan is running at full speed – this would suggest a control circuit or fan fault. If the fan does not operate at full speed until the laptop has been switched on for a few minutes – then I would suspect its natural cooling has been impaired due to dust and/or vent blockage.

[sara3]

thanks Hymie, much appreciated. I'll see how it starts up tomorrow morning, from cold. let's hope it's something simple!

[ChuckFickens]

It's probably got Colin hair in the heatsink.

[ChuckFickens]

What's the make and model of the lappy BTW, I'll check how easy it is to access for cleaning.

[sara3]

OMG, the cat is missing!!! lol :o)

it's an HP Pavillion DV7. it's propped up on a little stand so there is air flow.

it stops as soon as I close the lid, if that makes any difference.

[sara3]

I have also blown the fan.

spare me any wit!

[Mick-Talbot]

It may not be technically correct, but i blow into the fan vents ..........hey it works .

[sara3]

beat you to it, Michael ;o)

[Mick-Talbot]

I must blow better than you, sara ... ;0)

[sara3]

so I've heard Michael, so I've heard....

[Jan1957]

Mine's been noisy recently too so I will try blowing my fan.

[ChuckFickens]

If it's been quiet in the past then it will be a blocked heatsink. and the bad news is it's a pain to get to properly! but a air duster would get the worst out.
http://www.insidemyla...avilion-dv7-notebook/

(I really wouldn't suggest trying to do it yourself, unless you have experience of stripping laptops you will break something)

If it's always been noisy then you may have found one of the many HP laptops that has really badly designed cooling in them, they underspecified the cooling and used cheap thermal pads on them rather than decent thermal compound (I had to strip my HP right down a couple of months ago and remove the pads and put proper compound in its place.

The best suggestion I can make to start with is get a can of compressed air, stick a cocktail stick in the fan vent in the bottom to stop the fan spinning and give it a good blast of air into the side vent.

[sara3]

get Mick to do it, Jan.. he's the expert!

I'm off to bed, catch up tomorrow x

[Jan1957]

Lol, I bet he is. Night Sara. x

[sara3]

it's usually fine, Chuck. it's under an extended warranty so I'm not fretting too much. thanks for the link, nice to know what's where!

I assume the hoover isn't going to help? I can't see anything on the bit of fan that's visible.

I'm heading for bed so will check in tomorrow. thanks again Chuck x

[sara3]

and the site's been running really slow for me for a few days now, but other sites seem okay.

I'm just moaning now, so I'll go to bed!

[Barmaid]

Sara, I had an HP Pavilion and it used to overheat - the fan used to go bonkers. Turned out there is a patch to download from HP which up dates the bios (I have no idea if that is the right phrase or what it means). That sorted it. Until I dropped the bloody thing.

[sara3]

lol, thanks Barmaid.. I launched my daughter's lappy once.. oops!

will look into that in the morning x

[heathfield]

I just had a laptop repaired. Screen like multi-colour checkerboard from switch-on. Seems the graphics chips in some laptops can cause problems through overheating. The EU in their wisdom decided to reduce the permitted amount of lead in solder, thereby reducing the heat conduction of the solder. This can cause the chip to get hot enough to pop off its heatsink. A complete replacement was required at around £75. Ooo-er!

[ChuckFickens]

^ that's be an Nvidea chip then...

the 8000 (and I think 9000) series had serious design faults in them, Nvidea have admitted it was a fault and most manufacturers will repair (most) affected products outside of warrenty