topic Re: Why is the fan always running? in PCs & Accessories

Why is the fan always running?

MPMC — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:02:46 GMT

I recently purchased a vaio A series notebook, for the first week or so it was running silent, now it seems to run the fan constantly from the moment it is switched on. Does anyone know why this might be?

Re: Why is the fan always running?

alecmorrow — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 13:07:02 GMT

This is exactly why I am on this thread.

My fan runs constantly when I am on the internet, and less requently when i am using other programmes. Quite a lot of the time my CPU is in use at 100%.

I phoned sony and they said anything above 60% was not good, and they suggested that I do a full recovery and send it back to them if necesary. They do a diagnostics with you. I have shied away at the moment for obvious reasons.

I suspect the heat sinks are full of dust....no one, even in Sony, seems to have realised that laptops sit on laps covered with fabrics that have fibers.

How can I inspect the heat sinks to see for my self?

Re: Why is the fan always running?

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 13:52:48 GMT

Alec,

Are you using the internal 56k modem?
Winmodems take a lot of resource.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

MPMC — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:02:21 GMT

No, not using a modem. The fan is running all the time even when the system has no programs growing.

Thanks anyway.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:47:27 GMT

Check the settings in Powerpannel too.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

sk — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 17:15:11 GMT

I am having the exact same problem. The fan is running very quiet, but still it is running. This shlould not be on a centrino notebook. Does anybody have the same problem?

Re: Why is the fan always running?

robpaxton — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:11:07 GMT

The higher speed Pentium M's i.e. those above about 1.5Ghz frequently have the fan running all the time.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

JoeB. — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 09:39:10 GMT

hi folks,

question for those hardcore sonysts...
does anybody know if the fans in the vaio notebooks are in any which way software controllable???

thanks for any info

Joe

Re: Why is the fan always running?

sk — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 10:07:27 GMT

No, that is not true. My father's Samsung Notebook is a Pentium M 1,5. the fan is running only when the unit starts up. Other then that it is completely quite with normal office software running.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

kee-lo_ — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 12:49:13 GMT

hi folks,

question for those hardcore sonysts... 
does anybody know if the fans in the vaio notebooks are in any which way software controllable???

thanks for any info

Joe

I have a feeling it is Joe

Re: Why is the fan always running?

sk — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:36:22 GMT

The VAIO should be ACPI compatible. If so, the fan is subject to sftware control. Sony should fix this...

Re: Why is the fan always running?

alecmorrow — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 20:16:31 GMT

I spoke to sony about this and they said the following...

CPU usage above 60% is bad

They would ask you to restore your pc to factory settings...and then do some diagnostics....

I still just want to clean the heat sinks....im going to wait til the gauarantee has expired and take off a cover... is this wise?

Re: Why is the fan always running?

robpaxton — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 23:31:12 GMT

No, that is not true. My father's Samsung Notebook is a Pentium M 1,5. the fan is running only when the unit starts up. Other then that it is completely quite with normal office software running.

It is true - I have a Samsung X10 1.6Ghz Pentium M and the fan runs all the time and it is designed to do this (on mains power). Check out the support page at http://www.samsungpc.com for details.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

nasr — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 00:01:31 GMT

am having the exact same problem. The fan is running very quiet, but still it is running. This shlould not be on a centrino notebook. Does anybody have the same problem
yes i have the same problem
i have lap top grt915m

Re: Why is the fan always running?

JoeB. — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 10:19:29 GMT

i have seen this on all the grt series... that fan just wont stop running...
specialy on the one with the gforce 5xxx go graphic cards. if you can see how that card is build in you would understand why that fan can't stop blowing. i have also noted one other thing... the noise that you hear is mostly created by the air-flow... not buy the fan itself.... the fans that sony uses are of very good quality... compared to some other fans that i have seen.
i am not a gamer... so i don't need that gf5600 graphics card... but i wanted a 16 inch display and at that time there was no other model with that size and a smaller graphics card... if at all possible i would love to throw that card out and replace it with a gf420 or anything that reduces the rpm's of the center fan... the heatpipe fan runs very quiet and is bearly hearable.
now were could i get a detailed component plan for a sony notebook... if i asked sony they would propably tell me... "it would be a cold day in hell, before we reveal what parts are replaceable in a vaio".... now DELL... yeah those were the good old days... i called them up and they gave me a downloadable detailed plan of the notebook i had...
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

joe

Re: Why is the fan always running?

sk — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 13:23:10 GMT

I found out one thing: it is not the cpu fan that is running and that you can hear. I found that out when I entered the BIOS at startup (press F2 when the VAIO logo appears). After a while the CPU fan started. So there must be another fan in the unit. Maybe the Southbridge or the GPU...

Re: Why is the fan always running?

JoeB. — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:12:43 GMT

there are 2 fans inside the notebook... and the one that is cooling the graphics card is the one that makes the most noise...

joe

Re: Why is the fan always running?

kee-lo_ — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 15:58:35 GMT

Guys why do you get so stressed about fans?
If I don't hear a small fan sound I get worried about overheating.
Then again I have been using PCs for what, 15 years ?

Re: Why is the fan always running?

sk — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:10:08 GMT

I had a look. There is only one fan. It is the main CPU fan. This is subject to software control. So it is up to Sony to fix this issue.

Re: Why is the fan always running?

JoeB. — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:20:39 GMT

Guys why do you get so stressed about fans?
If I don't hear a small fan sound I get worried about overheating.
Then again I have been using PCs for what, 15 years ?

hi KEE... if your birthdate is correct then you started out when you were about 10.... cheese when i was 10 there were no PC's or homecomputers. I started out 1981 as com-op in the military...

and yes... not to hear a fan is very disturbing as well... but then again i have seen a lot of junk in my time being sold as quality products and if you can't trust fu... SONY anymore, then you have to bitch about things so people will listen... which then again makes SONY listen.... "hopefully"...

joe