BleepingComputer.com: Noisy fan on laptop.

Hi...my apologies if this has been posted in the incorrect forum.

Packard Bell Laptop running xp.

The fan on this is very noisy, it's not rattling or anything, it just seems to beaver away most of the time and is similar to a 1970's hairdryer lol. It always has been to some extent, seems to be getting worse though. I just wondered if there was anything I could do my end to adjust it. As far as I can tell the temp is ok whenever I have checked it. It is an old laptop, but seems to run ok apart from this.

Please advise if there are any scans I can post to aid any advice.


Thanks in advance....

mrfingerz

This post has been edited by hamluis: 14 February 2011 - 06:14 PM
Reason for edit: Moved from XP to Internal Hardware.

Have you look in the vents for dust, or tried blowing canned air into it?

I have checked for dust and it seems ok. Haven't got a can of compressed air at the moment, so haven't tried that as yet. I may try that.

The fan seems to operate constantly anyway, it will be on for about five minutes and then it's running mostly without a break. Seems hard to believe it would get a chance to gather dust. The more the computer is doing, the quicker the fan runs.

Right, I had a hair dryer in the 70's. They weren't much fun.

Most (all?) laptop fans are tied to a temperature sensor. When the sensor sends a signal saying it's too hot, the fan turns on. When the sensed temperature falls back to a predetermined point, the fan turns off. Some newer computers have multispeed (high, med., low) or variable speed fans.

Your problem could be caused by an bad sensor, a failing fan, or something worse. The most common cause of these complaints is dust build-up, however. A can of air sprayed into the vents is the easiest. simplest fix to make.

Another thing that effects how often/long/hard a laptop fan runs is vents being blocked when placed on soft surfaces like bedding, sofa/chair cushions, carpets, etc.

If you have a manual (either paper or electronic copy) for your laptop, check the maintenance section for cleaning procedures. If you don't have one, either try a on online search for the manual using your manufacturer and model number as search criteria, or post the info here and I'll search for you.

You could try a program like SpeedFan - there are others, click here for SpeedFan, to monitor your internal temperatures. You might be able to correlate temperatures with fan activation.

Let us know what you find.

I think, it could be a sensor problem, as it never seems to take a break. I will try blowing some air through it though.
I do have a manual for it somewhere, may take me a while to locate it ...I have checked temps on it with programs such as crystal disk and it reports as ok.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that SpeedFan shouldn't be installed on laptops....cant remember where.

Thanks for your suggestions....I'll let you know how I get on.

This post has been edited by mrfingerz: 14 February 2011 - 11:53 PM

Hardware Monitor is a good temp checker. Crystal disk just shows the hard drive temp.

This post has been edited by killerx525: 15 February 2011 - 12:34 AM

Thanks...I monitored it with that and it seems to be operating at about 37-38, which is ok I would have thought. Looks like the fan is doing its job, I just wish it would do it quietly.

You should also monitor the cpu temp which is really important.

I hadn't tried HW Monitor before. Just did, was at a bit of a loss until I figured out I had to 'Run as Administrator' on my Vista system. It's a keeper.
Thanks for the tip Killer!

As for mingerz problem, I found this article at Computer Hope. Note the caution about blowing air into a fan. I have seen suggestions to use toothpicks and cotton swabs to hold the fan blade in place. Pretty much the same caution as is found in the BC tutorial on Cleaning the Interior of your PC, which is aimed at desktop systems.