I'm new here and having cooling fan trouble

M

Master7Chief

New Member
Hey everyone, I just joined here and hope to stick around!

I have a Dell N7110 laptop (bought new in August 2011) who's cooling fan recently started cycling through speed settings every 3 seconds; top speed, high, medium, low, off for a quarter second or less at each then repeats constantly. It's not temp. or load dependent, no change in processor activity, and "My Dell" software claims CPU temp of 51*C but the vent air isn't even warm. When playing Dayz it gets hot as usual (79*C??) but its never crashed, frozen, given error messages etc. I don't think it knows it's true temperature and/or the fan controller is going crazy.

I'm beginning to think the thermal compound no longer is a good thermo couple. But thats not a normal maintenance item is it?
Any ideas what's causing this fan cycling?

I've tried:
-Doing all windows updates
-BIOS update (A13)
-Bit-Defender Virus scan
-Called Dell Tech. Support twice

I plan to run Malware-Bites tonight

Thanks
 
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I recently switched the thermalpaste on two Clevo-based laptops (high end gamer laptops) and dropped CPU idle temps by 15C. Fans now spin at load like it used to do at idle, so it's definitely worth a try. I used the thermalpaste that was included with the Noctua D14, but you can buy that separately. NT-NH1 I think it's called. Arctic Silver is also a good brand.
 
Shortly after posting here last night my computer froze displaying colorful static like this: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/1091277-dell-laptop-display-turns-static.html The only solution was to hold the power button to shut it off. I've since researched this new problem with no official solution. People have tried driver updates, factory resets and replacing the entire motherboard and display. Only one person mentioned improper fan speed. One person claimed a new CMOS solved their problem but I'm a bit skeptical about that.

Any thoughts?
 
This problem has gotten worse! My laptop fan has almost stopped working completely and the hotter it gets the less it runs until it basically stops at +75C. It spins freely and is not plugged with dust. What could be the problem? I really need my computer to work this week.
 
Replace the fan; they're cheap enough. If that doesn't work then you have an issue with the fan controller on the motherboard.
 
Reporting back with a solution. The laptop could get to 95*C and the fan would still do nothing but shockingly the new battery I installed tonight seems fixed two things, battery life and makes the fan work properly. My old battery held 28% of its original charge :o I tried trouble shooting it initially by completely removing it and powering the computer only off the power supply and the fan problem remained. Oh well, this isn't the first time I've seen a tired out battery cause seemingly random and unrelated problems. Anyways, now I have a spare $6.00 fan in case one of the other two laptops needs it. I hope this thread helps someone else in the future.
 
THE PROBLEM IS BACK! Aside from replacing the fan, idk what else can be done! Why in the world did the new battery temporarily fix this issue? Any ideas on other solutions?
 
Either a bad fan or as said before a bad fan controller on the motherboard. Is there a bios update available?

Edit - Just looked and there are 2 bios updates but neither would fix an issue like this.
 
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Resolved:

I wanted to make sure I tried each solution one by one to see specifically what the fix was. Turns out...(drum roll)...it was indeed the FAN! My guess is the RPM sensor in the fan itself went bad so the fan controller had to guess to do its job. I also cleaned the inside of the laptop and replaced the thermal paste while I had it apart.

Thanks for the help!
 
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