Fan is RELENTLESS on my 6400!

Been dealing with this for months now and im almost at my wits end.
When docked, my 6400 just goes on fan blowing rampages that can last 30+ minutes at TOP SPEED (I have the E series dock).

Annoying at this point would be an understatement.

What to do?

 

when was the last time you cleaned out your vents and fans?

if never, then that explains it.

the fans are programmed to spin up automatically when the system components reaches a certain temperature.

so if the vents/fans are clogged, then the system will both heat up faster and remain at a higher temp for a long duration of time (even when the fans are turned up to max speed).

 

I think we've been here before. I recall the problem only happens when the computer is docked.

What temperatures does HWMonitor show for both docked and undocked for similar usage conditions?

John

 

We have been here before.

Docked: HV Monitor shows:

ACPI-40
Intel Mobile-34
Quadro-61
ST9 (I guess this is my harddrive?-40
AND, the fan is spinning at top speed now.

Undocked I have no problems.
I do however use the computer docked, 75% of the time.

 

Quadro = 61 might be enough to trigger the frantic fan, bearing in mind that Dell want to minimise the number of thermal cycles and hence the risk of having to replace it once or twice within the warranty period.

However, check the corresponding temperature next time you are undocked since logically the same GPU temperature should cause the same fan activity.

BTW, do you have a couple of big monitors hitched to the dock which will give the GPU extra work compared to the undocked (internal display only, I assume) scenario.

John

 

Do you run with an external monitor and with the laptop lid closed in the docking station?

I have just unpacked my E Port Plus for my E6400 and booted up the laptop docked. I have not yet closed the lid to run with an external monitor.

The laptop has now been on in the docking station for a 10-15 minutes and the fan has been off all the time. Current temperatures (as measured with CPUID Hardware Monitor):

CPU Core 1/2: 31C/31C
THM_: 37C (what is this?)
HDD: 37C

BTW, I have Intel Graphics.

Örjan

 

Update:
I have had the CPU run on 100% load on both cores for a couple of minutes and this is the result:
CPU Core 1/2: 60C/69C
THM_: 75C (what is this?)
HDD: 39C
Fan speed: slow (~3000 RPM)

Update 2:
The fan went to high speed (~4800 RPM) after a couple of more minutes.
CPU Core 1/2: 54C/60C
THM_: 67C
HDD: 40C
I have I8kfanGUI running also and the fan went to high speed when GPU/Memory/Chipset reached 49C-50C.

Update 3:
I stopped the tasks that kept the CPU on 100% load and a few minutes has passed.
CPU Core 1/2: 28C/28C
THM_: 36C
HDD: 40C
Fan speed: fast (~4800 RPM)
GPU/Mem/Chipset: 49C

Update 4:
The fan went to slow speed after a few more minutes.
CPU Core 1/2: 30C/31C
THM_: 36C
HDD: 40C
Fan speed: slow (~3000 RPM)
GPU/Mem/Chipset: 45C

I think the fan speed mostly depends on the GPU/Mem/Chipset temperature. It went to high speed at 49C and slowed down to low speed at 46C. I think this is a bit conservative. My old D610 starts medium-high speed (3900 RPM) at higher temperatures than that and it is not as noisy as E6400 on that speed.

Örjan

 

I am using the dock with the external monitor PLUS, I have another monitor connected as well.
My fan just turned on and the Quadro is at 60.
Assuming you are correct that Dell has set my machine to trigger the fan at this temp, is it possible and more importantly, safe to change this setting?

When I bought this thing I figured the Quadro could handle multiple screens no problem.

 

One more update (sorry for splitting up the posts).

I disconnected the laptop from the docking station and ran a similar test again. This time I got slightly different results.

When I8kfanGUI indicated that the GPU/Mem/Chipset temperature reached approximately 47C/48C the fan went from slow speed (3000 RPM) to medium speed (3600 RPM). It then stayed on 3600 RPM for quite some time.

Just recently it went from 3600 RPM to high speed (4800 RPM). It happened when GPU/Mem/Chipset had been on 49C for some time.

If I am not mistaken it seems that the computer is not using the medium fan speed 3600 RPM while docked. Instead it goes directly to the noisy high speed mode.

If your nVidia chip is 61 C I can see why the fan is running at high speed. But should it really be necessary? And isn't the GPU hot when running undocked so it should run the fan at high speed then also?

Örjan

 

I have no clue.
At my wits end...