Latitude e4200 fan noise - how to turn it off!

Hi everyone,

I am on to my 2nd Latitude e4200 now ... the first one had the fan come on straight away at the start and then never turn off. Regardless of what temperatures the ACPI and cores were running at. It was running bios A03 and we upgraded it to A04 and that didn't fix it. We think the thermistor was buggered so we replaced that but then the Dell service guy basically couldn't remember how to put it back together and buggered it so it wouldn't boot! Yes, really.

But that is by-the-by ... I got it replaced ...

Now with this one the fan comes on when the ACPI THM_ temperature seems to hit 40 degrees. I know this through using the very useful application called HW Monitor (http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php). I have also installed i8kfanGUI (http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/) but that doesn't seem to be able to read the ACPI THM_ thermistor (it reads the dual cores fine). The fan turns off again fine and all seems well and good ... IF I DON'T ACTUALLY RUN ANYTHING! Cause basically as soon as I run something (like open Firefox or an email or basically start any application) the temperatures shoot up over 40 and the fan comes on until I leave it idle for 30 seconds for the temperature to drop back to under 40 and the fan to stop.

So 2 questions ...

1) Does anyone have any experience of using something like i8kfanGUI to override the temperature settings of a Latitude e4200 so that the fan doesn't come on until say 45 degrees? The trusty old Latitude X1 ran at 50+ degrees all day happily without the fan.

2) Does anyone know if there is anything later than bios A05 for the e4200? This new one shipped with bios A05. I have seen A10 for the e6500's. I'd much prefer a proper Dell upgrade if that will fix it than hacking around with i8kfanGUI ...

Cheers,
Tim

 

On my E6400 the fan seems to start in slow mode (3000 RPM) when the chipset temperature reaches 45 C and fast mode (4800 RPM) when the chipset temperature reaches 50 C (as measured by I8kfanGUI). Are you sure it is the ACPI THM_ temperature of 40 C that is causing the fan to start?

Örjan

 

Hi Orjan

Thanks heaps for your quick reply!

No I'm not 100% sure it is the ACPI because i8kfanGUI doesn't seem to be able to measure the ACPI temperature. It only has core (which is fine), GPU, memory and chipset. So which would be the ACPI??? And I have set these to indexes 0, 1, 2 and 3 in the Options | Advanced tab. With those settings other than the core sensors which seem to be reading fine, the only figure that seems to change at all is the #2 index but it doesn't match those of HW Monitor which I can watch hit 40 and the fan come on and then drop back to 40 and the fan switch off like clock-work.

This is an e4200 ...

 

PS. The core temperatures never get out of the 30s btw.

 

Please indicate the HWmonitor when discussing HWmonitor temperatures. The attached shows the temperatures indicated by versions 1.10, 1.11 and 1.12 all running at the same time. The two later versions show a 5C drop in the reported core temperatures compared to 1.10. RMclock also shows the lower temperatures as does I8kfanGUI.

I also attach a composite view of my i8kfanGUI readings. At the top is a set of temperatures with CPU up to 50C and other sensors up to 45 or 46C, but the fan was off. Then a brief bit of activity triggers the fan to come on. It's just gone off again with the CPU temperature down below 30C. Perhaps the fan on trigger is a temperature just above 50C, such as 51C. The off trigger is either below 30C or it might be time based.

Anyway, that's the E6400 where the fan is relatively big and not very noisy. The E4200 is a much slimmer machine and the smaller fan will have to work harder so it is noisier. 40C is unnecessarily low.

Put your service tag into the Dell support site to get a list of all the latest drivers for your computer.

John

 

Hello,

to every E4200 User:

PLEASE:

Contact Dell Support and ask for a new BIOS with better thermal settings!!!


If enough user are asking for a better bios they will bring out one!!!!!


I write every day an E-Mail to DELL Support ->unsolved issues with case number.
Always they want to send a technician in stead of a new bios.

Please devil DELL for a new BIOS!!!!

thanks,

Phil

 

Welcome to Dell Fan Hell.
This is my second Latitude as well and my fan is on a mission to stay on for as long as humanly possible.
I can figure out any rhyme or reason why it turns on at certain times and doesnt at other and ive been keeping a journal of temps for months now.

It drives me nuts.

 

Dell Support gave a strange tip on how to make the fan stop.

I just press Fn-z and the fan goes silent. The Support rep told me that "This resets the thermal sensor".
The problem is that this does not always work and the fan starts after some time again. But it does work when the CPU is not under load and the computer is not hot.
Strange...

 

I had a Dell Service Rep who exchanged the Fan and the Heat sink but the problem is still there with the fan almost always on...
The next step is to exchange the motherboard which will happen next week. The question is that will solve anything....

I am running Windows XP and I am trying to figure out if Intel Speed Step is currently active and what MHz my CPU is actually running at. It seems that even if Speed Step is activated in BIOS and the Power Scheme in Windows is set "correct" my CPU still runs at 1.4 GHz all the time. CPU-Z even lists it as running at 1.6 GHz (as noted in the E4200 thread in this forum)..

Windows System properties lists the CPU as running at 1.4 GHz.

Anyone with input or have seen the CPU running at below the specified GHz?

 

I suggest you download and run RMClock and use the monitoring page to show what the CPU is doing. The P8600 in my E6400 spends must of its time cruising at 800MHz. CPU-z newer than about 1.41 doesn't detect the SLFM frequency properly so it won't show the 800MHz.

You might want to go one step further and try undervolting the CPU. If so, read the undervolting guide. This can reduce the heat emitted when the CPU is under load.

John