7422gx: Hot and loud, any easy fix?

My problem: :noisyfan:

So, basically as soon as I got my 7422 out of the box when I bought it in January, I noticed that the fan is almost incredibly loud, and sounds like it's rattling. It's always been like this, and it's really pretty annoying, but since it came on only (?) every 10 minutes for about 3 minutes at a time (which was much better than the machine it was replacing, whose fan never went off), I dealt with it. Now though, it's more like every 3 minutes for 10 minutes at a time, such that I never really get a reprieve from it, and it's usually too hot to have it in my lap. (The fact that it's been consistently in the 90s in Chicago and my apartment isn't air-conditioned may also have something to do with this...) This is under normal, not CPU intensive, use--and it's the same when it's not running anything at all and I'm not even using it, and the same when it's running on batteries (which used to make the fan hardly turn on at all), etc.

Questions: Is it normal for it to run this much? Is it supposed to be this loud and rattly-sounding? Is there a quick, easy, and/or non-warranty-voiding way to clean anything to deal with this (I can't see anything that looks like it's clogged with dust, but who knows)? Should I bite the bullet and try to send it in, since I have 2 months before I start school and really need it?

 

Regrettably, there isn't a whole lot you can do about that. The fan on my 7422GX ran almost constantly (which was actually an improvement form the one on my I9300 which DOES run literally nonstop)...however, this was largely due to my GPU overclocking. When I gave the machine to my parents, I bought a chill mat for it and restored the GPU to it's default clock rates, and now the fan rarely runs at all.

Yes, the ambient temperature in your apartment could have a LOT to do with it...if the vents are pulling in 90F air to cool the processor, that's not going to be very effective, so they're going to have to run continuosly. Your best bets are to reduce any overclocking you've done and get a chill mat for it (or better yet, a small air condtioner for your apartment).

Also, it should be noted that any machine will run hotter on battery...I'm not sure why, they just do.

 

When I had the 7422GX it was actually pretty quiet and the fan didn't sound like that. The optical drive did - I'm convinced that's a design flaw - but the fan did not, nor did it get that hot on the underside. Warm? Very. But never outright uncomfortably hot.

I'd get it checked out.

 

Well--I thought the ambient temperature was part of it, but I was just in Seattle where it's about 30 degrees cooler, and I still had the same problem with it, so even if that is part of it I think there has to be something else. I don't have anything overclocked. As far as the battery--when I first got it it seemed that the fan hardly ever turned on when it was on batteries, and I assumed this was due to the CPU being locked at 800mhz.

Anyway, I am moving next month (to Seattle--thank god, I can't deal with another one of these summers!) so I can't really get an air conditioner now, but maybe I will try a chill mat if I can find one that's fairly cheap and unobtrusive.

 

Summer... Try being in houston...

 

I have been to Houston once, in April. No desire to ever set foot there again. It's the most disgusting weather I've ever seen, and this was in April. And I'm from Cincinnati, which is not exactly paradisical either.

And as far as my computer--the fans now don't turn off. Ever. No matter what. This is exactly what my old Toshiba did just before I exchanged it for this machine (for other reasons), and for whatever reason, this issue is driving me absolutely batty, because the fans are ANNOYING. And the damn thing is so hot--I set it on my bed, left the room for literally one minute or less, came back, and the spot on the bed where it was was HOT.

Yes, it's still a million degrees here, and I still don't have AC. I still can't believe this is normal and there is nothing wrong with my computer. However I am really hesitant to send it off to be fixed and risk never seeing it again. If I take it to a local computer shop and ask them to clean up the cooling system, is that going to void my warranty? How can I fix this? Anyone?

 

Have you tried using a chill mat...