PC Tower Fan

Hi,

Every once in a while a fan in my tower goes into "overdrive ". It happens at random times--sometimes even when I am away from the computer I hear it start to "rev up ".

What can be the cause of this? It started back in December (while my pc was still under warranty, of course!). Called HP and they had me remove the cover and use an air duster--it really wasn't that dusty in there. They also had me leave the cover off for a couple of days to see if it happened again--of course, it didn't. They wanted to know which fan was running fast--they said it is hard to tell with the case on.

Now it is happening again--sometimes it runs on high for a while and then goes back to normal--other times I shut it down so that I don't cause any damage.

An ideas? Sure will appreciate any and all help--

 

pkl

Just a long shot. I did a Google search and found this.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070625013620AAilyOr

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080401141428AAIt9tD&show=7

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Components/Fans_Cooling/Q_22575143.html

Or try HP online help

mopar

 

I bet that it has an Intel CPU and I expect the revving is due to the Intel "Thermal Throttling" control.

You can try getting updated chipset drivers from HP. (In fact, you may also want to get others like the graphics and audio.)

I found it happening on a Compaq laptop. I tried to troubleshoot it, but the owner said I could format and reinstall Windows...that fixed it

Matt

 

Are you sure the fan is actually revving up?....or just making more noise than is usual or expected?

I have one fan in my business box that right after boot makes a racket and then calms down. I know it's because the fan is dying and needs replacement. But for me, it's not a "rev-up" noise, it's more like "i'm about to take a dump" noise.

 

I have had my memory jogged

When the fan goes into "overdrive ", do Ctrl+Alt+Del -> Task Manager and see if there is high (maybe 100%) CPU usage. That probably means a rogue program is has gone into a loop and is occupying the CPU.

Look at what you have just done when the high fan speed starts.

Matt

 

Pay attention next time it happens !!!

Are you running xp ?----doesn't really matter ----but if you are ---let it run ----see if your puter reboots ---- when it reboots-----as soon as the desktop comes up ---, ----if you have HS ( High Speed )internet ----your default browser will come up ( Also providing you have error reporting turned on ) and it will say something to the effect that a device driver has caused a page fault , and that you need to reinstall the driver -----. I am running XP home ---and after several windows ( auto updates ) all of a sudden my system fan started going into overdrive and staying there when anything with HIGH graphics loaded ---, if it took to long ---the puter rebooted ----and would show me that device driver had caused the page fault error and had caused the problem ---and load my browser with a ms ( Microsoft )notification explaining what the hell just happened . ----Look for any of my posts ( under Dussman )concerning system reboot ---to catch all of this ---but as of yet ---I have not found the exact problem other than a bad graphics driver ( Possibly also--the Intigrated VID chip , or Vid card ) ---and I am still running a dual boot with 2 xp op's installed ---and I choose the good one ---and it goes away . ( note : ----Try this just for Sh***ts and giggles ---reboot ----do the f8 tapping thing for a bit ----then select start computer in safe mode for puters with networking -----then get on line and go to MYSPACE.com ----or whatever other web site you know that has alot of Graphics or animations on the page -----and see if your fan still goes into OD, or if it only comes up when needed . Like I said ---thus far ---I have not been able to isolate the exact problem , but running an Alt OS install has helped ----hope that narrows things down a bit for you .----Dusty
\ Get back with me and ---Like I said ----PAY attention ---See if the fan OD prob happens with High Graphics being loaded ---or just with Normal operation ------makes a difference ---lemme know ----------------------La8ter

 

Thanks for your reply!

Lately it seems to be running fine but will let you know when it happens again (which I expect it will!).

One more thing, I can be away from the computer and it will "rev up "--not always when I'm using it. Don't know if this helps isolate the problem or not.

Thanks, again......appreciate it.

 

Your puter is doing the same thing mine is ---turn on error reporting and in the control panel , go to system ---then to startup and recovery tab. Once there go to the settings tab and make sure that in the system failure box you check all 3 boxes , then in the deugging box ---do a complete memory dump so you can see what happened