Latitude E6400, external screen fan

Hi,

I have a Penryn-based E6400 with the NVidia GPU. I have recently started connecting an external screen through the DisplayPort and using both the laptop's LCD and the external panel simultaneously. I am just using Firefox and some office apps, no 3D/video.

The annoying thing seems to be that the fan is on all the time. I am running the A26 BIOS. Is this something that I have to live with or it's a bug that's fixable?

Thanks.

 

Why do you feel its a bug? With both screens in operation, the video processor likely needs more than passive cooling.

My E6400 does the same with 2 externals or a single external hi-res.

 

I just remember a lot of discussion when the E6400 first came out that when it is in a dock, driving an external screen, the fan is always on and I *seem* to recall that Dell was patching the BIOS to change that.

If I switch the screens off (i.e. press Fn + D) the fan still doesn't stop despite the fact that nothing it being displayed so presumably the GPU is off.

 

Also: if I actually switch off the output to the external screen, the fan keeps on running.

 

How fast is the fan running? If it is slow, it's normal and nothing to worry about as those components need cooling.