m11x r2 fan stuck on high (8400rpm) Tried everything logical

Ok guys, I finally give up. I have no idea what caused it, but one day my fan went to full speed when i hit the power button, but didn't calm down, like it used to. I have tried installing linux, re installing windows 7, refreshed all drivers, tried every bios update, and have tried EVERY fan software, and hardware temp monitor on the web.

speedfan
hwinfo
rivatuner

No matter what I try, the damn fan stays right at 8400. My battery lasts about 1.25 hours, even less in linux. I've gone mad. It's almost like the motherboard has lost the ability to communicate with the EC. Using alienfx, i can still change led color and pattern, power schemes, the whole shabang. BUT THE DAMN FAN REMAINS. Please help guys, im gettin desparate!!

 

Well what are the temps? Most sensible option is that they are on because they think they need to be.

 

I had this same problem and after flashing BIOS/reformat I called Alienware/dell. They came and had to replace the fan and mother board 2x before it was fixed.

 

I was going to say what he did above to reflash the BIOS because it sounds like it could be a corruption. You mention HWINFO did you try to control the fanspeed using HWINFO the latest version? If you choose the settings for compal it will not crash like it used to and allow you to limit the fan speed to low and high.

If you have done the old pull the power battery and hold the power button to deplete any charge flashing is really the only other option. Have you tried to reinstall your OS?

 

Thanks for the quick response guys. I used insydeflash to try each of the 4 bios. The bios changes, but the fan speed never does. speedfan and hwinfo say the cpu is at about 45 and gpu is about 48. I have tried the board reset, pulled battery, held the power button. Im kinda thinking the embedded controller is screwed, but i had read that if that were true, i wouldn't be able to change the keyboard colors. Im out of warranty, so I am thinkin about building a cpu fan controller dial, kinda like the old audio dials. then I can just manually control it. Does anyone know if there is an alienware button combo to hit at startup so the ec resets?

 

On HWINFO sensors you can manually set the fanspeed have you tried this?

First go into configure and make sure your settings are the same as mine below.

Then load up HWINFO sensors and select the icon show below and then you can change the fanspeed between three setting low medium and high. On the R3 it is 0 3800 and 6900RPM. You can set these using Custom Auto. Be careful if it works as you must set the temps so that it reaches maximum fanspeed when it goes above 70-80 to keep it within a safe operating temperature. This way works compared to the older version which used to crash but you are limited to the 3 fanspeeds.

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Yeah, I messed with HWinfo 2 different times, for several hours per try. I tried the dell ec and compal ec both. the fan completely ignores any of the settings. Darn fan just likes to ignore me. It has become my enemy.

 

Gotta be something on the board then fella you have tried all logical things to fix it. The only other option you have is to wire a manual control to the fan with a switch it is quite simple to wire in just research it online there are plenty of guides. Otherwise its an RMA job.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. I had an asus g51 before, and it had a magic button combo to hit on bootup, reset the lcd board, the mobo, and the bios. I was hoping alienware had a miracle cure as well. The ONLY other thing i could think of was to flash the bios from flash drive. The "end" button method, but i cant find a darn flash drive under 2 gb. Thank you all very very much for your replies.

 

W.O.W 8400rpm..and i think the max rpm was 7000 D:

 

I dont know if the R1 differs but the maximum for the R3 is 7100RPM.

8400RPM is not normal and is going to be running at the fans maximum possible speed. Not healthy for the fan or the battery

 

Yeah, i was a bit surprised too. But i confirmed it with 3 apps. It's operating outside of safe limits. I think if i put in a hard switch for it, the battery would still drain, because the mobo is pumpin out the full voltage. I'm Wayyyy out of warranty, so sending it in wouldn't really be cost effective.

Another symptom, which i didn't think was related, but now i'm thinking is.

The wifi card will NOT turn on, unless i cover pin 21 on the wifi card. I tried other cards, other operating systems, and a fresh install of windows and the darn thing will still not pickup a signal. Pin 21 covered, works like a champ.

Silly lappy

 

One last thing you could do.

Buy an R3.

 

any corrosion or grime?

 

Spotless Fan is slowly starting to fail now..top speed is 7600 now. i spose maybe i need to put a manual switch on it..... and I would just give up, but ive dont so many damn mods. Ive actually dismantled a 256gb ssd, and hard soldered the guts to the sata controller, in the empty space i put a 750gb sata drive. it runs to a sata/usb adapter, and piggybacks on the right side usb port. super sweet, all the speed, and i can still have my steam directory, and all my music wherever i go.

Love this stupid thing like a child. its even the brain to my recording studio.

I just keep thinkin, someone is gonna tell me a certain button combo to use at startup like...alt ctrl f4, and it will reset the EC, but I have turned over every stone. its gonna be hard to put in a manual switch too, there really isnt any room left.

I really do wanna thank everyone in here for all the help. Its nice to know there are still helpful, non-sarcastic ppl out there willing to help. Rock on guys!!

 

waaaait. What about slowing that thing down?

Temps: Test test monitor monitor
Software: too lazy to review, did you try any other software?
Resistor: possible to slow the thing down this way? Watch for heat.
Variable Resistor: now thats just fancy overkill. Like!

Has the voltage to fan been verified? I'm making a BIG assumption here that there is a controller altering voltage applied. If all is normal AT the fan, I would assume the fan to be the problem and it should be replaced.

 

I popped it open and checked the voltage, it stayed constant from startup , all the way till 20 mins into fear 3. so it is getting instruction from board, or lack thereof to run at that speed. My question is, even if i put a fan taper switch in, and manually turn it up and down, which im fine with, would the battery still drain really fast, since the voltage from the board is still at full blast?

Oh, and the temps were double checked, and they were on within 2 or 3 dregree's from the external temp scanner. It's blowing cooooold air. BOOOOO.

 

Then unless you can get into board level repair its down to replacement or modifying. Right?

If trying for repairs ejohnson would be a good start but I wouldnt have clue one which bit of hardware controls this or IF its even possible.

Allow me to think out loud...
Temp sensor "senses". BIOS instruction reads that and acts based on a table. If sensor fails or if data cannot be read then fail-safe instruction is for fan on max.
Fan speed can be read. If unable to read fan speed or if fan speed detected too low, is there a fail-safe mode for max fan?
As temp sensor is working and fan speed is being reported it is likely MB failure or scrambled BIOS.

Is the BIOS contained on a chip like the old days? HUGE things. lol. If so, and if you are hard headed enough to push through this problem it might be an option.

For grins, do you have any other laptop fans to try? Doesn't have to fit the case and you only need run it long enough to see behavior. I am unable to see how this is related but if you have a fan its free to test.

I suspect nothing short of MB replacement will solve this properly. Resistors and the like will work for fan speed but not so much on battery life IMO. There will be heat to dissipate.