Fan Off , Fan On, New XPS 16 I7 - Please Help

Dear All

I just recieved my new Dell Studio XPS 16 today, after previously only and M1530.

Lovely looking laptop, however it doesn't matter whether i am using battery or plugged into the mains, the fan keeps comming on and going off every minute or so i would say. I have only had the laptop out the box for a good hour or so but the constant stop and start of the fan is really starting to get to me.

The laptop will run for a couple of minutes, fan kicks in for 1 minute off for 30 seconds, on for 1 minute , off for 30 seconsn!!

This is just happening when the computer is idle , at the very most all that is open is IE 8.0 and maybe some Windows.

I have read other people have problems with throttling , but from what i gather this would seem that the users effected are mainly if they are playing higher end games and only happens when using a 90W Power Supply, when battery is in use it is okay.

For me personaly the noise happens when it is on battery or mains powered. I need to work out what to do because i have 7 days to request a return , i may think it is because i got the I7 Chip

Would appreciate if someone can help , my specififcation is below:

1 N01X6502 200-63962
1 Studio XPS 16 : Intel Core i7 Processor 720QM(1.60GHz,6MB cache) 210-29981
1 Display : 16in RGBLED White Leather Edge to Edge Full HD 1080p with TrueLife 230-11143
1 SAVE 459 INC VAT 239-13186
1 Camera : Integrated Camera with Facial Recognition Software 319-10372
1 Ship Accessory : English Docs 340-16037
1 Resource DVD : Studio XPS 1645 Diagnostics and Drivers 340-19906
1 Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 370-15259
1 Hard Drive : 500GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) 400-15840
1 Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Roxio EasyCD software 429-14488
1 Power Supply : XPS 90W AC Adapter 450-12331
1 Power Cord : UK 1M 450-12339
1 Battery : Primary 9-cell 85W/HR LI-ION 451-11164
1 Not Included Carry Case 460-10354
1 Graphics : 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card 490-11634
1 TV tuner : No Integrated TV tuner 506-10123
1 Wireless : Dell Wireless 1397 (802.11 b/g) Mini Card European 555-11659
1 Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card 555-12593
1 Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard 583-12363
1 Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) 619-18927
1 English Microsoft Works 9.0 (Word Processor, Database) with Recovery CD 630-12116
1 Software : Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic 640-11630
1 English McAfee Security Centre 10.0 - 15 Month Subscription 650-11875
1 Standard Service - 1 year of coverage included with your PC 754-56808
1 No Warranty Upgrade 754-56833
1 No Accidental Damage Support 755-10534
1 DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 759-10302
1 DataSafe Online size - 2GB Trial 764-10282
1 Studio XPS 1645 Order - UK ENT 799-13622
1 Freight - Notebook: over 25 Units (Special Price) 990-14791

 

Download some temperature monitoring software, I use RealTemp personally. See if the fan is turning on for a reason. If not maybe something is wrong with your fan? Or it could be software related it's hard to tell. I'd also upgrade to the A03 BIOS if I were you.

 

Thanks have put the BIOS update on , so now up to A03

I don't have any applications installed, it lt just does it even with a web brower open.

 

There's really a lot of potential causes for the fan to turn on, some hardware related others software related. To be honest your best bet at this point is to contact *shudder* tech support. Or see if anyone else on this forum has experienced the issue.

 

i have this same issue too

 

mines like been on for 20 minutes if that, if it is a generic thing i just want to sort it before the 7 days is up , i don't want to live with the problem , i wonder if it something to do with the i7 chip.

 

Well, the fan is meant to be turned on when certain temperature is reached, otherwise it would fry your motherboard. It's turned off when the temperature drops. Absolutely normal.

 

My fan comes on and off but when its on its pretty quiet. Only when it hits high-speed sometimes in gaming is it obnoxious.

 

Got it out the box , the house was cold, as the heating has only just gone on , and yes while i agree the fan would go on when a certain temperature was reached. but the fan cycled off and on within a few minutes of the laptop being on and it seemed it the cycle just repeated itself. Only application runnign was internet explorer , and the laptop was idle.

 

Im pretty sure that is normal. it was on most of the time for me anyway. but so quiet never really heard it. Now i would recommend checking the temps though just to be sure.. 45-50 ish range is normal for cold room

 

I have had plenty of Dell laptops , my work one is a Latitude E6400 , and the fan only comes on when it is hot , i.e next to radiator at work or on my lap where the airflow is limited.

Even when i had my Dell XPS M1530 , did the fan rarely come on unless i had a load of applications open and was doing anything intensive.

Yes i understand if the laptop is busy or it get's hot , but within 10 minutes of switching the laptop on with the laptop being idle ???

 

I think it has to do with the northbridge etc being all integrated on the cpu.. At least that was someones reasoning a while back. The 4670 i think also runs pretty warm, at least it seems that way. As that all on the same fan circuit.

 

I am also facing the same issue. The fan starts and stops every few minutes. It annoys me as well to hear that happen every now and then. I haven't formatted my system, it uses the factory pre-installed image. Will formatting the laptop help with this? Maybe Dells pre-installed bloatware is causing this!

 

Are all laptops effected or is it just the I7 laptops. ? When did the I7 laptop get released ?

What i would like to know , is if i return the laptop and buy an XPS 16 from the Outlet , i am not going to get the same issue.

 

My fan is only on when I'm gaming otherwise my laptop is silent. I think it might be a relatively isolated issue. Dell released the 1645 in October if I'm not mistaken.