GPU Fan not responding

Hi all,

My laptop is the E1705, with ATI x1400 card. The graphics fan is not turning on, no matter how hot it gets.

I have used i8kfangui in the past with great success. However, no matter what I do (hardware sensor on/off, fan force to high, auto control, manual control), the GPU fan will not start up. If I set i8k to monitor, it correctly reports that the fan never turns on, even as it reaches 76C. If i8k tries to set the fan speed, it will report that the fan is running at ~2000 rpm, but the fan is in fact not moving.

I don't think the fan indices are wrong, because the CPU fan control works correctly, and I've tried all the other valid options.


Does anyone have any ideas or been in a similar situation?

I just got this notebook back from Dell, and they replaced the motherboard. My only thought is that they could have forgotten to connect the GPU fan to the power. If no other solution comes up, how can I convince the Dell guys to fix it? i8k isn't supported by Dell, and if I just tell them that it gets hot, I'm sure they're used to that complaint...

I'm pretty comfortable fixing computers, but I looked up how to access the graphics card and it seemed like an awful lot of steps, so I'd rather not do this myself unless there is a simple way to visually identify that the card is not plugged in, or something like that.


Any ideas would be great.

Thanks!

 

Take it apart and look for the fan and see if its plugged in.

 

Offtopic: Does the utility work with Studio 1555? I am speaking about i8kfangui.

 

If it was working previously, it might have just gotten stuck (due to some sort of debris in the vent) or it may have failed.

As far as I know, i8kfangui hasn't worked (the fan controls that is) with any Dell machine newer than those with the Santa Rosa platform. May or may not even work with those...

 

My Studio 1535 is a Santa Rosa-based machine, maybe I'll look into this.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for the help. I'm going to try to take it apart tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be as many steps as the guides for replacing the entire GPU...

In the mean time, continue to add any suggestions for software forcing...

 

Maybe give it a light tap or blow air into it. And keep us updated. I would say blow air in the fan to make it spin.

 

Forcing air through the fan is one of the easiest ways to break it if it's not already broken, actually. If you do decide to blow the fan out with compressed air to remove dust or something, make sure you hold the fan blades in place with a toothpick or something similar.

 

How would that brake the fan?

 

Forcing a fan to spin, especially if it's faster than it normally operates, can cause damage to the motor that drives it.

 

Good news! I broke the laptop open and poked around...no sign of a disconnect or anything particularly fishy, but there did seem to be some debris...and after a good cleaning, it works again!

Thanks guys.