Warning. Noisy fan due to bad control. Studio 1745/47/49 and Inspiron 1564

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19315633.aspx
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19313005.aspx
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320313

2nd description:
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19321860.aspx

I've tried to collect all the info I can. Please add as you seem fit.

Recently returned a dell 1745 due to bad fan control. While idling the fan would rew up to max each 3-5 minutes easily detectable by speedfan (see the last link). The core temperatures would slowly ("") increase to around 38 degrees when the fan starts at horrendous pace for ~10-15 seconds and cool the cores to sub-30 degrees and the whole show starts again. This is a showstopper and noone should really by these products.

It is as though the cpu fan only has two paces. Silent and Noisy. There shoudl of course be some kind of gradient in the fan speeds at different temepratures but his has not been implemented though very easy for BIOS coders to do so. The fan vigorously tries to cool the cpu to 30 degrees each time it hits ~40 degress - we're talking intel cpus that could easily go to 60-70 degrees without fuzz.

While idling any laptop should keep a constant temperature - the current lineup of inspirons and studios (at least 1564, 1745, 1747 an 1749) cannot achieve this and unleashes fan hell very often.

Untill fixed (which dell seems very reluctant to) don't buy dell. It's simply not worth it.

This have nothing to do with throtteling. And don't even get me started on doing something "cpu intensive" like browing. My god dell - !

 

Perhaps other users could comment on this please.

This is a simple, fundamental flaw that dell doesn't address. More comments on the problem will make dell awareness much more likely.

 

I just finished setting up 4x WXGA+ 1747's.

All were updated to A07 BIOS.

Under any sustained load (gaming, rendering, benchmarking, etc...), the fan is consistent (IE running)

The problem is the low CPU usage where the fan is near idle, then suddenly spins up to cool off the CPU then goes to near idle before.

I have to be honest. It isn't that bad. Having used some Clevo's before, this is par for the course where there is a cyclical spinning up of the fans every X minutes.

Would being able to set the fan to a constant low/medium setting be nice? Sure, but even when the 1747's fan spins up, it isn't nearly as loud as many notebooks I've used.

Under heavy load (Furmark / Prime95), I have to say the 1747 is on the more quiet side compared to most notebooks.

 

I have the same problem. Dell Studio 1749 with i5-540m.
Hate it...

 

Same here!

I posted here http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19321860/19691460.aspx#19691460

please all others do the same, its our only hope

 

I did.
I'm only sceptical if it will solve the fan issue. I've learned a lot about Dell's ignorance to solve the issue of the frying XPS M1730 GPU's, but you never know.

About the Studio 1749: The fan is not extremely loud. It's just behaving ridiculous. It turns on and off in a random logarithm turning me nuts. It looks like it's modulating without a proper PID-control.

I'm still in a testing phase before I'll hand it over to my wife. I'm not sure yet if I will do.

 

Clearly the fan noise isn't the primary culprit here, but let's face it: if the fan was totally silent we wouldn't be complaining either

It really is the way it works (or doesn't lol)

And i know that if we make enough noise Dell will listen. They did for the M17x, let's hope they do for these machines too.

 

I also found a dead pixel. I thought this couldn't happen these days anymore.

At least I want to get it replaced for the fan issue. Maybe the'll have a new bios meanwhile.

Edit: I called Dell technical support. We did a lot of tests and I convinced the tech guy that this is a bios related problem. I was busy almost 2 hours! He was willing to write an escalate complaint to solve this.
I think this is the only way to get their attention to solve this issue. So don't hessitate to call them!!!

 

What does it mean guys "bad control"?
Can it be fixed?
Should I return by laptop until my 30 days run out?

Please I need some advice...

 

First of all you should contact tech support about this. They have to try to find out what's causing this problem and make a complaint note into their escalate system.

They programmed a bad fan controller inside the bios. So we're waiting for a bios update. I'm afraid we can wait a long time. Dell is not taking this issue seriously enough, but I'm still working on it.

Maybe you have just a faulty one or you're also a victim due a bad fan controller. In the end you have to decide if you can live with it or send it back.

 

Same problem on 1.5 year old Studio 1537. They've stopped BIOS updates on the 1537.

Is it easy to replace the fan controller or temp sensor on the laptops? Replace the fan?

For me, the laptop didn't start doing this crazy max RPM fan stuff until outside of warranty. My temps are fine and usually in the low 20 degrees C.

If they haven't fixed it by now it doesn't seem like a priority to Dell.

 

Now when I think about it, it looks like Dell does really lousy jobs what about fan controllers.

Not only the Studio line, but I also read a lot about Inspiron 15xx models that have the same fan issues.

And finally don't forget about the infamous XPS M1730. They killed this beast by a really stupid fan controller. It lets the nVidia SLI GPU's fry. Fans kick in at 2000rpm on and of. GPU temps change between 45 - 78 Celsius when system is idle. By this differences in temps the soldering of the components get bad and the GPU cards get broken. Maybe half of the XPS M1730's are repaired or send back to Dell and replaced by Alienware M17x under warranty. I've still an XPS M1730 working with 2 years of warranty left.

Can you imagine: Dell killed its top gaming notebook by bad management! We asked Dell many times for a better fan controller to prevent our GPU's from dying without prevail.

They prove themselves to be inefficient in this matter. I think this Studio 1749 was my last Dell notebook. Maybe I'll get an Alienware M17x within 2 years under warranty.

 

Because the XPS M1730 was expensive, I took 4 years warranty. I'm happy I did. This way I let Dell deal with the problem if my GPU's will die. Still I hope it'll never happen, cause I like this notebook much. It's just a ticking bomb. When my GPU's will go to the eternal hunting grounds nobody knows, but I'm positive it'll happen someday.

I really can't understand them. To replace these machines under warranty costs them a lot of money, but they don't do something about it to prevent it. Does it have something to do with prestige between the different departments inside of Dell? Yeah sure!! Better loose money then to admit they're doing a lousy job! Dell really sucks if this is the case.

I wonder if Michael Dell knows what's going on inside his organisation.

I also took 4 years of warranty with the Studio 1749. Their fan management sucks, but their warranty is ok. As long you've warranty left, you don't need to worry.

 

I installed BIOS A04 for the 1749 yesterday. There seems to be no change in the fan behavior.

On another note I got the "fan stuck at max noise" today. That was very annoying. I've read about others getting the same. The i5 520M core temps was at a cool 28 and 32 degrees C, with the fan continuously on full blast. A reboot was needed to get it back to normal. This smells of plain old bugs, not 'only' bad fan management.

I'm considering calling Dell to report this - if I only thought it would have an effect...

--

 

I called. It's one of the few things you can do. If nobody will react, they'll never gonna take it serious.

 

Wow did anybody else read the comment on Dell Community about them not even working on anything at all?

I mean... fixing the bug is like mandatory. I tried to stress test the cpu a bit yesterday and i managed to get the weirdest behaviour ever off this fan rofl!

I kid you not: after the stress test, i had the usual "stuck fan" but it wasn't stuck at a constant speed it was stuck in a highspeed yoyo, fast for 2s then a bit slower for 2s and repeat. What i dont get is that this time temps were not going down (even though the cpu was doing nothing at all).

What a wonderful laptop this one

 

Yeah, this is a hell of a laptop with it´s own life. It does as it pleases. Turns fan on, turns fan of. Sometimes at full speed, sometimes not. It doesn´t make sense.

At least this is one will always surprise me.

 

Hmmm... Perhaps the CPU was going full steam, busily running that crazy fan control algorithm

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ROFL

It was just running in hairdryer mode.

 

How did you get a 4-year warranty? I guess I should also ask when you bought it? We got a 4-year full warranty for my husband's computer last year, but the one I just ordered didn't offer longer than a 3-year warranty if you got accidental damage too. Or maybe you just got the standard warranty, which still goes to 4 years? It's kind of disappointing that they reduced the warranty duration, because I plan on using the laptop for at least four years and having it covered the whole time gives a little peace of mind.

 

I ordered this notebook one month ago. I got the 4Yr In-Home Warranty Support, including evenings and Saturdays. I paid for 3 years and got the last for free. Dell changes a lot with these kind of actions.
If you want to extend your warranty you just have to take up the phone and call customer support. I experienced they usual don't answer the mail form on their website.

 

Thanks, but I think we're talking apples and oranges. Dell still has the 4-year service if the warranty doesn't include accidental damage, but the option if you want damage coverage is only 3 years. I did call before I bought and it was confirmed that 3 years is the max with damage, but when I thought that you had it for 4 I wondered if that option was still available somehow. Seems it's not.

Dell should at least let you get 4 year standard as an option when you get damage for 3, because now my warranty is 3 years all in because I got the accidental damage, and I would've liked the faulty parts warranty to extend another year if possible. The sales person did mention something about once the 3 years are up I can call and further the warranty but I really don't know how that works or what it would cost.

 

I tested my wife's Studio 1749 with temperatures while just web browsing. The fan behaved itself as usual. It looks like the fan controller is reacting to the CPU temps. The GPU temp is still low. Maybe it's an i-Core issue which also involves the Intel architecture.


BTW, CPUID recognizes the i7 M620 cpu as an i5. I think it's just an i5 with higher clocks.

 

I got my 1558 a few days ago and really like it! As to the fan, there is no loud "hairdryer-like" noise, but it does do this quiet, static-sounding noise frequently. It's like it's either trying to start up or is going, but very low and stop-and-start. It's like a little very low static, it's a bit annoying but not vastly so. Is this a problem?

 

If you don't think it's annoying for you, you're good to go. As far as I know the cooling capacity is good and no heat issues or what so ever.

 

It's moderately annoying at times, but not maddening. I'm not sure that if I got returned it the fix or replacement would be any better, so I guess I'll leave it. The bottom of the laptop does get warmer than I expected, but it's not burning hot. I have a slanted lapdesk that keeps the heat off me (and that wouldn't work with an external fan put under the lappy). So I'm hoping the heat is an acceptable amount that won't hurt the laptop.

 

I was about to accept living with the on/off'ish behaviour - mildly irritating, but not maddening, at least for now. But then I got the 'fan stuck at full speed until reboot' -bug manifesting itself. Now, that is maddening, to the degree that I haven't powered up my 1749 since, as it's for use in a recording studio...

I've contacted Dell by e-mail and telephone trying to report this, pointing to the relevant internet forum threads that I know of. I asked for confirmation that the report reaches the right people. A few e-mails later I have no indication that the matter is taken seriously.

If there's no fix in the next few months, the machine is probably going back. Very sad since all other aspects of it are quite satisfying.

--

 

I've tried several times to convince tech support that the behaving of the fan controller is ridiculous. Dell doesn't take this issue seriously, that's obvious.

My wife often plays the online game RuneScape. The fan kicks in at average speed and stays that way. For my wife it's not a problem, but the knowledge of this fan issue worries me a little. I'm still hoping that one day these morons will see the light and start to support us in the right manner to treat us with a nice bios update.

 

620 has higher clock and a larger cache (4mb vs. 3mb).

 

I just wanted to update you all. I have the same fan issue on my 1558 (i3, integrated graphics). Even at idle, the fan cycles to high for 30 seconds, then stays at low for 1 minute, then cycles to high for 30 seconds. Super annoying! I went through the same runaround with the dell service techs as well. They came out and replaced my entire motherboard, fan, and heatsink. No change. The fan still cycles. Since they replaced essentially all the internal components related to heat generation, I think this is unfortunately just ill-thought out cooling design. E.g. it's probably as the engineers intended the laptop to run. Of course, they probably weren't thinking about how grating this noise would end up being. Unless there is a bios update which addresses this, I doubt getting a replacement laptop of the same model will help. I also highly doubt my replacement fan and motherboard were faulty. I think this is just how the cooling system is designed. Anyone else been able to eliminate this cycling issue?