studio 1749 fan noise/temperature problems

Hey guys,

I've recently received my dell studio 1749 laptop with the following specs,

- i5 CPU 520m

- 4 gigs of RAM

- Intel HD graphics

- 320 gig HD

The problem with this laptop is that the fan will start to whine every few minutes seemly without reason.

I've done some investigation and found out the following:

- there seems be a threshold of 35 to 36 degrees celsius. Once the CPU hits that temperature, the fan will start to cool it down to under 30 degrees

- the idle temperature of the CPU is always creeping up, even without load. If I leave the computer alone at idle with almost no CPU activity, the temperature will creep up to the threshold...thus triggering fan.

the cycle repeats itself every few minutes.

I've attached a picture to illustrate the problem.

Since this is my first laptop, I want to ask does the CPU temperature stay constant during idle? or does it creep up like mine?

Can the threshold be modified?

Is this normal with the dell studio?

With the fan whining every few minutes, it can get very annoying.

If anyone has this problem/has a fix, please let me know.

Thanks

 

Hi Dellsutio17owner,

I've exactly the same problem with the 1745.
Symptom:
Instead of spining quitly all the time, the fan is actually completly stopped. Thus, the temperature increases even if the CPU is idle. After a while, the fan kicks on at full speed like an hair dryer for a few seconds and stops. then, this cycle begins again.
As the "ON and OFF" fan noise is very intrusive, it makes you rapidly crazy.
Usually, on a laptop, the fan should spin all the time quitly (at a very low noise level) and should speed up according to the cpu load. By this way, the CPU temp is stabilized when idle. it's a simple regulation problem.

So Far, this Fan issue seems to also affect 1745 and 1747 and is reported on many forums.
On Studio 1747, Bios A05 seems to reduce the problem.
On Studio 1745, I'm still waiting for the A03.

Some additional links:
English:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=450268
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19315633/19631485.aspx#19631485

French:
http://www.lesdelliens.com/forums/topic/18770-studio-1745-probleme-de-ventilateur/

German:
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/showthread.php?t=672400

I decided to stop Dell further laptops I planned to purchase until they solve this very disturbing problem.


Cause:
I first thought it came from a hardware failure. Dell changed my motherboard as well as my fan unit, but it didn't solve the problem.
Actually, this issue is due to a bad thermal tables settings in the bios. Unless it's a Dell design choice, which seems to be very stupid.
it comes from the fact that the FAN does not spin at all when CPU is idle.
All we have to do is to report the problem to Dell, to insist for an escalation process, and hope the next Bios update will solve it.

Workaround
Softwares like speedfan and i8kfangui are useless. They don't recognize the chipset used to regulate the fan. ik8fangui is also not supported anymore.
The only way I found to reduce this issue is to go to energy advanced settings and set:
- CPU cooling strategy from active to passive
- Graphic Card from Performance to Economy
Even if this does not solve the problem, it applies a downclocking to the CPU and GPU and thus makes them coming warm a litle bit later...

Should you have any further information, just let me know ;-)

 

On the Studio 1749 also, 3 first users report the same issue...

 

Hi guys,

I've got the same problem with my new Dell Studio 1749 purchased one month ago.
The first three times I called Dell support, they asked me to run some diagnostic tests (RAM, fans, temperatures...), then to update the BIOS to the last version (before A02 version and some days ago A03 version) and also to reinstall the OS (I did it twice). Nothing was useful.
Finally, I got an on-site technical support to replace the CPU and video card heatsinks, but even this was useless. The technician told me that the problem could be on the motherboard.
Now I need to call Dell back and ask for the MoBo replacement.
Anyway, I think even that will not solve my problem and that they should replace the whole laptop with a new one or grant me a complete refund.

Bye

 

@delta101 Hey, I have the same problem along with other members of the lesdelliens.com forum.
It seems the problem is not related to your hardware, but stems from the most stupid cooling management ever designed. All 1745/1747/1749 have this problem, but it seems it doesn't bother that much people.
We are thinking about creating a group to protest against this stupid bios issue. Let me know if you still have the problem even after you're given a new computer !

 

Hello Arto from LesDelliens (ou plutot salut ^^)

please all users come and whine here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19321860/19691460.aspx#19691460

you do not have to accept this, make Dell move!

 

I agree.

I called Dell technical support today and they tested my system.
The tech guy I spoke with agreed with me that this fan behavior had to do something with de fan management system inside the bios. On my request he was willing to write an escalate inquiry into their system. This is the quickest way to bring this issue to attention their supervisors.
So don't hessitate, just call!

 

I found something really strange tonight

Maybe some of you know that the fan can get "stuck" at high speed for no apparent reason, which is a bug.

There are 2 ways to deal with this:

- reboot
- stress the cpu to raise the temperatures and "unstuck" the fan

Tonight i stressed the CPU with Prime95 to get rid of the bug, well guess what... when the fan debugs itself, it spins more slowly than when bugged! (remember that the temps are increasing here, so the fan should spin quicker!).

If proof was needed, well here it is

 

Did you contact tech support about this?
You have to make them escalate this issue. Otherwise I'm afraid we'll write a very long story about this here.

 

Honestly no...

I dont wanna run all their stupid tests to reach a conclusion that i already know is true: the BIOS is messed up lol

But you are right i should contact them... i'll think about it

 

I noticed that to. Happened about 3 times so far usually after a couple of hours browsing. At first I thought it was the seo software i loaded up taxing the cpu. But it also happened with just firefox open. I rebooted and all was fine again.

 

I've noticed today that I have the same problem with the "stuck" fan, I updated to the A03 BIOS when it came out, and before that I didn't have this problem.. I'm hoping for a fix for this annoying problem.

EDIT: I use Super PI Mod v1.5 to stress the CPU, and reboot works as well.

 

Please post on Dell Community's forum too

 

Hi,

They've replaced both the heatsinks and the motherboard on my notebook. The problem is the same.
Like other people said, I think it's a problem of the fan controller and they should release a new version of the BIOS as soon as possible.
I wrote an email to urge them.

Bye

 

I'm still waiting for that bios update, but I have a bad feeling.

 

Is there a solution for the stuck fan problem yet?

 

Nope.

I even skipped BIOS A04 as it doesn't seem to solve the issue. Maybe A05 soon?

 

I have a Dell Studio 1747 and I'm experiencing the same issue. The fan seems to die down for a bit. After a minute or so, it starts to run again. It's kind of annoying. I hope Dell seriously does something about this, although, given the history of complaints I've seen about this issue, it doesn't seem likely. Should I give them a call and ask for another laptop?

 

It's unlikely this will solve this issue.
If all Studio customers start to send it back, someone at Dell might got shaken awake and maybeee got this solved.

 

If nothing else, call them and report a fan control bug (the consencus is that it's most probably a BIOS bug).

And watch out for the "fan-stuck-at-max" -bug, and report that too if you call them...

DJ
--

 

about the fan stuck at max speed

i've been wondering something.

Could it be related to the turbo mode? Does it happen when turbo boost isn't installed?

 

Any fix for this found...yet?

 

Still no BIOS update....

 

I got my 1749 yesterday and for the little amount of time I've used it I am happy with it. Very happy. I got the I5 540m, 4 gig ram, 500 gig HD, 1920X1080 screen, 5650 GPU, Spring Green Microsatin finish. The fan is so much quieter compared to my old Dell 9300. It spins up quickly on start up but then stops and i haven't noticed it, but I haven't given it any intense tasks yet so we will see.

 

The new A05 Bios doesn't seem to solve the fan issue.
Shame...

 

I did not download the update since i don't have the studio at hand for now, but are there release notes?

The description of the fixes and enhancements on site is more than vague... it's just a version number and a release date. You can not even blame them if it doesn't fix anything, cause it's not supposed to from what i see lol

 

Yeah, it looks like Dell is afraid to claim something.

 

I've installed the latest BIOS on the 1749 of my GF and since then I don't think the fan got stuck once.

The fan seems to work differently too, I still find it annoying but it's like it's spinning for longer period of times at low speed, reducing the yoyo effect a bit.

What about you guys?

 

I didn't install the BIOS update on my wife's 1749 still as I'm on holiday.

For sure I'll try when I'm back. It's some good news if Dell at least is trying to work on this issue. I still keep my fingers crossed.

 

the latest posts on Dell Community seem to confirm that the fan bug has been taken care of. People still complain about fan behaviour though, as do I, but I don't know if i'm dreaming the slight change I mentioned previously or not lol

I don't think i'm getting used to the fan, but who knows

 

I have exactly the same problem with a brand new (1 week old) Dell Studio 1747 (wrongly advertised as 1749). When the computer is idling, the fan is on all the time and turns off for about 10 seconds before it is turned on again. The room temperature is 21C and the CPU temperature is constantly between 48-52C. Turning off at 48C and turning on at 52C.

I'm using the latest A11 bios for the 1749.

 

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?