How to make my fan 100% all of the time?

I have an older Vostro 1500 and this thing gets HOT.
I already have it elevated.

The fan doesn't seem to want to go 100% even with any of the fan speed control software.

I've considered cutting the fan control speed wire (might not boot?) or cutting the resistor or adding a higher resistance resistor to make the BIOS think it's hotter than normal.

I'm at my wits end here.

 

Your best bet is to repaste the thing. Remove the cooler scrape off the old goop use some high % rubbing alcohol (like 99% preferably), then put on some new paste. Should reduce temps considerably.

 

Already done.

Problem is, the ENTIRE laptop is getting hot and it only has one fan for the CPU heat pipe AND the GPU heat pipe.

I just want to fan to run at full speed.

 

you could do what I did....strip the wire and attach it to an external AC adapter -_-

 

ok never mind.

found this:

Dell Inspiron Inspiron/Latitude/Precision fan control

it has "force to high" setting, which is exactly what I needed.

Temps have fallen from 77c to 67c, which is also exactly what I needed.

 

Uh, 77C really isn't hot... most chips are designed to go to 95C-100C. You won't damage the silicon from having temps that high, either. Trust me.

The only component that is heat sensitive is the hard drive, which you should keep under 50C ideally.

 

See, the problem is, the GPU is the real heat producer.
Strangely, the CPU has no temperature reporting only the GPU and HD.
When running games, the GPU kicks in and the temp reports up to 83c for the GPU (where I start to get problems) and up to 55 for the HD.

I upgraded the CPU to a Penryn core so it runs cool.

Even though the chips are rated 95-100c, it places great stress on the rest of the system.

additionally, a cooling pad would only mask the problem.

 

Ah ok. Well whatever floats your boat. We should be here to tell you how to do things instead of what to do, unless you ask otherwise

I have a similar situation and have a few hundred hours of my GPU running overclocked and at >100C... I'm still waiting for problems to show up. Maybe I am a lucky one though.