Envy 14 fan noise

It seems that some Envy 14 owner's experience unacceptable on-off cycling and noise from the fans, while others do not. I would like to start a poll to see if this problem is specific to a certain CPU. Let us know your specifications and if you experience any fan issues. Also, if anybody has found a resolution to the fan issues please post in this thread. If you have time, please post your idle CPU temperatures, thanks!

Here is my current problem with the fan, and I have read that others experience this as well (although possibly with different temps):

With the "fan always on" disabled in the BIOS, the fan constantly cycles on and off, and never stays off for more than 2 seconds, even with no programs open and clean Win7 install with minimal processes, and using integrated GPU. It seems that my fans kick on every time the CPU temp reaches 35 deg C. Once at 35 C, the fans kick on at about medium speed/noise and cools it to 34 C in 1-2 seconds, in another 1-2 seconds it's back at 35 C and the fans kick on again. The fan noise is loud enough to be very distracting.

My specs:
i5-450M, 6GB RAM, 160GB SSD

 

The m11x has this exact same problem before a new BIOS came out. I would just leave Fan Always On enabled, the speed that it runs at then shouldn't be loud/distracting and if it is then there might be something wrong with your fan.

 

With the "Fan Always On" enabled, the fan is not as loud and is less distracting. But I would much rather prefer a completely silent machine. Other people have reported completely silent fans.

 

i3.....its cool and quiet, quietest running laptop i've ever owned

 

I have the 520 and the fan is always audible but you usually have to put your ear right over the keyboard to hear it. it makes a bit more noise when booting up or while under a heavy work load but its still not a big deal to me.

 

if you have to put your ear to the surface like you're hunting buffalo, that doesnt count as audible

 

with your i3, can you tell me what your CPU temps are while idle, and with just an internet browser open? Thanks!

 

I'd be interested in seeing your max temps as well, if you have the time.

 

My fan revs up for a second upon booting but that's it. It's completely silent when doing anything except for CPU and GPU intensive work like a video game.

(my SSD is silent so others might experience a little more noise)

 

how do i properly test this? i'll do it up for ya

 

On the one I just returned, the fan ran at an extremely loud, constant volume at all times (plugged and unplugged, running apps or doing nothing) and never switched off (even after a BIOS tweak). I had the i5 450m.

When I say extremely loud, I mean louder than any laptop fan I have ever heard. As loud as a desk fan. So, I'm thinking there was something wrong with mine... it had body issues too, so maybe it was dropped or something.

I've done a straight up return, but I'm considering re-ordering if my problem isn't standard...

 

that's not standard.

something happened to yours. My fan is...well hell. my ceiling fan one 3 is louder than the fan in my envy at its idle speed.


I mean it's audible but it's not full blast "holy crap the thing is almost melting" audible.

the fan can get that loud but it doesn't do that often.

 

I have the same fan problem.
I decided to take look inside and found another problem. The whine noise that everybody is talking about is coming from the cpu(buzzing sound).
Sending my lemon back to hp

envy 14 520m

 

From another post.

 

I have EXACTLY the same problem and I have the same specs as you. My fan fluctuates from slow to fast while just doing simple web browsing or just moving the mouse. SpeedFan says my CPU temps are only up at 19C...

 

So is this poll conclusive? All i3 CPU's are silent? Or is it more likely that the majority of people who ordered an E14 upgraded to either an i5 or i7?

 

think it's more likely they updated to the i5 or i7

 

Before drawing any conclusions it would be great to hear from more i3 owners, if there are any!

 

I think in its current wording, the poll is highly subjective.

"my fan remains silent". Silent for one person could be unbearably loud for another. I think a better way to say it is to just ask "do your fans stay off during idle/light load?". Fans that are off are obviously "silent", though with the way its worded now you could get people voting for "yes, my fans remain silent" when in fact they turn on and may be loud for others.

 

I have i5 450 and my CPU idles at 70C... is this bad?

NVM. I was using an outdated version of CoreTemp. My CPU is idling at 35C!

 

70C is pretty bad! With integrated graphics, mine is ideling @50-60C. With integrated graphics, it is as low as 40C.

 

for mine its usually on or at most off for a few seconds

its not loud though, just audible when the room is dead silent

vs my vaio, i think its a bit louder, plus my vaio's fan isnt always audible

 

It can get REALLY loud if it WANTS to. When you boot it up you hear it ROAR. However even when playing game slikes crysis and extended WoW sessions, I'm pretty sure he fan is staying below 50% rpm's, which is nice.

 

the cutoff point for "oh god oh god too hot" is like about 74 C. that's when it revs up to full blast

 

Oh no, I hope Envy doesn't have the same issue with switchable graphics card that we all had with m11x where if you switch from nvidia to igp fan cycles doesn't change while on igp will work normally.

 

what klas? Could you explain that a bit better?

 

You can go through this thread where I reported two issues to Dell with fan control:

1. Fan was getting stuck as being always on (seems like it wasn't reported with Envy)
2. Constant fan cycles when switch from dedicated to integrated

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/462447-m11x-fan-always-stuck-behavior-discussion.html

 

I have an 840M and it runs pretty quiet, regardless of the setting in the BIOS. In fact, I was relieved because I sent back a z11 and a z12 recently because of the fan noise (really annoying buzz).

 

Well, I've been using my Envy 14 for a week now, and I haven't experienced any troublesome fan noise. It's there, of course, because the fan is running, but it's really not noticeable unless you stick your ear next to the keyboard (I don't think that counts, though). The fan does ramp up a bit during bootup, but otherwise, it's extremely quiet.

The only time I actually notice the fan is when the slice battery is attached. When it's attached, the fan cycles to high speed often. There are 4 exhaust vents on the bottom of the slice battery, but none of them lines up with the exhaust vents on the bottom of the PC itself, which seems pretty odd to me. I'm guessing something having to do with the logistics of the connection of the slice to the laptop is the reason they didn't line up the exhaust vents? Who knows? If I have some time, I'll post some pics of the bottom of each so you can check it out.

My laptop specs:
i5-520m
6gb ram
500gb HDD

 

Yeah, I don't understand why they didn't line up the intake vents...

 

No clue. For those who don't have the slice but are curious, here are pics of the the bottom of the PC and the bottom of the slice battery. Excuse the poor quality, but you'll get the idea:

Picasa Web Albums - tom - Desktop

 

When you attach the slice to the Envy, is there a gap in between the two?

 

It seems to fit pretty flush at the bottom. Although, from an aesthetic viewpoint, I'm not sure why they didn't design the slice to come up fully over the bottom part of the PC (the bottom black plastic part is smaller than the top silver part; ie. there's an indentation or taper) and meet flush at the top edge, where the silver meets the black. Instead there's this double-lip thing going on when the slice is attached. It's nothing major, but this combined with the misalignment of the vents just seems like poor design.

 

The High Pitch noise, does everyone have that or is that just a defect?

 

So what computer doesn't make fan noise, that has a proper cooling system? (proper = has fans and vents that spit out hot air).

 

Sorry I would have posted this in the normal owners lounge but that is closed for whatever reason.
Anyways onto my question.

I am really concerned by all this fan noise and cpu buzz and I am now considering getting the i3. How much difference is there between the i3 and the i5 450m? Probably not much right?

 

Nope. I believe you have an equal chance of getting the fan noise and cpu whine no matter what cpu you choose.

 

Yeah, nothing you can do at this point, just wait for your laptop and see how it turns out. Fortunately I have neither the whine nor the fan problem on mine.

 

i've had my envy for 2 days and the fan hasnt turned off yet. it doesnt matter which graphics card or if im plugged in/on battery. the 450m idles around 32C. it does slow down around 35C. the only time i cant hear the fan is when im playing music. any fixes?

 

Did you turn off the "always on" option in the BIOS? I just surf the web and play music and such and I never hear the fan because if it's on it is very low speed. The only time the fans turned up for a while was when I was running wprime benchmarks.

 

My envy14's fan NEVER turns off, even during idle. Anyone know what's up?

 

The fan on my envy is running at full speed non-stop. I updated the bios and turned off the "always on" feature for the fans, but its still going. The laptop is pretty much perfect, save for the fans running at full speed. Anyone help me with this issue?

 

Envy 14 fan noise

 

thats a different problem it seems, mine isnt cycling.

 

people with your same issue have posted in the thread.

 

I've noticed a lot of 450m owners (including myself) seem to have the problem. There's no way to be really sure but maybe there's something unique going on with the 450m? I think I'm gonna return mine and go with i3. All I'm really losing is TurboBoost which I probably don't end up using 99% of the time anyway.

 

When you say quiet, is that in a completely silent room? Is your fan always on but just at a low level? What does it take to trigger the fan up a level from Low to Medium? (For example, my i5 450m will go from Low to Medium the instant I open a web browser right after a cold boot up, which is just ridiculous in my opinion.) Thanks in advance.

 

i3 - My fan is always on but can be heard only in a quiet room. Nothing annoying about it. No worse than air from an AC vent across the room. I get the cycing problem on a flash encrusted website and sometimes here on this site. Max idle temp surfing this forum are 31c / 36c for Core0 and Core1 respectively. Min temps are 27c / 34c. 72c ambient temp. The cycling a slightly annoying in a quiet room but I've heard much worse from other laptops.

 

just got mine two days ago with the 450. my fan definitely does the cycling thing where it's completely silent, then the fan turns on for 2-3 seconds, turns off and is completely silent for a few more seconds, and then turns on again for a few seconds, and on and on and on.

it's not the kind of thing that you can zone out, since there's no real rhythm or pattern to it; every time the fan comes on you notice it.

since a lot of people who will buy the envy are students, i'd comfortably say this would drive you and the people around you nuts in a library. also, if you're just trying to do something quietly in your room at home (i.e. read, study, use your computer to email etc) and it's reasonably quiet in the room, you'll hear the fan. it has a high-pitched quality to it that makes it sound a bit harsh.

of note I disabled "fan always on" in the BIOS and from the power settings have set the CPU cooling to "passive" while on battery, and no glory; fan still blows, literally and figuratively.

this sucks because otherwise this notebook is great.

i'm online chatting with HP tech support right now and it's AWFUL. they clearly know zero about computers.

oh yeah and i have the most recent BIOS installed (it came with the BIOS version HP has on their website)

 

just installed speedfan. according to the program my core's temps are 10C, 11C, 16C, and 16C for cores 0,1,2,3 respectively. um... huh?