Clevo fan noise driving me crazy (P151EM1)

Ive got a Horize P151EM1B, which is basically a contract built Clevo P151EM1. The fan noise from both the CPU and GPU are killing me. Apparently this is due to bad fan profiles? Are there any solutions at all?

1.CPU keeps revving up to very loud speeds then revving down again. This happens for a few seconds every few minutes, even when im doing nothing but web browsing.

2.GPU fan (GTX 670MX) is REALLY loud when running any 3d application.

Ive checked the temps and neither the CPU nor GPU are overheating...

 

what kinda temps are u getting under load?

have u updated to the latest system bios and EC?

whats ur ambient temp?

when was the last time u cleaned out ur vents, heatsink fins and swapped out the thermal paste on cpu&gpu?

cheers

 

Its a brand new laptop, a few weeks old tops and this was present the day i got it.

CPU temps under load....im not sure, but its usually 40-45 degrees celsius, some spikes to 50 and the fan keeps revving up and down even when doing nothing more than web browsing.

GPU temps under load are 49 degrees celsius.

Where do i get the latest BIOS version? The retailer says that clevo does not give access to BIOS updates. What is EC? In my BIOS settings, it says :

BIOS : 1.02.17TL01
KBC/EC : 1.02.11

Room temperature is 20 degrees celsius or below.

I tried using a program called "HWINFO" and it shows that my CPU core clocks fluctuate a lot even when doing nothing more than web browsing....usually from 1200 mhz to 2400 mhz, with spikes to 3600 mhz. Im not sure how accurate this utility is though...but assuming it is, is this supposed to happen?

 

I have the same problem even while doing nothing and temps are below 50 the fans just keeps turning on and of for no reason. I have the P150EM and using the latest Prema bios.

 

hm, thats indeed weird guys... have u checked ur processes, maybe one of them triggers the dgpu periodically.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I think mine have started doing this recently, perhaps its the 28° Celsius outside?

 

well THAT could be it mine has gotten noticeably louder as well even tho its got an immaculate paste job and is freshly cleaned out/dust free and sitting raised on two plastic bottle caps its summer guys! forget ur laptops, go out and have fun with some sexy gals!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Its not the summer here, its the winter actually. It's like 12 degrees outside as i type this.

The CPU fan is the one that is revving up even when im just doing web browsing (coming from the left side). GPU is OK unless im running 3d applications, at which points it tends to get very loud.

Seriously need a solution to this. Does the prema bios allow you to do anything with fans (e.g. modify fan profiles, set it to a low constnat speed instead of automatic fan speed, etc?).

 

No unfortunatley the Fan profiles are locked/encrypted. nobody can mess with them...

 

ok, just wondering: how loud does it actually get? is it comparable to the gpu fan when running a 3D application? or are u just sensitive to that noise? cuz regular spin ups and downs even at idle are normal, although i wouldnt call the generated fan noise "loud" in any way...

 

It's not loud but very annoying. Its like every minute it turns on and off. I prefer it to be 15min on and 15min off not every minute. But it's not always like that.

 

Its not really that loud when the fan is in actual operation, but its the constant revving up that is pretty loud and distracting...

Is clevo known for having noisy fans? Comparing it to my old lenovo laptop, the lenovo just has a steady hum throughout, it doesnt constantly rev up and down. Or did wingman and i just get lemons?

The retailer is suggesting that i send it back, but its going to cost substantially to send it back (large heavy notebook + box, probably about 5kg of weight), and they are probably going to say the fan noise is "normal" or something....

 

thats what ill suspect they say when u send it in clevo has been know to focus on temperature on their machines rather than fan noise. as a consequence, they use a low number of fan steps spaced apart pretty wide instead of a "fluently" ascending fan profile. i guess the only option u guys have left is play around with different bios / ec versions, see if any of them are to ur liking. for example, when i started crossflashing my p150hm to the p170hm bios & ec, i noticed right away that the latest p170hm ec had a louder fan profile, so i sticked with the latest p150hm one

my suggestion: the more u focus on the fan revving, the more itll drive u crazy. just ignore it and ull get along well

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

How can you use a P150hm bios for the P170HM? I thought the model number must be more or less exact or your machine will fail to boot?

 

They use the same motherboard.

 

Oh, so long as its the same motherboard, it works? Even if its a different brand?

 

Yes historically so long as its the EXACT same PCB layout you are good to go.

You do have to flash the right EC at the same time of course without a restart.

 

Update : The custom bios didnt help at all. I tried sending it back to the retailer, but then they discovered that it was normal and they can't do anything to fix it. Now they want to send the laptop back to me.

This is driving me crazy. Any ideas?

 

Hmm, does anyone know if a different bios would work on the p151em1b?

 

i sometimes have the fans revving to full pelt once in a while.
ive roughly worked out this happens after ive done something demanding that uses my 680.
when ive finished the demanding task like gaming and go back to normal web brousing the only solution i can find is
if i have monitoring temperature open in background like nvidia inspector,gpuz,afterburner i have to close them and then reopen them and the fans will go back to normal cycle.
if you dont have monitoring software loaded then download some from my link below. once youve finished your demanding task open the software and then close it and the fans should go back to normal.
i say "should" as it doesnt work for everyone.

this is a known problem that was reported to clevo a year ago when the EM lappys came out but as of yet theres no official fix.

its still strange though as members with exactly the same spec as me dont all have the problem.

 

bump,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Do you torrent? There have been lots of torrents recently that have a virus type thing. You can find it in task manager usually as the name of w/e you stole.exe

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

This is not a virus issue. Read the thread, a retailer tech confirmed this is due to bad fan profiles on this particular model of clevo laptops.

 

so my advice was no use to you. sometimes nice to have a reply saying so

 

Sorry, i wasn't sure what you were talking about. You are talking about the GPU fan not turning off when no longer in use right?

 

yup, as far as i know its the gpu fan reving but for all i know it could be the cpu fan as well is it is loud.

 

well that happened to me a couple of times with Alan Wake, and it's strange beacause the temps are not so high, 67 for the cpu and 72 the gpu, I had the fan at full speed for about 2 mins.... really weird

 

Very unlikely to affect the EC on a laptop because they run on low level custom code which would have to be specifically targeted. A lot of work for a small target.

 

Yea, prema's bios does have a fix for that. Another option i found was to start something like msi afterburner, any utility that monitors the graphic card will turn the dedicated GPU fan off.

Edit : Right now im thinking that a workaround may be to force the processor to run at a higher speed (not clockdown when idle), which should hopefully put the processor temps above 50 degrees, causing the fan to run full time instead of turning on/off every minute.

Anyone know how that may be done?

 

No it didn't affect EC, it spiked CPU usage to 99% causing fans to go full blast.

 

Yea that's not my issue.

What about undervolting the CPU to cause idle temps to stay lower? Is there a way where this can be done?

 

Only if you have voltage control in XTU.

 

Uh...XTU?

.