power save and fan noise on S2

I have a Tecra S2 and I am noticing that whenever I run on AC power the fan slowly ramps up to full speed, turns off for a period of time (mbe 30sec - 1 min) then slowly ramps up to full again.

It is very annoying.... more so than a constant low RPM would be. It happens under low load conditions most noticeably.

I'd like some advice on adjusting/changing this without resorting to use of speed-fan or other 3rd party software.

I trid looking on the Toshiba websites for anything on this issue to no avail.

cheers.

 

My guess is that on AC power, your CPU speed setting gets set at "Always Maximum", so the clock speed is always at the highest setting, whether or not the CPU is used or not.

So, it makes it heat up progressively and the fan speed mathematics must be pretty stupid, so it ramps up to cool it down, until it hits full speed for a while and then it thinks it is cool enough. Then, without the fan, the CPU at max speed heats up again, etc. You see the point. Something like that happen with my M40 too when I set the CPU speed to Always Maximum.

So my suggestion is, set your CPU speed to dynamic (that it can adjust its speed based on CPU load), so it'll stay cooler and since you're saying that it's on light load condition, you won't see the difference in performance... Not that there is really one anyway!

Toshiba Satellite M40 - Pentium-M Sonoma 1.6ghz - 512mb DDR333 - 60gb 4200rpm - GeForce 6600 128mb - 15.4" BrightView WXGA TFT LCD

 

I keep my cpu set to minimum almost all of the time, the fans get annoying, and I just don't use the full extent of the processor that much, unless I'm gaming. I also try and keep good airflow to the sides and underneath the unit, this helps it as well, and I have less fan noise. I have to do this because once in class it got real hot for some reason and the fans started going into overdrive and some people around me were not too pleased with the distraction.




"Why do something today, when you could put it off until tomorrow? Because if you do it today, and die tomorrow, you've done something for nothing." ~ Me

 

Toshiba fan noise complaints are getting more frequent , it should not appear in any decent laptop , and in particular in the Tecra line .

To your problem , several options easy-->complex :

1. Go to the toshiba power setting and make sure you didn't selected max performence and cooling .

2. Install ikfangui , will monitor your temps as well let you control fan speed and keep it fixed on slow .

3. Undervolt your CPU .

Thats why I didn't buy anoter Toshiba but went with Dell (!) a brand I never tought I'll get close to .

 

I have a Tecra S2 since 1st of May and I also experienced very annoying fan problems. It makes a lot of noise and evacuate a lot of heat straight on the left hand. It's really uncomfortable (to be honest I cannot continue without a proper solution especially for a notebook from the Tecra range).

I did try many setting combinations from the Toshiba Power Scheme (CPU speed fixed to the min, CPU speed variable/dynamic, Cooling method set to min or to max, etc) but nothing solved the nuisance !

I finally contacted Toshiba's support and they offered me to pick up the notebook and investigate the problem.

My plan is the following:
1. See how better it is when it comes back from support & maintenance
2. If not solved, I'll consider installing a software like SpeedFan
3. If not solved, I'll consider products from the competition (Ibm or HP)
4. I'll post a review of my Tecra S2 but the flavour will mainly depend on 1.

I'll keep you posted
Cheers

 

After 1 month arguing and waiting I finally got my notebook back. Toshiba ran a series of tests (harddisk, fans, heat metering, keyboard, etc) but according to them those tests did not show any defects (took 1 month elapsed time to runs an actual total of 20 hours of tests)

Fine ! I then went back to Toshiba Customer Service, explaining that for this fan noise and heat generating (in addition to an unprecise keyboard) was unacceptable and asking them some kind of commercial gesture (replacement or return) !

"We are very sorry" they said "but we cannot do anything, this is just standard behaviour for any kind of Sonoma based laptop especially in current sunny days"

If this is normal behaviour for a Tecra S2 then I would strongly discourage anybody from buying this lappy !

Personnally I cannot keep it (too uncomfortable) and I am considering replacing it by a IBM T43 or HP NC8230 or HP NW8240

I have prepared an extensive technical review of this Tecra S2. Hopefully it will be posted in a week or two.

Cheers
VinnyMax