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Fan speed keeps cycling up and then down
I have a Dell Studio XPS 8100, running Windows 7 Professional, which has been great for the past 2 or 3 years, A couple of weeks ago I powered the machine down and it said it needed to install 19 Windows 7 updates. I let it do its thing and all was fine and it powered up again.
However, it seems to have screwed up the CPU fan device driver somehow. The machine runs fine until it does something heavy on CPU - like for example video processing or bulk compiling and then the CPU fan powers up. So far so good.
However, once this happens the fan never stop repeatedly powering up and powering down again. Every 10 seconds you hear the fan powering up to full speed.....and then immediately stop again. It is driving me nuts.
I have installed SpeedFan and other monitors and they all say the temperature of everything is fine, quite low. actually It is as though a new driver that the Windows update installed has got a bug in it where, once the fan powers up to full speed, it constantly flips between full speed and idle.
The only way to fix it is to reboot. And then, of course, the next time anyone does anything CPU intensive it all starts again.
I am seriously considering buying a different server machine and my current thinking is that it won't be Dell given the current problems.
Can anyone help and save me from a nervous breakdown?
DELL-Jennifer K
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February 26th, 2015 06:00
Hi ,
Thank you for writing to the Dell Community Forum .In this scenario its evident that the fan issue is seen after updating the windows driver.
I would suggest you to backup the data and then roll back the windows settings before the update .
Try these steps and then if there are any concerns do reply to this post ,we will be glad to resolve them for you .
*Restart the system hold the F8 key as your computer restarts.You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you'll need to try again by shutting down and restarting your computer.
*On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Last Known Good Configuration (advanced), and then press Enter.
*Windows will then resume starting normally.
After this the system will rollback to the widows settings before windows update.
Awaiting your reply .
Have a good day ahead.
Kindest Regards ,
MQGuy
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February 26th, 2015 10:00
Thanks for the reply but I am not sure I understand. It is just not feasible to back-out Windows updates. Windows updates come thick and fast and lots of them are marked as 'important'. Since the problem first occurred windows has installed another important fix on the 12th and two recommended updates just today. However, I'm pretty certain the problem happened on the 11th February. On that day Windows actually installed 16 important updates and 3 recommended ones. I'm pretty certain that somehow one of those messed with the Dell CPU fan driver in some way. However, since they just say 'Security Update for .....' it's hard to tell.
I believe strongly in keeping software up to date. I work in the Software industry myself. So I am not keen on backing out Windows updates and it surprises me that you would suggest such a thing. What I need is a device driver I can install or a registry settingl I can twiddle which will set the CPU fan back to sensible behaviour.
A number of pages on the Web mention BIOS settings for the fans. However, I can see no BIOS settings for the fans at all on my machine.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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February 26th, 2015 11:00
More likely a problem with the recent updates to Dell Data Vault and/or to SupportAssist. Lots of users having this problem on various Dell PCs. Dell is supposed to be working on a fix but until then:
Stay tuned for a fix which will allow you to re-check those boxes and use Data Vault and SupportAssist again (if you want/need them).
RoHe
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10 Elder
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44.3K Posts
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February 27th, 2015 12:00
See latest update from Dell here.
MQGuy
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February 27th, 2015 12:00
Rohe,
I was going to give it a couple of days before reporting back but so far so good. My first attempt at fixing it was to update my BIOS. I was running an old A03 so I upgraded to A05. However, sadly that didn't fix it.
I then followed your advice and switched off Dell SupportAssist and Data Vault. The machine has now gone almost 24 hours without doing it's fan thing. Frankly I can't remember the last time it went a full 24 hours without the fan losing the plot so it is looking good.
Many thanks for your suggestion it has saved me from going slightly mad. Pretty poor show of Dell though to do this to their own customers. Frankly I never knew what these things did anyway but the fact that they actually get in the way and screw up your system is ridiculous.
Cheers
P.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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44.3K Posts
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February 27th, 2015 13:00
Glad you're not going to go even slightly mad. :emotion-4:
Don't know how things like this slip past testing since it affects lots of different Dell PC models.
But Dell certainly isn't alone with updates that cause unexpected problems. Just look at all the "re-do's" Microsoft has had in recent months with Windows updates.
Since your system is behaving again and if you're happy without SupportAssist, don't bother with the latest update. My attitude is .. "If something ain't broke, don't break it!"