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My eternal dim 8400 fan debacle noise oh noise
Since purchasing this computer I have been assaulted with the fluctuating, whining, high pitched emanating, whistling fan from a dimension of pure torment.
This fan will start to whine if the CPU usage goes over 20 to 50 % but it would appear only if the cpu usage drops down lower again (this of course being an extremely common occurrence with computers). So for example if the cpu usage is at max 100% consistently then the fan wont whine, but if it drops down or fluctuates to a lower percentage then the fan will emit this extremely irritating high pitched whine. Also interesting to note is that while at 100% the fan does not noticeably speed up by any degree only revving up for a second when not of any real use.
I have had the motherboard replaced which did help ( in the sense that the original motherboard had the fan whining persistently even under 0% cpu usage) but has not in any way solved the problem.
I have had 2 fan replacements, a heat sink replacement and after my computer being in a service depot for 2 weeks they only replaced a hard drive which had nothing wrong with it (I had previously tested the drives) and sent the whining thing back to me not repaired. also have tried using artic silver 5 thermal paste, no use.
I can not find a solution to this and I may seem that dell don’t know what it is either, to be honest I may think that it is a badly engineered motherboard, especially in conjunction with that worthless smart fan technology, bad move.
Anyone else have any idea in what direction I should look for this problems origin, im getting kind of sick of the service calls and changing the fan.
BMWBOB
58 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 05:00
Sounds just like my situation! I had the fan replaced to no avail. I tried to get Dell to replace the heat sink, but Dell India solution was replace the PC which is not an option as I use it for work. I was transferd to a Dell tech in TX and he pretty much said "that's they way it is !" I was told they're working on a new BIOS, but who knows if the fan issue is being addressed.
The frustraiting thing is hearing of people with 8400 with no noise issues, even under stress!
Tycho_Atreides
11 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 11:00
fredha
1.1K Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 12:00
nadalife
20 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 13:00
the overall noise that the fan makes is not really a problem for me, its these really muffled very audable whistles coming from fan in cycles.
i have toyed with getting a new fan but there are 3 problems with doing this for me.
1. putting it into the shroud casing without damaging the rubber grommets
2.dell motherboard has 4 pin fan connector, will cause fan failer message with new fan
3.cant find any fans with the depth of the installed fan.
nadalife
20 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 13:00
an example
if i scoll up and down a web page quickley and then stop , the fan will burst into speed for a second causing a very irritating whistle, very audable. cause this increases cpu usage for a second.
this happens so often its driving me nuts.
Tycho_Atreides
11 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 14:00
NicoS
19 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 14:00
But I found some interesting URL, check out what this guy did with a real Zalman:
http://www.lecodesign.co.uk/zalman/index.html
NicoS
BMWBOB
58 Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 18:00
RoHe
10 Elder
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43.6K Posts
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January 22nd, 2005 18:00
I'll bet it's the fan on video card not system or CPU fans. Give away is your comment that fan sound increases when scrolling up/down a web page quickly.
Just opening powerpoint on my 8400 gets the video card fan whizzing. Keeps going even if I minimize powerpoint and let PC sit idle. When I close powerpoint the fan settles down.
Ron
AnubisX2005
5 Posts
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January 23rd, 2005 17:00
NicoS
19 Posts
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January 24th, 2005 19:00
http://www.sisoftware.net/
I get 66 celcius just from the start, no applications running.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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43.6K Posts
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January 24th, 2005 19:00
Has anybody with noisy fan run Dell diagnostics on memory. I vaguely remember someone posting that noisy fan problem turned out to be bad memory module and replacement cured the noise.
Ron
NicoS
19 Posts
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January 25th, 2005 15:00
that is CPU&BIOS info, device CPU and then advanced settings. (control temp)
Should be available on 8400 but not on all Dell PC (for instance GX270 optiplex does not show it).
BTW I got a new FAN today, but as I told support before it does not solve my problem. Probably going for the heatsink and/or CPU now, to be continued...
nadalife
20 Posts
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January 25th, 2005 15:00
hey nicos,
where within the sandra lite program did you get the cpu temp reading for the 8400.
Katonk
10 Posts
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January 26th, 2005 01:00
When I had my original 8400 that had the "hyperspeed" fan, Dell Support made me run the full diganostics and there were no error flags for anything. As I stated when this first occurred back in December and others have detailed, the only time the fan would slow down would be during the specific fan diagnostic and once that was finished, it would go back into warp speed.
The thing that surprises me is that Dell has made so many other people replace parts as opposed to my case where they didn't even bother and ordered a simple full system swap. Thankfully, my replacement has been very quiet (knock on wood).