Laptops General - Read Only

[peza]

Hi,

I´m using Dell Latitude 6430u for few days. I have upgraded from Win7 to Win8. Everything works fine, but the CPU fan seems to be very noisy already at low ultrabook load. I have upgraded BIOS to the latest version (http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/Product/latitude-6430u-ultrabook ), but this problem problem is still present.

Have you some advice, how to reduce fan speed?

Thank you!

[Dell-Rajesh R]

Hi peza,

Fans become loud or have abnormal sounds due to:

• An out of date BIOS.
• Obstructions in the fan or vent area.
• Physical Damage.
• Dust accumulation in the fan or vent area.
• Using near a heat source or in a hot environment.

Clean Air vents:

1. Check the vents on the computer to see if they are covered with dust and not allowing heat and air to pass through.
2. Turn off the System
3. Remove all power sources: Unplug the AC Adapter and Remove the Battery, or Unplug the Desktop Power Cord.
4. Use a compressed air can to blow the dust out of the vents. Be sure to hold the can at an upright (near 90 degree angle) and hold it 15-20 centimeters (6-8 inches) away from the target.

Hardware Diagnostics Check:

I recommend running diagnostics on the computer (power off the computer, restart the computer by holding the “FN” and Power button on the computer).

Let me know the status.

Awaiting your response!

[peza]

Hi Dell-Rajesh R,

- BIOS have been updated to the last version A04 (www.dell.com/.../latitude-6430u-ultrabook)

- no obstructions

- no physical damage

- no dust accumulation (I'm using laptop only for tree or four days)

- no using near a heat source

I have checked the hardware diagnostics, all components (including fan) work properly. Fan speed was between 4000 and 5000 rpm due the diagnostic.

I would like to point out that laptop is completely silent directly after boot, but after few minutes (during web browsing, CPU usage cca 10 %) fan begins constantly working and will almost never slow down. I tried to change power schema to Quiet mode (in windows battery settings), but with no effect.

I wish the fan speed would be increased proportionally with the performance.

Thank you for advice!

[Dell-Rajesh R]

Hi peza,

Check the status of fans in Safe mode with networking.

Refer the following link which has steps to boot into safe mode with networking:

http://bit.ly/yFE1MQ

Also, check by creating a new user account and see if the issue persists:

For more Information refer Microsoft article on User accounts:

http://bit.ly/RRLZ0N

Awaiting your response!

[jeo-d]

I do have the same problem, the fan is either on running almost full speed and very noise or it's off. Looking at the CPU temperature with a tool like Speedfan it shows mostly more than 50degree even when CPU is not used.  

Is there any optimized bios planned?

[peza]

Exactly! Here is Open Hardware Monitor print screen: tinypic.com/view.php

[alx55]

Same problem here. I received the laptop yesterday and the noise is comparable to the one in my Latitude E6410 which is unacceptable. I am only running a browser with two tabs and the sound is loud enough that you can hear it across the room. It should not be dust since it is a new laptop.

Any advice on how to solve this issue would be highly appreciated. I love the design of the system and I would rather not return it but if the noise is at this level when the system is new, I can only imagine that I will get much worse as time passes.

[daov2a]

Same issue here as well. Running Windows 8. As a test, I booted into WinPE and did a capture. The fans ramp up loudly there too. This is a definite BIOS bug. It is repeatable on multiple 6430u machines. This is in addition to the keyboard and touchpad not waking from sleep issue.

[Eosphotog]

Really hope someone on the BIOS team is reading this and/or aware of the issue.  I too have the problem that the fan turns on after about 2 minutes of very light use.  The fan makes a high pitch whine which is really, really annoying.  I'm not doing anything other than reading email and have tried all of the tricks, latest BIOS, nothing blocking vents, set power settings to reduce CPU load, etc.  CPU temp is hovering around 50C, but the fan is running anyway.

This is getting really frustrating, and I'm not going to be able to recommend this laptop to co-workers unless we can get a BIOS patch with updated thermal set points and fan speeds.  

[daov2a]

I was initially having this issue as I am using the d5000 dock. Dell released a WiGig update a couple hours after I posted here and the fan issue is gone. I have additionally installed the latest DisplayLink package and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 15.31 package. I no longer have this issue with the fans being loud.