Inspiron 15 inch 7548 Fan Over Active Fan Noise

I recently bought the Inspiron 15 (5548, Early 2015)...Updated the bios etc and still experience the same problem as yourself. Still no reply from Dell support

Is the 5548 the i5 CPU one?

I just contacted DELL today using the chat line option (Dell support) and described the issue to the tech.  He informed me of some very good information:

1)  There is a new BIOS for the 7548 that will come out in a week or so.  This might solve the fan on/off issue.

2)  DELL Tech was very helpful in setting up a replacement unit for me.  A new 7548 will arrive in the mail.  I will then ship back my current laptop.  The replacement unit will be brand new and have the latest (or current) BIOS.  This should help me to determine if the fan issue is in my laptop or if it is a bad design by DELL.

Will update the community when I receive my new unit and see how this plays out.  By the way, my unit is identified through Dell Support as Late 2014 model.  I just bought mine last week and was expecting a 2015 model.  But as long as it works well, I really don't care.

Same issue here, 5548 early 2015 with i7 Bios A3,  the fan seems to come on whenever it wants.  I just did ALL the updates from Dell's support site so not sure if A3 is the fix or if A4 is right around the corner.  The fan seems to come on whenever it wants, even when no one is using it.

Hi all

My system fan is also kicking in a lot even when on balanced power settings but it's the CPU temperatures on my Inspiron 15 7548 that are worrying me the most as they seem to be running VERY hot as you can see from my readings here:

When using anything that puts load on the CPU I have actually seen readings of 105°C which is the maximum this CPU should EVER reach! 

Also I have only managed to get PC Mark 8 to run successfully a few times as the whole laptop has just cut out which I have now realised is down to the CPU going above it's maximum 105°C value so can some others with this laptop run hwinfo or similar and see what your temperatures are like as if you are also hitting temperatures as high as mine then maybe you also have something defective hardware / cooling wise which I'm going to contact Dell about now.

I used http://www.hwinfo.com/ but got the same results with http://openhardwaremonitor.org/ so would be interested to see your temperatures as well as other 7548 owners to see if this is a design issue rather than a one off hardware issue which it seems to be in my case :-(

Btw I have just got off the phone with Dell Support and after getting me to press F12 on boot and try running their diagnostic program the laptop cut off each time on the CPU load test after you have to say yes or no to seeing the coloured bars so I'm now awaiting a call to see if they can hopefully get an engineer to do a motherboard swap at my home rather than me sending the laptop off as there is no way for me to check the thermal paste is ok etc as it's all soldered on laptops.

Sounds like a hardware issue for you. Thanks for the info on cpu temperature program. Will take measurements and post soon.

Wow. That is running really hot. By the way, which program did you use to get cpu temperature?  There are many out there with malware and I don't want to download anything that will make my system worst.

My system seems to need more cooling mainly when Flash content is being played. Otherwise it is fairly quiet.

I hope that Dell support will be able to help. This is a state of the art laptop that should not be marred by a noisy fan design or poor heat ventilation.

My warranty was only Collect and Return so I'm now awaiting a pick up before they take it for repair which I'm not happy with as I noticed this issue within 14 days of buying this laptop but by the time I got through to someone who finally acknowledged my hardware (CPU overheating issue) it looks like I'm going to have to be without the laptop for over 7 business days once they tell me when they can pick it up :emotion-12:

Have you tried changing the various settings under Windows Power options as there are some Intel TDP related ones that might help?

I will be without my 3 week old 7548 sometime tomorrow when the courier collects it for "7-10 Business days" :emotion-6:

UPDATE (4/15/2015) -  I received my replacement unit today.  Thank you DELL.  The replacement did no better than the original laptop.  In fact, I contacted DELL and they took control of the laptop to check on it.  After all the changes, the laptop still behaved the same way.  Fan on/off even when I'm at the desktop.

Fan would whirl when playing flash video off the internet.  In fact, this replacement is a bit louder than the original one.

Conclusion:  if fan noise is actually a part of the design - it is just a noisy part.  Fan on/off could be fixed in the future (I believe) with a BIOS update.  However, for me, this unit just doesn't feel like it would last in the long run because of ventilation issues.  I'm going to return it to Best Buy.

Yep. Been there.  Done that. Played with the acoustic setting, active passive cooling, etc. nothing helped. The fan is just noisy. They probably didn't spend enough to get a quiet one. I'm done. The laptop went back to Best Buy. They didn't give me any hassle at all. Thanks Best Buy.

Hi everyone

I'm so glad I found this forum.

I ordered my Inspiron 5000 series i5 about a month ago but have been very annoyed by the fan noise.  It comes on even when I'm not doing anything on the laptop, and is very very annoying and distracting.  I put my decibel meter next to the fan and it's reading up 50 dB (not very accurate I know but the laptop should be silent!) I also notice the right hand side of the keyboard gets very hot too.

I contacted Dell for a return and they said they would come and pick it up yesterday - but no one came.  Has anyone got any solution before I eventually get to return my laptop?  I downloaded the latest BIOS which I think improved things slightly for a short while.

I think I'm going to return the laptop anyway - if Dell comes and pick it up.  It's my first Dell laptop and I don't think I'll buy from them again - with the number of people posting their problems here I don't think it's a one off issue.

Dell - if you are reading this, which I think you should, can someone please post a solution or offer more efficient refund methods?

Thanks.

I've done everything to try and fix the problem (updates, adequate ventilation) etc...
My last resort was sending it back for repair. A courier collected it a week ago and they still have it.

If it comes back and the problem still occurs, then I can only presume that they're a cheap build (Which is what I've feared all along) and I'll never buy from Dell again.