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75449
November 3rd, 2010 14:00
PLEASE FIX THIS DELL: VOSTRO 3400 Fan Noise Problem. Possibly a Faulty Hard-drive Heat Sensor.
Problem: Fan goes to its medium RPM setting and never ceases to slow down even if no programs are running (computer is idling).
I've got a vostro 3400 with an i3 370m cpu and a 250gb scorpio black hard drive. I think the fan problem may have something to do with a faulty hard drive heat sensor. I have done some testing and here are the results:
It takes about 5 minutes for the HD to reach a temperature of 32 C from a cold boot. Before this temperature, the fan is at its lowest setting and is barely audible. At 32 C and onwards, the fan kicks in and stays on at its medium setting which is audible and I think the main cause of concern in this thread. The temperature of my HD then continues to reach around 40 C and stays at this temperature on average throughout my computer usage.
Throughout this testing, the cpu started from a temperature of around 36 C for the first core and rose to about 42 C and stayed there at idle. One test I did to confirm that the cpu was not responsible for the heating was to run orthos right after a cold boot when all componenets inside the laptop were very cool. Even though the cpu temp went as high as 50 within the first minute, the fan did not turn to its higher speeds, it stayed at its lower state. While monitoring this, as soon as the HD went to 32 C, the fan kicked in. I don't know how I could go about cooling the HD while the laptop is running to really confirm this theory and see if the fan lowers in speed when the HD lowers in temperature below 32 C, so if anyone has suggestions please reply.
EDIT: Upon further testing, on a cold boot if I run orthos and make the cpu temp high, the fan kicks in to medium gear and then high gear and if I stop orthos it goes back down to its lowest RPM setting. As soon as the HD nears 32, the fan goes to its medium setting and never goes back down even if the computer is idling.
The same kind of problem has been reported on another forum years ago: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-notebooks/86476-constant-fan.html
As a request to everyone having the fan problems, could you install CPUID Hardware monitor and take a screen shot of when the computer starts from a cold boot with the fan at a low speed and another screen shot right when the fan starts spinning faster. It will be greatly appreciated because it will be a way to see if there are patterns to the fan noise and maybe due to this Dell can help us sooner.
Thanks.
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Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 6th, 2010 11:00
Dell, please provide a solution to this problem.
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 8th, 2010 17:00
Nobody can help? Why is it called Dell support forums if no one can provide support?
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 9th, 2010 07:00
These forums are user to user, so the support is from other users, not an official way to contact Dell.
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 15th, 2010 16:00
I want to get their attention. Solve this problem dell.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 15th, 2010 16:00
Good luck with that... Since it hasn't worked yet, maybe you could try an even bigger font next time.....![]()
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 15th, 2010 17:00
By posting replies like that, do you do it for the post count or do you have nothing better to do than troll the dell forums? Regardless, thanks for bumping my thread.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 15th, 2010 19:00
I seriously do wish you success in your alleged issue, but please understand that this is not the place to get an official response from Dell. From what your other posts have said, they have made efforts to fix it. If that didn't work, have you tried the Unresolved issues link at the bottom of the page?
Other than suggesting that, there is really nothing anyone here can do for you.There is no reason to 'bump' your thread - there is no magic Dell employee around here who can come up with a solution to something that you have made them aware of in many ways..
gergev
77 Posts
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November 16th, 2010 12:00
Well there should be a 'magic Dell employee around here'.
This forum is on their website.
Users have issues. They can go to technical support under warranty and hope for a solution or their money back, but when that fails, this is about the only recourse.
Dell should follow up here.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 16th, 2010 14:00
The following is taken from the Dell Community Terms of Service that you agreed to when you created this account:
"Although the Site may be moderated or monitored by Dell or its agents, it is not a substitute for contacting Dell support. "
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 19th, 2010 08:00
Thanks for confirming this. Just want to get their attention so it looks like what I'm doing has a chance to work. Better than no chance at all.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 19th, 2010 09:00
Your optimism is refreshing, but as you've noted in your other posts, there are threads about this issue on this forum going back to Arpril of this year.
I am quite certain Dell was aware of the concern long before you came here.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 19th, 2010 16:00
This is not the place to do that. My point was that:
A) This is not a place designed to get an official response from Dell
B) There is a different thread that you participated in that dates back to April. If that thread (currently about 7 months old) did not get them to respond, it seems unlikely that a new thread on the same topic will garner any official response.
I wish you well, but I also wish you would quit using these forums for what seems like a vendetta you have about this issue.
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 19th, 2010 16:00
Maybe that's where your misunderstanding my intentions. Dell is already aware of this issue based on the reply by one of the mods on the giant fan thread and I already knew this before even posting on this forum. The reason why I'm doing this is to get an UPDATE on the situation. Nothing has come so far from dell to even give us some news on their progress or acknowledging if their still working on it at all because the last reply was such a long time ago. That is why I'm trying to get their attention to give us some UPDATE so we are certain that it WILL be fixed rather than being uncertain about this whole situation.
Tamam Shud
25 Posts
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November 20th, 2010 15:00
A) Mods have given an official response acknowledging the problem
B) However unlikely it may be, its worth trying
I don't understand why your having sleepless nights over me just bumping my threads to get attention. The fact is that its an unresolved issue and me bumping the thread has a potential to get some feedback if anyone from Dell observes the forum.
I don't understand why people like you are even on this forum. You have nothing to gain here. Are you trying to get a problem of yours resolved as well or do you just enjoy being home on a good day with the curtains drawn and posting on peoples threads about how this is a user to user forum. The fact is that dell has given responses in the past and your opinion of however unlikely it is does not mean anything.
If having fun, according to you, means spending time on the dell forums, please have fun. Just don't expect to troll around holding your dell rulebook and telling people what they shouldn't post, how unlikely things are, who belongs in this forum, and what not.
hrova
2 Intern
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2.2K Posts
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November 20th, 2010 20:00
To the first part, your concerns about your fan noise are not keeping me up at night. Nor is your lack of understanding as to the purpose of the forum keeping me up. Your believing that by 'bumping' your thread you will get a quicker resolution is comical...
To the second part, I am here to help when I can with issues people have. Also, as is your case, when I see people either misusing the forum or having unrealistic expectations of it, I let them know that.
The last paragraph mentions "holding your dell rulebook and telling people what they shouldn't post, how unlikely things are, who belongs in this forum." The only one of those that I have done is say that it is unlikely that you will get an official fix for your issue on these forums. Ironically, it is YOU telling me I shouldn't post.
Bottom line, you have a loud fan and a computer that sounds like it has no hardware issues. Bummer. But I don't think fan noise is covered by any warranty...
EDIT: Sorry that you don't value my opinion on this, but part of my point is A FACT. This forum is NOT meant to take the place of contactig Dell technical support. Those are not my words, those are Dell's, and since these are their forums, I am quite certain they'd know their purpose.