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OptiPlex 3280 AIO - Fan keeps changing speed slightly when PC idle
Just taken receipt of two new OptiPlex 3280 All In One systems (Intel 10th gen CPUs and non-touchscreen model). Very nice machines, but both systems are exhibiting an issue with the fan:
When the machines are idle (i.e. CPU at very low load) the system fan alternates every 2 seconds between two slightly different low speeds. In a quiet office this is annoying as the ear picks up on the constant and regular change in fan speed.
This happens from the moment the machines are turned on, and before they've loaded their OS. It happens even when viewing the F12 setup menu or BIOS settings, so this looks like a 'low level' controller firmware issue.
Both machines pass their Dell diagnostics tests (which includes the system fan) and by looking at the Health tab within diagnostics I can see that the speed of the fan is indeed alternating between about 1590 and 1630 RPM when the system is idle.
Machines are running latest BIOS (v1.1.0) and have had all other latest drivers installed from within Windows (including latest version of Intel ME).
I've tried disabling Intel Speed Step and Turbo Boost from within BIOS but this made no difference.
I can't think of any reason why this constant small change of fan speed might have been intentionally designed into the system, and as mentioned above it's audibly annoying!
Anyone have any thoughts? Support ticket already open with Dell and I'm currently waiting to hear back.
Many thanks.
DELL-Cares
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October 7th, 2020 04:00
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pete_pc
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October 29th, 2020 14:00
After much dialogue with Dell Support I'm afraid I've been left rather disappointed.
Support feel that this is a hardware issue and want to send someone out to 'repair' my machine, but I think it's pretty clear that this is a motherboard firmware issue. To have two identical spec machines (which, as it happens, were made/assembled in separate countries) exhibit the exact same issue makes a hardware fault pretty unlikely.
Support tell me that all I can do is wait and see if a new BIOS version is released that might fix this issue. Support have given me no confidence that they've actually logged this issue as a possible bug.
dmsalvant
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January 7th, 2021 15:00
Did changing the hardware fix the problem?
We recently receive 5 - 3280's and 3 of them were delivered will the CPU fan in pieces. They must have come apart during shipping as the fan housing is barely secured by tiny pieces of melted plastic less than a millimeter thick and the fan blade is magnetically connected to the motor. It was giving a fan error as soon as we turned them on. We eventually decided to open them up to see if it was a disconnected power cable or something.
pete_pc
4 Posts
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January 9th, 2021 03:00
Thanks for your info #dmsalvant.
I didn't want to attempt a repair to my machines as I didn't think my issue was hardware related, so I just kept my original machines.
You obviously do have a hardware fault, and slightly worrying to hear of the poor fan fixings. Hope you get your machines sorted.
Quick update on my situation...
I experimented with the excellent SpeedFan utility to see if I could take over control of the fan, and although I could, it was very coarse control (fan either full speed, somewhere in the middle or completely off) so I gave up with this. Not a fault with SpeedFan but more of a compatibility issue I think (and I did try turning off motherboard fan control in BIOS before using SpeedFan).
However, I found that after playing around with SpeedFan (where the fan was running for some hours at full speed) and finally reverting to BIOS/motherboard fan control, the fan was noticeably quieter to the point that it didn't bother people. Almost like the fan had been 'run-in'. The fan does still change speed every couple of seconds when the system is idle, but it's just less audible than before to the point of being acceptable.