XPS

[austinramsay]

When sitting idle (not seeing any heavy usage for anything in task manager over 10% anyway), how loud should these fans be? If I'm sitting here not even using it with the power adapter plugged in it seriously sounds like the fans are at full blast sometimes.. Seems like when I unplug the charger it slows down after a few seconds then eventually they turn off. Is this normal? It is kind of annoying for $1700 laptop to make so much noise just sitting idle, but if theres nothing to do about it, it is what it is. Thanks

[brianosaur]

I bought an XPS 13 9370 from Costco last week and am experiencing the same fan issues. Updated BIOS but the fan still kicks in as soon as the laptop is plugged in, and I get the grinding fan noise.

What is the turnaround time for maintenance? Quite frankly, I'd rather just return this and keep buying a new one until I get a laptop that actually works out of the box.

How widespread is the fan issue? Is it on every machine? I don't want to deal with this problem for a $1400 computer.

[Dell-Alan D]

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@brianosaur wrote:

I bought an XPS 13 9370 from Costco last week and am experiencing the same fan issues. Updated BIOS but the fan still kicks in as soon as the laptop is plugged in, and I get the grinding fan noise.

What is the turnaround time for maintenance? Quite frankly, I'd rather just return this and keep buying a new one until I get a laptop that actually works out of the box.

How widespread is the fan issue? Is it on every machine? I don't want to deal with this problem for a $1400 computer.

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Hi @brianosaur, 

As the fan is grinding it requires a service call to replace the fans. The service call ultimately depends on what warranty you paid for. If you purchased a return to base warranty you would be looking at a turnaround of 5 - 10 days. If it's next business day warranty I would book up an engineer for you. 

If you are not happy with the quality of the system and want to return it, I could request a system exchange for you. As you bought the system from Costco, they may be able to exchange the system for you much quicker than we can as they will most likely have identical systems in stock. If instead you would like a refund, again you would need to take it back to Costco as you bought the system from them rather than direct from Dell.

I'll send you a message for your service tag details.

Alan

[drindt]

Dear support staff,

now i have the same with the fan on the right side. It would be nice to know which fans they are. So i can replace it myself. Not have to send it in and wait long time.

Thank you,

Daniel

[delsthef]

I think I just fixed the constant fan noise issue on my one-week old 9570, dual booting with Ubuntu 16.04. I first followed [1] and then installed [2]:

[1]: See FAN MANAGEMENT in https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/5y3rii/xps_9560_battery_life_optimization_and_fan/

[2]: https://github.com/TomFreudenberg/dell-bios-fan-control

smm.c does not exist any more on i8kutils-1.43 and [2] is the alternative way to disable BIOS fan control. I did hope there is also a BIOS update for 9570 since the same fan problem exists but the above-mentioned solution seems sufficient for now (also posted on Reddit for reference).

There are still some noise issues on my laptop: 1) grinding sound whenever fan is on; 2) high-pitch sound whenever AC adapter is on. Guess theses are hardware issues and 1) can only be solved with fan replaced. Anyway it is already a lot better now being able to adjust the fan speed.

[ngydat]

I don't know if you're aware of this but the latest version of the BIOS (1.4.0) is available since June 12. I hope for you guys that will solve the fan noise issue. Well in my case it was already solved with the 1.3.2 version of the BIOS

[jo0ls2]

I got back from holiday and opened up my new dell today. I have updated to the 1.4 bios. My laptop is still suffering from constant loud fan noise. I'll reinstall the OS tomorrow and see what happens. I really don't have time for this sort of nonsense. I wanted to just get my programs on to the new machine and start using it at work this week, but it is too loud to take into a meeting. I'll have to struggle on with my old machine with its cracked screen and failing power supply.

[mfgMobile]

I have this fan noise when charging aswell. In plain mobile use i am very happy with the device, but once i plug it into my Dell U3818DW with USB-C charging, i do not understand why the fan almost never stops. Even if I do less then when i am mobile, the fan is much quicker present … i had the laptop doing nothing for an hour and the fan never settled. 

I just did update to BIOS 1.4 and this is the last chance that i can give this laptop. Settings are "Optimized" in Dell Power Manager, Best Performance in Windows. I have added a Samsung 970 Evo to increase my storage.

[Jeroen0494]

So here are my 0.02$ on the issue.

First a bit of background story:
I bought the XPS 13 with Ubuntu pre-installed, BIOS version 1.2.1 I believe it was. I upgraded it to Kubuntu 18.04 with BIOS 1.3.2 almost directly after receiving the laptop (clean install, with TLP). I'm running 1.4.0 now. Reside in the Netherlands.

It has been sad many times before, but if your fan makes a grinding noise it is a hardware failure and you need to get it replaced. Apparently it is a batch-related issue. Sh*t happens, get over it. As long as the service is proper, I don't see the problem. My fan made the grinding noise, like there was sand in it. The BIOS update to 1.3.2 made the issue 'go away' but I got it replaced anyway (motherboard and fans). After talking with Alan a service call was arranged and the problem was fixed basically the next day I was available. They are offering to replace the laptop, replace the fans. In my opinion, the service is proper.

Now, the throttling is DEFINITELY an issue. The latest BIOS version are much less aggressive about activating the fans, resulting in very (sometimes extremely) high temperatures and throttling. My CPU idle temperatures are around 43C (about 10 programs open including libreoffice (3 documents), firefox, thunderbird, Zotero, Rambox, KDE plasma). When I start hammering the system, initial temperatures during CPU turbo mode (3500Mhz) of 80C+ are not uncommon. The system will scale back after 3 seconds or so to 2300Mhz resulting in temperatures of about 65C, climbing again to 75C. When all core have reached a temperature above 70C and sustained it for about 5 seconds, the system will throttle back to 1800Mhz. Meanwhile, the fans haven't kicked in yet, they will only kick in after a sustained temperature of 74C for 30 seconds and 77C+ for about 5 seconds. There is basically no difference between using battery power and charging. This is hot, very hot.

This is something irev211 already mentioned, and Alan responded to by saying "the system is working as designed". I strongly disagree. It may be an extremely thin 13" laptop, but it is advertised not only as "the most powerful 13" laptop available, but also as a "developer edition". Of course I want it to be lightweight and last long on a single charge when I am working on some simple documents and browsing the web, however I want it to be able to run some virtual machines and compilation tasks without a hassle as well. Why else would you put 16GB of ram and a quadcore i7-8550U in it, to play minecraft? And of course the laptop makes some noise when I do so, maybe even a lot. It's a 13" laptop, what else do you expect? My 17" laptop with 4770HQ makes noise when I do, my desktop i5-760 does. But I know this and actively CHOOSE to run those virtual machines and compilations, and are aware of the consequences. Point is, when I hammer my system and it starts to reach temperatures of about 70C, I want it to start cooling properly.

I think a lot of people were/are complaining about fan noise, when really the noise is not that bad and because of these complaints, the BIOS fan table was altered so many times up to the point that the system doesn't cool properly anymore and starts throttling. This is perfectly obvious, the throttling issue started around BIOS version 1.3.2. I have always had 17" laptops, the latest only 2,2cm thick, so I am used to noise and really for a 13" laptop with severely limited space the noise is perfectly acceptable.

One thing I have noticed is that the fan table has been altered to only include fans speeds of about 4700RPM for the CPU fan and 4500RPM for the Video fan (as advertised by i8k in lm-sensors). If speeds of about 2500RPM are possible and actually result in lower temperatures and lower fan noise, why not include it? This seems like a perfectly acceptable solution. 2500PRM for sustained temperatures of about 65C, 4500RPM for 70C and 6000RPM (I know you can...) for 85C+.

Maybe Ubuntu simply runs cooler than Windows. If you are running Windows switch to Linux set your power profile to 'balanced', not 'performance'. It will scale up, don't worry. Now, I can only speak for myself but if your system is running idle with temperatures of 60C+, something is wrong with your system and you should check your power management options. But 40~45C idle for a 13" laptop is normal.

I do hope Dell comes up with a solution for the throttling issue, because it is definitely an issue.

Jeroen

[Jeroen0494]

I would like to add some things to my previous post. Please keep in mind that the following observations may be specific to my laptop, experience may vary.

First of all, noise is subjective. I am used to noise, having owned several 17" laptops. What I meant by saying "for a 13" laptop with severely limited space the noise is perfectly acceptable", is that this 13" laptop makes less noise than all the 17" laptops I have owned over the years. And fans in 17" laptops are usually bigger, allowing for less noise with the same airflow (or more airflow with the same noise). Having sad that, I stand by my point that the fan table in the BIOS should be altered.

The noise the fan makes is not so much noise that the fan itself makes but the sound of air being blown through the heat sink and fan grill. If I hold my ear close to the laptop, I can hear a faint high-pitched noise coming from the motor in the fans. However if the laptop is in front of me on my desk, I can't hear this high-pitched sound at all. Personally, noise from airflow doesn't bother me that much. And the fans don't spin at all during idle, so basically during the entire day of documents editing the fans don't kick in at all. I must say it surprises me to hear all you guys complaining about constant fan blowing while my machine does the exact opposite.

One of the solutions to this issue would be to include some way for users to alter the fan table themselves. I don't necessarily mean putting the numbers in yourself, but choosing from a list of options. I think for Windows Dell already offers this option through something called the Dell Power Management Application? However from what I understand this also locks the maximum frequencies to rather low values, which may not be desirable. On Linux there are the i8k tools to both provide some extra sensors and optionally control the fans, however controlling the fans from within the OS requires disabling the BIOS fan control. delsthef posted about this not far above my post, although for obvious reasons this isn't officially supported. It would be nice though, because the i8kutils provide a very clean, easy configuration file to do so.

One other thing: on Windows (at least 8.1) there is something called the maintenance service (can be found in the action center in the notification area) which runs 'maintenance' on your machine every day at 14:00. It compresses files, which uses CPU, which increases temperatures which makes your fans spin during 'idle'. You can disable this in the task scheduler if you want, Google it. Do run it manually once in a while though...

Jeroen

[Dell-Alan D]

Hi @Jeroen0494, thanks for the public posts around the information you are providing to my colleague JC. I'll leave you in his very capable fans.

Alan