46 Posts

October 23rd, 2004 01:00

I officially go nuts because of the fan caused by A32 - although it doesn't stay on for long but it is turned on even when I hit the browser back button or click on a link. Any way to downgrade to A31 ? Thanks .

2 Intern

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7.9K Posts

October 24th, 2004 05:00

Yes, you should be able to down-flash without issue

46 Posts

October 24th, 2004 05:00


NemesisDB wrote:

I'm going to try the flash soon ... get fanGUI and make sure your temps are normal

if it's going into high gear on a normal idle temp of 39, you might have a point...







When I turn on the laptop, nothing much is going on, open the browser, click on several links then it begins to go to high gear. This only last about 5 seconds and then it goes back to off. And again after click on several new links or open some light apps, it goes back to high gear again. That is what drives me nuts - it keeps go back and forth so frequently.

I would just prefer the old way (prior to A32) where it stays just stay at low gear.

Can I just d/l A31 and install it over A32 ? Safe ?

Message Edited by cryptopo on 10-24-2004 02:07 AM

2 Intern

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7.9K Posts

October 24th, 2004 05:00

I'm going to try the flash soon ... get fanGUI and make sure your temps are normal

if it's going into high gear on a normal idle temp of 39, you might have a point...

46 Posts

October 24th, 2004 06:00

Ah thanks, I just downgrade to A31 - everything is back to normal :P

2 Intern

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7.3K Posts

October 25th, 2004 01:00

Except you still don't know what temp your cpu is running at.....

46 Posts

October 25th, 2004 01:00



@johnallg wrote:
Except you still don't know what temp your cpu is running at.....






yes I do, it's running at 51.0 degrees C currently (the fan is on low mode now), it is on for couple hours but nothing heavy is loaded . I think that temperature what my laptop is usually run at.

2 Intern

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7.9K Posts

October 25th, 2004 03:00

Idling at 51C is normal for A32, not A31.  If you're seeing those temps at A31, you definitely have a dust/heatsink/fan problem

2 Intern

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7.9K Posts

October 25th, 2004 04:00

Let me rephrase that and say based on my 2.4ghz p4 that seems hot ...  I'm actually not sure what is normal for others...

I also might add that A32 seems to kick the fans on high much earlier than previous revisions.  Gaming for a while (with cpu load on 100) doesn't raise the temp as much as it used to.  Whether this spike prevention is better than having constant ambient temps be higher I do not know

46 Posts

October 25th, 2004 04:00

I remember it always have been like this - is this temperature too hot ? What should I do ? the last time I blow the dust from the back vent was just 2 weeks ago. Thanks,

November 10th, 2004 13:00

I noticed the fan issue right away after flashing. Going back to A31. I'm also using CPU Idle, which really helps the fan not come on near as often. There goes the fan again!! Has Dell made any claim that previous versions let the system run too hot or some such thing?
PD

November 10th, 2004 13:00

Actually, I wanted to add that last night I had my machine in standby and the fan was coming on intermitently during the night even those the machine wasn't doing anything. So, obviously A32 is junk. Remove it if you've flashed and wait for the next update.

PD

46 Posts

November 10th, 2004 16:00

That's exactly what I experienced - the sounds of the fan annoys me so much that I decided to go back to A31

5 Posts

December 1st, 2004 00:00

Just wanted to report the same issue here with the A32 bios ... noticed that the fan kicks into a higher speed much more frequently and often, even when the CPU temp is low.
 
For instance, right now, my CPU usage is 0-2% and the fans are running hard ... before with A31, when I drove the CPU usage to 100% for a period of time, CPU temp would rise significantly, and after a certain amount of the time, the fans would kick up.  Now, the fans are pretty much always running at a high clip.
 
There definitely appears to be an issue with this BIOS.  Dell, please fix.
 
-Steve
Inspiron 5100
P4 2.8G, 384MB RAM, 40GB IBM HD
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