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laptop fan/cooling

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Anonymous   05-14-2002 at 07:51:14 AM

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I just got a IBM A31p laptop and so far everything is fine, however my fan on this laptop is always on once turned on after 5 mins. I owned other laptops before and they seem to only turn on at certain times. I was wondering if this is normal, good or bad to have the fan always on in this laptop.

Thanks everyone

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zpyrd   05-14-2002 at 11:32:56 PM
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In most cases updating the system BIOS will fix problems with irregular active cooling patterns in laptops.
I checked to see if there was a Flash BIOS update for your laptop but there wasn't one available.
If I were you I would call for support from IBM and see what they have to say about your fan problem.
Other things to check for are programs running in the background that could be loading the cpu creating extra heat keeping the fans running.
Run the task manager to see what is running and what the cpu load is when the fan is on.
Two ways to get to the task manager in WinXP. Ctrl-Alt-Delete or right click on the bottom tool bar and select task manager from the pop up menu.

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Anonymous   05-15-2002 at 11:00:01 PM
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Thanks zpyrd, I called IBM and they told me that because I have a cpu running at 1.7 mhz and a fast video card that it was normal for the fan to be on constantly. Does that make sense? So its normal for some laptop to have the fan always on? Is it acturally good to have the fan on all the time in a laptop? The IBM tech. asked me if the fan was still on when i put it in stand-by mode and the fan does not come on then only when it is fully turned on and they said that is fine then there is no problem.
Another thing is that the fan seems to have different stages of power, I mean when I run very graphics crunching stuff the fan will run much faster compared to when idle it will just be on but very quiet.

Thanks

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Robybob   05-16-2002 at 01:52:48 AM
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I would think that with how fast it is and the video card it is generating more heat staying on to cool things down.

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RaPTuRe   05-16-2002 at 08:19:05 PM
- 0 +

Where do you live? is it quite a hot climate? As long as the fan isn't running full power the whole time, it's perfectly normal.

"The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a beer bottle, they're on TV."

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