basic question - laptop fan

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I have come into possession of an oldie but a goodie laptop, cheap.. a
Dell CPi 400 MHz P2. Works like a charm - the guy loaded XP Pro on it for
me. (Even can utilize a 108 Mbps 32 bit wireless G PCMIA card. Just
needs a new battery, maybe $85 - $100).

My question is about the fan in the back - I don't think it ever has come
on. I have been on the computer for a few hours straight, and noticed it
quite warn underneath when finished with it.

What I want to know is - are laptop-notebook fans only supposed to come on
if it gets too to high a temperature, or are they supposed to always be
on?
...D.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

They are temperature controlled. There's no way to say if the fan is
defective or if it simply hasn't gotten hot enough to activate it's
temperature sensor. For most laptops, there is a fan diagnostic program
that gives manual explicit fan on-off control, but it's machine
specific, at least in general.


....D. wrote:

> I have come into possession of an oldie but a goodie laptop, cheap.. a
> Dell CPi 400 MHz P2. Works like a charm - the guy loaded XP Pro on it for
> me. (Even can utilize a 108 Mbps 32 bit wireless G PCMIA card. Just
> needs a new battery, maybe $85 - $100).
>
> My question is about the fan in the back - I don't think it ever has come
> on. I have been on the computer for a few hours straight, and noticed it
> quite warn underneath when finished with it.
>
> What I want to know is - are laptop-notebook fans only supposed to come on
> if it gets too to high a temperature, or are they supposed to always be
> on?
> ...D.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 01:39:53 -0800, ...D. <d@no_usenet_email..org> wrote:

>I have come into possession of an oldie but a goodie laptop, cheap.. a
>Dell CPi 400 MHz P2. Works like a charm - the guy loaded XP Pro on it for
>me. (Even can utilize a 108 Mbps 32 bit wireless G PCMIA card. Just
>needs a new battery, maybe $85 - $100).
>
>My question is about the fan in the back - I don't think it ever has come
>on. I have been on the computer for a few hours straight, and noticed it
>quite warn underneath when finished with it.
>
>What I want to know is - are laptop-notebook fans only supposed to come on
>if it gets too to high a temperature, or are they supposed to always be
>on?
> ...D.

Thanks much you two...
...D.