Fix for very loud fan/CPU noise in Sony Vaio EB4?

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peGGi

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Aug 11, 2011
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I have just bought a new Sony Vaio VPCEB4X0E/BQ. The specs are Core i5-480M (2.67Ghz), 4Gb RAM, Windows 7 64-bit, 500 GB hard-drive @ 5400rpm, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 with 512MB Dedicated DDR3 RAM, Full HD screen.

The fan is very noisy. Under normal usage, it spins away quite loudly - it never stops, even if the computer is otherwise idle. And if the computer is asked to do anything more power-intensive, it becomes incredibly loud. But I'm not even talking about editing video or anything. Opening up an avi file in VLC will cause the fan to spin up that loud. It's worse than the old desktop PC we used to have 12 years ago. I've never heard anything remotely like this in a laptop. It's a problem for me as I intend to record and edit music on the machine. I also watch a lot of movies/TV on my laptop and find this noise very distracting.

Are there any ways of reducing the fan noise? BIOS is up to date, the vents are clear, and the settings in power management are normal. It can't be clogged up with dust and such as it's a new machine.

Any ideas? Would be much appreciated. Even if there was a way to temporarily suspend the fans while I'm recording music or something. I'm reluctant to return the machine as it's the only one in this price range with a Full HD screen and it's a lovely machine otherwise. Anyway I suspect the retailer won't allow a return as the machine doesn't seem to be faulty as such, just a very loud performer. I'm pretty amazed and disappointed - I expected much better from a Sony Vaio with a Core i5. Seems like a relatively crude cooling system.
 

hpfreak

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Nov 29, 2010
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... Pff... Don't ever disable the fan, it's just as bad as taking a bat and whacking it if you disable the laptop fan.

Here is an idea:

Turn laptop off, unplug power cable, take out battery, put a straightened paperclip in the fan grill (to keep the fan from moving), then get a can of compressed air (can be purchased from an Office Depot, or any computer store).

Shoot the air up the bottom, and if dust comes out, that should help the situation, considering the fact that it is new, it probably won't be the dust, if it isn't, it may just be Sony, or the fan may be deffective.
 
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