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Fan starts at boot, then stops.

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by adidas, 27 Dec 2005.

  1. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    Hi - I'm about to go and buy a new fan, but maybe I can save a few quid if you can you guess what the problem is from the symptoms:

    - Fan starts immediately at boot, then slows down and stops in a few seconds.
    - Fan stays off until the computer is shut down, at which point it starts for the time it takes for windows to exit completly and power off (maybe 3 seconds tops)
    - Fan can't be made to spin again by 'nudging' it
    - Because of no fan, cpu temperature goes up to 65c at which point the p3 930mhz throttles.

    We're talking about a 5yo Sony laptop pcg-gr series. Fan was ok until I:
    - cleaned it all up (including the said fan, so mechanical damage is possible)
    - reinstalled windows xp sp2 (in place of sp1, so software (acpi) failure is also possible.

    Amusingly speedfan records the right cpu temp at boot time only, sticking to the same number regardless of the actual temp, and will only display the actual increase in celcius after a second, thrird, fourth (etc) reboot. :wallbash:

    BIOS is a limited crap phoenix antique and cannot be configured meaningfully (ie, no qfan option) :rolleyes:

    I'm at a loss here, any pointer would be fantastic!

    Happy new year!
     
  2. Fr4nk

    Fr4nk Tyrannosaurus Alan !

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    what kind of connector does the fan have? I'm assuming it has a three pin fan connector. If you have any other fan headers plug it onto one of those, since things like qfan only work with the cpu fan header. If you dont have another header, go buy a 3 to 4 pin(molex) adapter so that the fan runs off the power supply ALSO you could try and get speedfan to turn up/on the fan.
     
  3. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    Actually, here's an image of the connector, which has only 2 pins.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. AWACS

    AWACS What's a Dremel?

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    geeez... what fan is that? or more like what is that fan supposed to do?
    edit: heh I should start by reading carefully

    ok... try it with battery power, 9v should keep most fans spinning for a while (definately not 5v ones)or use some alternative power source
     
  5. MrWillyWonka

    MrWillyWonka Chocolate computers galore!

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    It's a standard connector, just doesn't have fan control. If you can nudge the fan and it spins, this indicates there's something wrong with the fan or power.

    Either the bearings are going, or the fan isn't recieving enough power.
     
  6. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    ... Mr (xmas) Wonka, Fan can't be made to spin again by 'nudging' it I'm afraid.

    I'm going to try the battery trick
     
  7. MrWillyWonka

    MrWillyWonka Chocolate computers galore!

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    Oops, I thought you said "can" :blush:

    But yea, try the battery trick, I'm thinking it's the mobo not getting enough power to the fan.
     
  8. carbonfibre

    carbonfibre What's a Dremel?

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    I would think that its a software/driver issue as I have the same thing with a gateway 9300 laptop. If I boot it with 98se then the fan works as it should but with XP sp1 or sp2 the fan doesn't work, it then over heats the network card which shuts down.
     
  9. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    Darn you were right, did the battery test, and it spins up properly, stays powered, and does its job better than it ever did (strong, steady fan noise with high RPM).

    If only it worked like that while plugged on the mobo... :lol: What should I do now?
     
    Last edited: 29 Dec 2005
  10. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    CarbonFibre, did you eventually find a solution for that problem?

    TIA!
     
  11. carbonfibre

    carbonfibre What's a Dremel?

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    What I have since found out is that Gateway don't recommend running XP on this model, my fault I know. I did find a programme that may help. It doesn’t allow me to control the fan but it does monitor the temp, as it looks like a work in progress it may eventually help. There may be better options available but I haven’t really looked to hard as I’ve lived with this for a while.

    Notebook Hardware Control
     
  12. adidas

    adidas What's a Dremel?

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    Right - unfortunately that software doesn't work for me - and to top it off the lappie is certified to work with xp (was shipped with it, in fact).

    Right now I'm running it off the 9v battery (don't laugh), and I'm planning to buy a new fan to see if that would help.
     

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