Alienware fans running full speed

[piratepixie]

So, last night out of nowhere, my fans decided to get very loud. They're running at full speed for absolutely no reason. The laptop itself sits on a logitech lapdesk cooling fan. I figured the fans were dusty, so I cleaned them out with compressed air, vacuumed the room to minimise dust. Turned the computer on after leaving it off all day (in case it was an overheating problem) and no difference. Fans are still running at a constant full speed.

The laptop is an Alienware M17X R4, and i've had it since December 2013.

Any diagnostics or help would be super appreciated.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

There must be a reason; either the fans are playing up or the laptop is under a considerable load and the fans are trying to keep everything cool. Are the fans loud even if the laptop is left to idle?

Download HWMonitor or RealTemp and check if the processor or graphics card is getting too hot. HWmonitor will also tell you how fast the fans are spinning, so you know whether or not they're at 100% spin.

 

[santanaf]

There is a diagnostic tool in alienware notebooks
Upon boot press F12 when the alienhead appears
Select diagnosincs in the setup menu and run it. if there is a HW issue it will show up there
Have you udated your BIOS or drivers lately?

 

[JinxyJ]

I also have the Alienware M17X R4 (Windows 7) from around the same timeframe and am experiencing the same problem, starting today. Laptop is clean. Ran diagnostics and no problems were detect. Updated BIOS, fans still running at high speeds.

 

[_Oric_]

This started happening to me a few days ago. I updated the bios, and searched for services hogging the CPU to no avail. What eventually worked for me was to download HWiNFO64, click on sensors in the main menu, Continue at the COMPEL EC warning if you get it, Click on the little fan symbol at the bottom of the Sensor Status window, and then click 'System Auto'.

My fans immediately settled down. CPU reaches 79c whilst rendering in high settings in DAZ3D Studio, and less than that playing games, which seems to be about right according to google.

It seems like something changed the cooling profile, and HWiNFO set it back, but I don't know for sure.

Good luck, hope this helps with this exceptionally annoying problem.

Oric

 

[Andy030877]

I just last night have the same issue with my Mx17R4, fans started spin at max speed, 4600rpm, maybe more.
I opened it, cleaned fans and still the same. Software is ok, BIOS also.
For me, I found solution in small custom diagnostic tool, here is the link, with description:

http://forum.techinferno.com/hwinfo32-64-discussion/65-alienware-fan-control.html

For now it is not possible to control the fans through BIOS. This tool HWiNFO (I use 64bit version due 64bit system) allows you to see all the parameters in your computer, it utilizes the on board sensor. You can control the sensor settings and also too set fan speed. On fan speed control you can set fans through different modes depending on your choose the sensor or not when you start a tool (described in link).
For me what worked I chose System Auto option and fans stooped spinning, and now they run as needed. Try to do more test with multimedia files, more load and demanding games, but for now it's OK. Please notice that you can control all fans together, not separately. You can also chose a Manual control but be careful when playing games. If you have any problems choose another setting as described in link provided.

I hope this solves your problem. It worked for me.

 

[Andy030877]

I just realize that You posted an answer also when I submitted my post.
For me also worked with same tool, for now works OK. 🙂

 

[IamTimTech]

From my perspective it sounds like it's time to crack it open and replace the thermal pads and reapply a quality thermal paste. I did this on my HP Laptop two years ago, it is now 9 years old and still works just fine.