dell inspiron overheats(?), fan comes on full speed, locks up computer
dell inspiron 5100, pentium 4, win xp
after 5 - 10 minutes of normal use from a cold state, apparently it overheats as fan come on and quiclky steps up to full speed (sort of sounds like it's going too fast), once the top fan speed is reached (sounds extremely fast) the computer locks up, totally unresponsive, must be power cycled to restart. meanwhile the fan continues charging along at full speed the entire time until powered down. upon subsequent startup, the fan resumes full speed, but shortly after boot up it settles down to a medium speed for a time before the whole process continues.
if i prop the computer so that the fan intake (on the bottom surface) overhangs a table and theres a decent breeze, this may delay the fan from charging up and locking the computer.
now I've started using it set on top of on external fan, it mostly seems to be okay, until additional power consumption overhead such as video or especially audio becomes too great and causes that fan to charge up full speed and lock up the computer.
what do the experts suggest?
thanks
after 5 - 10 minutes of normal use from a cold state, apparently it overheats as fan come on and quiclky steps up to full speed (sort of sounds like it's going too fast), once the top fan speed is reached (sounds extremely fast) the computer locks up, totally unresponsive, must be power cycled to restart. meanwhile the fan continues charging along at full speed the entire time until powered down. upon subsequent startup, the fan resumes full speed, but shortly after boot up it settles down to a medium speed for a time before the whole process continues.
if i prop the computer so that the fan intake (on the bottom surface) overhangs a table and theres a decent breeze, this may delay the fan from charging up and locking the computer.
now I've started using it set on top of on external fan, it mostly seems to be okay, until additional power consumption overhead such as video or especially audio becomes too great and causes that fan to charge up full speed and lock up the computer.
what do the experts suggest?
thanks
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
okay, so what i'm not convinced about, is that the machine locks up immediately when the fan kicks in to 100%. every single time, when that fan hits peak RPM (it seems unusually loud/fast), the machine locks.
this problem just recently started happening with more and more frequency.
no theres no CPU intensive work being done, just internet research and email for my wife as she studies. her course lectures on webstreaming is the worst offender for CPU overhead. otherwise System Idle Process is 90% or more.
so what i'm wondering, is there an easy and safe way to monitor the heat and/or control the fan speed. i don't feel especially comfortable taking apart the laptop and futzing with the CPU thermal stuff, so i'd kind of want to save that for last resort.
of course if that's just all there is to it, then i might as well get busy. but still im suspicious that the lockup always occurs exactly when that fan hits peak RPM.
this problem just recently started happening with more and more frequency.
no theres no CPU intensive work being done, just internet research and email for my wife as she studies. her course lectures on webstreaming is the worst offender for CPU overhead. otherwise System Idle Process is 90% or more.
so what i'm wondering, is there an easy and safe way to monitor the heat and/or control the fan speed. i don't feel especially comfortable taking apart the laptop and futzing with the CPU thermal stuff, so i'd kind of want to save that for last resort.
of course if that's just all there is to it, then i might as well get busy. but still im suspicious that the lockup always occurs exactly when that fan hits peak RPM.
ASKER
eh, i just installed some temp monitoring sw... looks like my CPU is 74C. Even with an external fan.
thats a bit warm, right?
:-P
thats a bit warm, right?
:-P
ASKER
eh, i just installed some temp monitoring sw... looks like my CPU is 74C. Even with an external fan.
thats a bit warm, right?
:-P
thats a bit warm, right?
:-P
yep, thats fairly hot, especially for a laptop as old as that.
I suggest you do as we have said above, it's not at all difficult to get to the fan on the 5100, will only take 5 minutes, and will definitely be of benefit to clean out the heatsink and fan area.
I suggest you do as we have said above, it's not at all difficult to get to the fan on the 5100, will only take 5 minutes, and will definitely be of benefit to clean out the heatsink and fan area.
ASKER
thanks for everyone's help. in hindsight its a no-brainer, but you all convinced me that it is heat and not a weird fan problem.
the picture instructions will be especially useful.
the picture instructions will be especially useful.
Failing that, NStrong has outlined what you can do from the software configuration side.