A client has brought you laptop that was purchased 14 months ago. Although the laptop worked normally for most of that time, the fan inside of the laptop has recently started running constantly at a very high speed. The fan works normally during the first few minutes after powering on, but it runs at full speed until the system is powered down. What is the most likely cause of this problem?
A) The fan settings in the BIOS have been modified
B) The cooling vents on the laptop are obstructed
C) The laptop requires a BIOS upgrade
D) The fan controller on the motherboard is faulty
The answer: B) The cooling vents on the laptop are obstructed
If a laptop has been running properly and has only recently started exhibiting overheating symptoms, then the problem is most likely due to an obstruction of the air vents into the laptop. Laptops are extremely sensitive to heat because of their small size and lack of real-estate to install a large cooling system. If a laptop becomes warm, it will turn on the fans until the temperature has cooled down. If the laptop gets too warm, it will turn off completely!
Cleaning the air vents may involve dismantling the laptop and vacuuming it out completely. Since the CPU will usually throttle down to avoid overheating, you may find that cleaning out the laptop actually makes it run much faster; it’s like getting a new laptop!
The incorrect answers:
A) The fan settings in the BIOS have been modified
Because the fans help prevent overheating and potential hardware damage, there usually aren’t any settings in the BIOS to enable or disable the fans.
C) The laptop requires a BIOS upgrade
Some BIOS upgrades can help the system better manage the cooling process, but in this example the system was running well with the current BIOS version. Before making a major change like a BIOS upgrade, it’s worth investigating what else may have occurred.
D) The fan controller on the motherboard is faulty
The fan controller on the motherboard could certainly go bad, but it will usually completely fail to operate instead of running part of the time at a very high speed. Although it’s possible, it’s not the most likely choice in this situation.
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Want to know more? Watch “Laptops and Portable Device Preventive Maintenance.”Just as desktop personal computers need ongoing preventive maintenance, laptops and portable devices also need constant upkeep. In this video, we’ll show you how to keep your system working efficiently using cooling devices, cleaning hardware and video, and maintaining an optimal operating environment for your laptop and portable devices. |