I am setting up a new Dell Precision 7780, Windows 11 (23H2), and the fan runs constantly. As soon as the laptop powers on, the fan starts. I’ve installed all of the updates and drivers, and I’ve set the power plan to balanced. I even turned off TurboBoost in the BIOS, and tried setting the fan to Optimized and then Quiet. The fan still runs.
What is causing this, and is there a Windows or third-party utility that can control the fan settings?
Thank you!
One of the things I would try is to reset all BIOS settings.
Secondly, it is possible that the fan is either incorrectly connected (e.g. maybe the wire that reads fan speed is not properly secured - they usually have + - and RPM sense).
Third, it could be that the CPU is overheating. Either because the heatsink is not applied properly, or the thermal paste is not correctly distributed on the heatsink.
In our enviroment, we also very rarely order i7’s for laptops (not sure if yours is) for this very reason. The thermal management for most laptops does not help the performance; in fact thermal throttling can make a higher-spec’d laptop perform worse from our experience. If you need the type of performance a large multi-core CPU offers, a desktop or server instance is likely a better vehicle, while simply using a laptop to connect.
Because it is a new Dell, if resetting the BIOS to factory default does not correct the problem, I would open a case with them and go through troubleshooting. If it is either a fan connection or thermal paste situation, a tech will likely be sent to investigate, or they will likely send you a new laptop and ask you to send that one back for testing.
I’d be interested to know the outcome if you are willing to share.
Good luck, and hopefully something I have here will help out in some way.
We had the same issue a couple months ago, with a Lenovo, straight out of the box.
It didn’t matter what fan speed we set in BIOS it ran all out.
Opened a ticket with Lenovo and they sent a tech and new fan. New fan ran all out as well, so they wanted to replace the motherboard. Ended up sending the whole thing back for a refund, as they wanted to keep replacing parts and not just give us a new replacement. Didn’t want a brand new LT with multiple replacement parts out of the box.
Could it be that your precision lappy is using a Quadro RTX GPU as the Quadro can be quite hot nowadays.
If your precision lappy is using the Intel GPU, the fan should not go on…
Contact Dell anyways since the lappy is new
Dell has a diagnostic in the BIOS for this. I had a Latitude doing this and once you run the diagnostic it will give you a code that you can give to Dell’s support and they will likely send a tech out to replace the cooler.
Thank you. I will look at the BIOS and the temps again. I would rather not talk to Dell again (it’s been one of those months), but if I have to…
Everything will have to wait until next week, as some other projects have come my way to be dealt with.
Thank you for the help, everyone. It has been fixed, and I’m sorry it took a while to get back here. It’s been a busy week.
I went into the BIOS and cleared all of the system logs. This took it out of manufacturing mode, which it had been stuck in. The fan has not turned on and the temps are all normal.
Thank you for all the suggestions.