I have a Gateway laptop. System Properties indicates: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00 GHz, 2.99 GHz, 512 MG of RAM, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Version 2002, Service Pack 2. (I don't know if that information will help or not.....but, I post it just in case.)
Issue -- the fan runs a lot and is loud. Not like grinding noises or anything like that, like it is running in overdrive speed. The fan runs all of the time, from booting to shutdown.
I can have open Outlook, Internet Explorer, and maybe Yahoo Messenger. And, at times, everything goes in s-l-o-w motion and the fan kicks into overdrive. When this happens, the bottom of the laptop gets very hot. There is not an airflow problem, as in something blocking the vent on the bottom.
I can reboot and the fan will come on at the same loud, mach I speed. Then it finally slows down.
I ran spybot and it is clean. I also defragged and ran disk cleanup. Just thinking maybe something was causing the problem that these utilities could take care of.
My husband has a smaller laptop and that fan seems to run seldomly and is so quite. I think mine has a 17" monitor. I have the full 10-key pad directly to the right of the keyboard.
Would like to hear any comments and/or suggestions of what might be causing this and how/what to do to fix it. A question just came to mind, should the fan be sucking air in or out from the bottom? Maybe the fan was put in backwards at the factory? I have no idea....just pondering what it could be.
Please and thank you, in advance, for your time and expertise.
The next time this happens (i.e., the fan runs fast and the unit gets hot), press the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys together. This will bring up the Windows Task Manager. Click on performance and look to see what your CPU usage is.
I have had problems, albeit with Windows 2000 Pro, with something(s) completely consuming 100% of the processor time for maybe a minute or three at a time. When this happens the fan will turn on full blast to try to cool down the processor. Very frustrating when this happens.
Unfortunately, I have no idea how to fix the problem!
Depending on how long you've had your laptop, you might want to check & clean the air inlet grilles. If they are plugged with dust & lint the fan will work much harder just get any air moving at all.
Will & Di
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Many laptops run hot, particularly if they have a AMD chip. There is a separate fan base that you can purchase at short money, plugs into a USB port that sits under the laptop. MDO used to burn her thighs until she got one.
K3BH wrote: The next time this happens (i.e., the fan runs fast and the unit gets hot), press the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys together. This will bring up the Windows Task Manager. Click on performance and look to see what your CPU usage is.
Jay
This will tell you what your problem is.
It makes no difference if you are using an inverter or not.
2000 Sea Breeze with 1998 CRV Toad in Dawson Creek - Start of Alaska Highway
Don't Forget - USS Liberty, June 08, 1967
I try to use one of those bases with small fans myself when at all possible with my lap tops. I had to pull one of mine apart and put that silver goop between cpu and heat sink.
bumpy
Thank you, again, for each response. I do appreciate it.
I am not using an inverter. I have before, but not on a regular basis.
Tom N -- Are you telling me that there should be two fans? I took the cover off a short time ago and cleaned with canned air. I think there was only one fan. I will take a look again.
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