Re: Vostro - Noisy Fan at boot

Andy, in addition to looking for suggestions in this newsgroup, head on over to Dells web site and checkout their own forums.

I'd probably go into their Tech Talk area and enter a message in the Desktop section.

The Dell forums are a great place to get help from other Dell users.

As far as your issue with the fans starting at high speed then slowing down, I don't have a good answer either as to why.

It could be for most any reason, including any or all the reasons that have already been pointed out.

I'd venture a guess that to most people, it's not a big deal because it only lasts for a few seconds, then it quiets right down.

That's not to say that for some, it's still annoying.

Yes there are programs out there that might allow you to monitor the fan speed, etc, but I don't know of any that would allow you alter the fan start-up speed.

Is it possible that a future BIOS upgrade would change the fan startup behavior?, perhaps but something tells me not to hold my breath.

I'd bet that the manufacturer has some reason for the fans startup behavior even though we may not understand it, agree with the reasoning, or like it.

Don't look to Dell to change the BIOS, the BIOS is designed by the motherboard manufacturer.

It would also probably take the manufacturer getting A LOT of complaints from the users of the fans spin-up behavior, before they would bother addressing the issue, and even then it would be a matter of debating the tradeoffs. Reducing momentary start-up noise, vs., (insert manufacturers reason here).

Can you address the issue with some sort of mod to the fan wiring or replacing the fans altogether with another type of fan? probably, but only you can decide whether it's worth it.

Once possibility is to replace the stock fan with an aftermarket fan of the same size (so it fits the existing mounting holes) that just plugs into the power supply connectors and is not controlled at all, but then you'd have to put up with a constant fan speed that may or may not be quieter than what you have now. You'd also lose the fan speed monitoring function of the bios, thus if the fan ever failed, the BIOS would not be able to alert you, etc.....

You 'might' be able to find another speed-controlled fan of a different diameter that may not sound as loud as the stock fan, but there again you would be changing the air flow for better or for worse.

For most of us, it's not worth it, But it may be to you. Only you can decide whether replacing or altering the fans to eliminate the brief startup noise is worth whatever risks you take by doing so.



"Andy" <andy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:fbbrpl$5m7$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Tom Scales" <tjscales@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think you're missing a HUGE point by comparing the two machines. The
2400 was a consumer class machine manufactured as cheaply as possible
(outsourced by Dell). It was never intended, nor supported, in a
business world where it would get 8 hours of heavy business critical use
a day -- where a fan failure could cost many tens of times the cost of
the machine in lost productivity. If you lost your 2400 for a couple
days, what was the worst that could happen -- you couldn't email your
MySpace friends?

The Vostro, however, is a BUSINESS class computer with much higher
expectations of reliability. Therefore, this 'feature' is intended to
ensure that the machine's fan is operable and the machine wouldn't be
toast between boots. In other words, a higher-class, better designed
computer for about the same money.

So, big win for you!

If, however, this brief run-up of the fan is so annoying to you that
your teeth are grinding every time you boot, then do the obvious.

Return it!

It will only cost you return shipping. That's the beauty of Dell's
liberal return policy. You can then go to your local Best Buy, listen
to each machine as it boots, and buy the quietest one. That would make
you happy.

The one thing that will solve NOTHING is continuing to argue with those
of us on the newsgroup. We're not Dell. We cannot do anything for you.
We're just a bunch of people that VOLUNTEER their time to help other
Dell users. You are WASTING everyone's time by continuing this thread.
LET IT DIE.

Tom


I think you are missing my huge point(s) that both PC get as hot as each other one has a low noise fan and the other has 2 fans of which are noisy at startup. Why would I want to return the Dell Vostro that I am totally happy with apart from the fan noise. I bet the 'home' Inspiron 530 make the same noise as well so its not just because the Vostro was designed for business environment that it does this.

The least I thought someone on this NG could do is maybe help by pointing me in the direction of a program / utility to manage fan noise in a system or tell me if they think that a new BIOS would solve the problem but instead I get 'put up with it' and 'its not serious' and its designed to do that as a check the fans are working' and 'if you dont like it send it back to ell!' - I cannot see how any of these are really helpful comments at all to be quite honest. Yes I have written an email to dell tech support about the fan noise and that was over a week ago and no answer and maybe I will not even get an answer about it.

You and some people on here are Wasting my time when I check this NG for some helpful advice and find that you just say the same things over and over again and don't offer any real help. You are not even friendly about it!

Andy.



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Relevant Pages

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