X31 - Low Temp but Fan stays on !

[GpsPasSion]

Been having an odd problem for a bout a week. The fan stays on although the CPU temp is at a low 39/40 C. First had the problem when a virus crept in to my PC using a GSM modem, the hellmsn.exe virus. I cleaned it out since. I think the normal "fan" temperature is 46C so I'm a bit puzzled, anyone else notice that ?

[nolifer]

Try to take the battery out?

Sometimes my X31 leaves the fan on. And it helps if I remove the battery or put it back and then remove it. No idea why that helps

[GpsPasSion]

That's a thought, alhtough not something you want to do when you are running on the battery alone
Odd thing is that the fan seems to be taking more time to cut off when the temperature goes below a certain level, I think the limit is 44 C. Wonder what temps everyone is seeing using something like MobileMeter. Might try to undervolt with Centrino Control or whatever it's called now.

[GpsPasSion]

This is becoming annoying ! Tried a BIOS upgrade, but no change, it really seems like the fan doesn't know when to stop anymore based on the temperature, wonder if it's not reading some info properly, non one seems to have that problem here, just my luck !

[scrible88]

When my x22 is on "highest system performance" power management, the fan is pretty much always on full blast. If I set it to "max battery" or the automatic speed setting, it adjusts itself accordingly.

If I am correct I saw some fan speed and Intel Speedstep settings in the BIOS. Mine is set to "highest system performance" and has the Intel Speedstep enabled or on automatic...

[GpsPasSion]

Right, the X2x have a much quieter fan though (I have an X23 too) but it runs pretty much all the time.

No this seems to be a different problem, not sure if it is software or hardware. Did some stress testing today with Prime 95 and found the following:
1. Fan kicks in at 68C
2. Fan stops at 54C
3. When I stop the stress testing it seems to kick in again at 48C
4. Never stops...

...until I take out the PCMCIA 3G modem card that is really hot. I wonder if there isn't a sensor in that area, although I don't see how the CPU fan can really help...I guess I'll have to revert back to using a phone as a Modem over bluetooth.

[scrible88]

That is really odd. I have no idea... have you tried running memtest (dos version) off of a boot disk without windows to see if it kicks on and runs all the time... I don't know exactly how you would measure temperatures at all. But it may be worth a try just to see how it acts.

I guess your last resort could be to reinstall XP. Has it always done this?

[GpsPasSion]

No this is new indeed, though I haven't been using this PCMCIA card for very long, I do have a recent image I could restore, but I don't think Windows does much controlling over the fan.

The fan on the X31 is clearly temperature controlled, I wonder if it doesn't change based on the CPU speed though, at 600 triggers at 46C and goes off at 36C.

Maybe someone else has some numbers.

[roibm]

After updating my X31 to the latest BIOS, I experience the same problem, but the good news is that the T43 fan controller tool works just fine with my X31.
Try to use it, and see if it goes away.

[GpsPasSion]

Thanks for the tip, is that it https://sourceforge.net/projects/tp4xfancontrol/ ? Can't seem to download at this time though.

[GpsPasSion]

Got it, nice tool ! Best to read the readme.txt for once though
I suspect the PCM (PCMCIA) reading was out of whack in my case, I'll have to run the tool next time I notice this problem. Too bad the program does not show the default BIOS values though.