Inspiron 9400 Heating up

ThunderStorm

Hi guys,

I purchased 9400 few weeks back and was quite happy with it till now. All of a sudden for the last two days its getting extremely hot. At times i can hear fan running at full speed. I dont know if its normal or not but i think its not. I compared the heat produced by this system and latitude 800 by touching the bottom of the laptops. I can feel the clear difference. It has 1.83 duo processor and nvidia GPU. i havn't overclocked my GPU. Currently i am using linux. Is there any easy way to check if its normal or not ? Any benchamarks ?

Thanks in advance.

wingnut

Try downloading speedfan or another fanspeed/temperature monitoring tool. Check for proceess running in the backgrounf maybe some software is maxing it out.

ThunderStorm

thanks. I think there is some problem with the heat sensor. I have observed that many a times fan doesnt start though temperature of the system is quite high and finally when it starts it doesnt stop, though system has cooled down. Rebooting the system is the only way to stop the fan. Uptil now for my system the max cpu temp is reported to be 76 degrees. Is it normal ? Can anyone post his max tempertures for the cpu, gpu, memory and harddisk ? especially game playing ppl.

Thanks in advance.

TommyGun

Why not download the Dell Diags this will test if there is an error or problem with your PC.

See link below

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=3841&typecnt=1&releaseid=R113033&vercnt=1

ThunderStorm

Thanks, can this utility detect problem with the sensors too ?

TommyGun

This will test the fan and there is also a thermistor temp test.

You can run a full test on you PC.

If you only want to run the 2 tests above, click on the 'custom' and select the tests you want.

TommyGun

Also,
Be aware that laptop can run very hot, especially if you are watching DVD's for a long time or playing complex games.

Make sure that the air input and output vent are not blocked. For example don’t leave a laptop on a duvet because it will heat up.

Anyway, if the processor gets too hot it will switch off to prevent damage.

ThunderStorm

Tommy thanks. Your advice was really valuable. I tried that and i found that video fan fails the test with error messages. error: 3700:011B Msg: "Expected video fan high RPM of 3700. Detected RPM 0".

Any ideas what does that mean ?

PS: i have never used this system for game playing and at the most i have watched one DVD after purchasing it. So i dont see any reason for it to be hot. At one time GPU temp was reported as high as 80 degrees.

Belle Ende

ThunderStorm wrote:

Tommy thanks. Your advice was really valuable. I tried that and i found that video fan fails the test with error messages. error: 3700:011B Msg: "Expected video fan high RPM of 3700. Detected RPM 0".

Any ideas what does that mean ?

Your fan (for the video card) isn't revolving. Get in contact with the company to get it fixed.

TommyGun

ThunderStorm,
Yes, this looks is a hard fail.

Just to be sure when running the test can you hear the fan spinning? If so it may be ok.

Sometimes this can be due to a BIOS problem, it would be no harm to upgrade your BIOS if it is running an old version.

Did you PC fail all fan speed tests?, if yes the fan connection may have come loose, if you are comfortable you can open the laptop and check that the fan power connection is in, if it is take it out and re-seat it, if this does not work, you will need to get a replacement fan from Dell (sometimes this getting a new motherboard as well).

If it is only failing some of the fan tests this may be a bigger problem could be a MB issue.

I hope this helps.

If it is still under warranty just ring Dell to get it fixed.

Tommy

ThunderStorm

Thanks Tommy, yes it is the problem with the vido fan. Its not spinning at all. i can even smell some burnt when i stick my nose to the video fan vents. I have asked to dell support and they agreed to replace the system for me.

wingnut

The 7800 is much better than the X1400. The reason their using X1400 is the 7800 is in short supply from Nvidia.