Desktops forum: My computer fan is kicking on high every few minutes, help!

I have experienced a similar problem with my PC. With my machine, the problem was that there was not enough thermal paste underneath the heat sink. Once some more paste was applied, my machine worked beautifully.

Did you think about trying the extended warranty most credit cards give you when you purchase an item using them?

I would caution in using "Shop" air. As one never knows if the compressor has an Air/Water seperator. The use of hosed air can cause more problems than it solves. I'd stick to using canned air when ever possible.

I pride myself to be a meticulous housewife! What came out of my computer shamed me to no end!!! It is soooooo quiet now, I had not noticed how noisy even normal operation had become!!!!
Thank you so much!

The question is did the repair person reload your system with the factory image for your specific PC from HP restore CD?

This is the best way to restore your PC image. Often, there is a restore image stored right on the system hard drive on a hidden directory. You should read all the materials that came with your PC as generally, they will explain how to do a full system restore.

Once a full factory image restore is complete, you should run any HP software update program (they generally all have one) to make sure any HP specific drivers or programs that come with your unit are up to date as well as all Microsoft updates.

If you don't have the factory restore image, you should be able to go to HP and enter the serial number of tag number from your unit and see any drivers or software updates for your EXACT unit. Not all pavilions are the same so model number, serial number, Service Tag number or whatever is on your unit will be key.

You might also need an update to the BIOS/Firmware on your unit.

The reply about the CPU compound is a good one. Also, the fan may be wearing out. For $10-25 you can replace.

Lee's problem; the fan noise was intermittent.
I really don't know much about how fans are constructed these days, but I did notice that some do have ball bearings.

Many years ago I too had the same problem with a fan which turned on
a spindle. Before doing anything, I took off the cover and turned
the PC so that I could observe what happened during operation.
It turned out that the plastic around the spindle had worn, and
this caused the fan to oscillate as in the case of a motor cycle
speed wobble. The fan of course slows rather than speeds up.

I little thin grease on the spindle proved effective, and allowed me
a few days in which to obtain a replacement. Colin

I have had issues with AVG and excessive CPU loads since version 8. I recently installed AVG free 9.5 on my test machine just to see if things had changed, and it went right back to 40-55% CPU load. With that loading your processor fan will absolutely run harder.

Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions! My computer is clean as a whistle inside, has plenty of room for air to circulate, the room is always rather cool. I have used Avira Free for about a year. I do believe the tech (and I use that term loosely) saw me coming-LOL! He re-installed from HIS CD but left out the Media Center Edition so I took it back and he re-installed it again (said he bought the CD from HP for $16.00). Anyway, I have thought all along that the problem lies with the BIOS. I have gone into it but it's like Chinese arithmetic (to me). Right now the fan is quiet as a mouse but when I go to another website or topic the fan will immediately kick on high. Forgot to mention it in my original cry for help. But thanks again everyone!

HP and many other OEMs use customized power management software to control fan speeds and overall system performance. So assuming your "tech" actually did use a genuine HP recovery set for your system you should have all those tools avaliable to you. Look in your start menu for a HP folder and then look in that for tools like "PC Health" and "Power Settings." The names may be different, but they will be similar at any rate.

Another dead giveaway to whether he used genuine HP Recovery is when you got the system back it should have a start up program to help with setting up Media Center and customizing it for your locale.

You can order the recovery set for your system directly from HP by visiting http://parts.hp.com or calling them at 800-BUY-MYHP.

"Right now the fan is quiet as a mouse but when I go to another website or topic the fan will immediately kick on high. Forgot to mention it in my original cry for help."

The CPU doesn't run at a single temperature but gets hotter the more "work" it has to do. Animated images/graphics use more CPU cycles than a still image does, causing the CPU to heat up. Anything that is "computationally intensive" can have this effect. So the fan comes on. Nothing's broken.

Hi Betsy. I haven't read through all the replies you've had from these good folk, so please forgive me if I cover ground you've already come across. First off. I hope you're not paying this so-called tech guy each time you bring it back to him?

The problem most certainly has to be tied to a process running. You're probably already familiar with startups in msconfig? Th biggest resource hog of any system is usually "media" related, eg. movies, music, images etc. If you're running a Peer to peer to download anything, that'll cause the fan to kick up a gear. If you're running any kind of scan, that will cause it too, but as someone has already probably said, it depends on the processes running in the background. I hope this helps in some way.

Mine used to do the same thing, my husband replaced the fan, and after a quiet week, it started doing it again, the Motherboard finally bit the dust, and WaLa I got a new computer!
I had an HP Windows XP now I have Win 7.. its a little different but I do like it.

Yes, I have AVG in my Dell desktop with Vista, and it is very quiet. But I had an emachines with XP Home, before this one, that also had AVG and the fan ran continuously and was very annoying! I complained about it to Microsoft and various companies and they didn't have a clue what could be the problem! So I doubt very much if your problem was from using AVG! But if if using Avast works for you - than you made the right choice! I just didn't want AVG to get blamed for this therefore, giving them a bad name!

In my experience this is either due to dust accumulating on the fan (and the second is a BIOS update to correct sensitivity to the temp sensor). My first recommendation is to obtain a can of air - (provided you do not mind opening your box - if you have a laptop the procedure is simpler.) - Remove the panels from your chassis so the internal components are exposed) spray the air liberally around the chassis. If you are comfortable removing your processor - take it out and spray the air through the coolling fan and then through all cooling fans until clear). Re-assemble you system and see if this resolve the issue. Second for the Desktop - check with your motherboard or system manufacturer for a BIOS update.

Generally, the fan's purpose is simply to cool down the CPU. So the trick is to find out why the CPU is heating up. Here are some common reasons:

(1) a program is running and using a lot of CPU cycles. You can tell this if, while the fan is running, the PC is very slow to respond to simple tasks like clicking on a button, typing into a page or switching from one process to another.

If you can get to the Task Manager (ctrl-alt-delete, then select Task Manager), go to the Processes tab, then click TWICE on the CPU column. This will bring the most CPU intensive process ("image name") to the top. Normally, this should be "System Idle Process" -- that is, the system is idle. If some other process shows up and stays around while the fan is running, find out what this process is and whether it should be running so often.

(2) The PC is dirty, clogged with dust bunnies and clutter. You already said this was not the case, and it is probably not the problem here. However, it is worth checking. Open the chassis and dust out the insides, using a can of "compressed air" or a clean, soft brush.

(3) The ventilation slots are blocked. If your laptop is on a blanket, towel or clothes, they can bunch up over the vents and keep the PC from cooling off. However, this would probably result in a constantly running fan, not an intermittent fan.

My best guess is that there is an intensive CPU process running. You say there are no viruses, and you're probably right. There are real programs which do this, not as a virus. Norton 360 is notorious for launching a nearly unstoppable scan process that completely consumes your machine's CPU. That's why my fan was running at full speed for over an hour before I finally just pulled the plug to stop it (don't do that...it's a rather desperate move).

My solution was to turn off the Norton 360 utilities.