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Many threads with exactly the same problem:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19371524/19848260.aspx https://www.google.com/search?q=dell+xps+15+fan+on+off&aq=f&oq=dell+xps+15+fan+on+off

No solution.

It's annoying how careless Dell is about this matter but basically my Dell XPS 15 turns fan on and off in 1 second, forever. Support says that Nvidia drivers are checking for temperature and therefore they have to enable a fan for a split of a second.

What I did so far:

  • Updated BIOS
  • Updated all Nvidia Drivers
  • Updated all Intel Drivers
  • Installed many Nvidia utilities

Nothing helped. Does anyone occur to know why a laptop may be turning its fan on and off all the time?

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2 Answers 2

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I had this problem for ages. I looked online and finally found ONE post that made a suggestion that actually worked.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/570946-xps-15-l502x-constant-fan-off-8.html

The solution to the on/off/on/off problem is to go to the "Power Options" and select the "Power saver" radio button option. You can then change the internal contents of the "Power saver" options to whatever you wish, but it must be selected.

I don't know why it makes a difference; it may be the combination of several items... may be the option itself. In either case, My fan turns on VERY infrequently now even when watching a movie. I suggest you set the option to "Power saver" and see test things out. From then, you can tweak your heart's content.

Hope this helps.

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    that just makes it not run as hot, by lowering the performance levels (making the laptop run slower)
    – stimpy77
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 6:25
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It's because of the rampant failure of those chipsets:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-10020782-33.html#!
http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/09/30/nvidia-gpu-update-nvidia-class-action-lawsuit-and-limited-warranty-enhancement.aspx

Because they fail when overheated and cooled, they updated the BIOS to go nutso on the fan.

They changed it in the BIOS and I'm sure they didn't take it back out. The only way I could conceive to eliminate it is to downgrade the BIOS to before they did it. I admit I'm not sure this is possible.

I have an M1530 and I'm running A12 dated 11/19/2008. I'm pretty sure that was the last one to not do it.

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  • Thanks for an answer! I bought my computer on eBay in 2011 or 2012 soon after it came out. No BIOS older than 2011 is available. Can anything else be done? I don't play any games so perhaps disabling a GPU can help? Is this possible?
    – Paul
    Commented Mar 13, 2013 at 7:27
  • Oops, a little research reveals that A11 was when they turned it on, and it looks like Dell has disabled all the old BIOS-es. Perhaps aftermarket fan control, like MSI Afterburner: event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm ?
    – LilCodger
    Commented Mar 13, 2013 at 13:42

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