Is it normal for the fan to turn on every few minutes on a new laptop?

[FrontlineWarrior]

I just bought a Dell laptop with an i5-460m processor. I've already sent this thing for repairs once, I'm pretty paranoid now about any issues. The fan on the laptop turns on every 7-8 minutes or so, and lasts about 15-20 seconds. It is pretty loud. Using HWMonitor and Speedfan, the idle temps are around 45, and it gradually increases to 50-55, which is when the fan kicks in and drops it to the low 40s.

I'm not sure if this is normal. I expected the fan to be on at a slow, barely audible rate and the max fan speed would only kick in during games or video. But it turns on every few minutes even when I'm just typing stuff and not taxing the CPU at all. It is somewhat distracting, as the fan is pretty loud. Just wondering if this is normal or if I should send it back in to repair/replacement.

edit: problem solved? see Post #8 if curious. Thanks to all.

 

[Matt1970]

Seems normal. Just make sure you have good airflow underneath.

 

[Lanyap]

What model is it? Did you check for a BIOS update?

 

[nboy22]

Check your battery settings. On a laptop you will have high performance, balanced, custom, etc... Make sure it's not on high performance or it might be using CPU when it doesn't need to. As others have mentioned, it seems quite normal. My Compaq is such a piece of crap that I can't run it for more than a few minutes on a bed or couch or something of that sort that might block airflow. My friend's ASUS laptop could sit on the bed, couch, or anything like that and it would never overheat. It's just the difference in quality.

I would also recommend a targus (I think) laptop cooler. It's a bit pricey at around 40 dollars, but it always keeps my laptop cool with two extra fans blowing at the bottom.

 

[FoxFifth]

I've got a Dell Studio 1555 with an Intel Core2Duo T6600 and only hear the fan when doing something fairly graphics intensive or something that exercises the disk more than normal (i.e. running a full scan with MSE). I use a Belkin Cushdesk to keep the vents from being blocked.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

What model is it? Did you check for a BIOS update?

Thanks for the responses so far. I have a Dell 17R N1070. Updated the BIOS to the most recent... was the first thing I did. I'm on high performance mode when plugged in to the AC, so I'll mess with that and see if it helps. The main thing is that I want to return/fix if it is a lemon b/c I'm almost at my time window to return for a refund. Thanks dudes!

 

[nboy22]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have a Dell 17R N1070. Updated the BIOS to the most recent... was the first thing I did. I'm on high performance mode when plugged in to the AC, so I'll mess with that and see if it helps. The main thing is that I want to return/fix if it is a lemon b/c I'm almost at my time window to return for a refund. Thanks dudes!

Yeah, high performance will always make the computer run harder. My compaq will not spin the fan up as much when it's on a minimized power-saving plan. It will really start having issues when I stick it on high performance. I can't even think about using it without a laptop cooling pad on high performance.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

Ladies and Gentlemen of Anandtech, I want to thank you for your advice and patience. I had some more time to mess with this laptop and found out that with Windows 7 you could actually control whether the fan is active or passive. I'm not convinced that I'm able to make the fan actually active, but I at least understand that it is being passively cooled by some sort of default setting. I think on my old laptop it would actively cool at a low RPM.

Also, I got the motherboard replaced on this sucker and so I might have just needed some extra processor time to "cure" the paste from the repair shop. The fan is turning on at longer intervals than before, I think.

 

[Lanyap]

Did the fan issue start after you had the motherboard replaced or was if happening before?

Also, why did they replace the motherboard on a new laptop?