How can I set the fan speed to 100% on a laptop?

Question

I recently purchased a HP Pavilion dv7-4031. When it's cool, it works smoothly and efficiently. However when CPU and GUP temperatures reach 60c and above, the PC starts freezing up and stuttering. I can hear that the fan speeds steadily increase all the way up to 70-80c. This is what pisses me off: I want the fan speeds to run 100% all the time, perhaps preventing the high temperatures in the first place. The way it is now, fan speeds only increase to keep internal temperatures at above 60c.

I've searched all over for any sort of speed control, finding nothing. Any help appreciated.

---

I have tried Speedfan. In "Fans" there is nothing listed. I took that as a bad sign. The BIOS is pathetic, and only has 4 or 5 changeable settings, including "Quickstart" and "Boot order"

Answer 1

Many people complain about overheating problem with the DV7, problems that sometimes are not even solved with cooling pads or additional fans.

The solutions range is not very comprehensive :

1. Overheating Problem on Pavillion dv7-1270ca blames HP for poor design
2. HP Pavilion DV7-2070eg fan noise & CPU overheating uses direct physical contact to cool the AC unit
3. HP Pavilion Dv 7, Heat Problems claims it is a driver problem that causes the CPU to overwork. This can be easily verified using the Task Manager. In this article the Sound driver is said to be the cause.

4. HP Pavilion dv7 notebook running way too hot recommends getting from Cool Master a 3-fan cooler that can be targeted on the hot spots, as well as another much more drastic solution:

   

Answer 2

1. Check for any BIOS settings concerning the cooling, this is often very limited on brand computers but it's the best place to start.

2. In Windows 7, go to Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings and click on Change advanced power settings. Go to Processor power management\System cooling policy and make sure it's set to Active.

3. Try using a third party tool like Speedfan

Answer 3

Have you ever cleaned out the fan or air duct? Most times this gets so filled with dust that air cannot pass through it very well.

I would suggest then also seeing if there is an update for your bios, this might give you more features or controls

then I would consider updating drivers for your graphics card and possibly doing things like disabling aero, etc...

I have a compaq laptop that had Vista on it, the fan was always on full speed, I installed linux on it and something seemed odd and I couldnt figure out what it was until I heard the fan turn on for a few minutes and then turn off... It ran WAY cooler under linux where it wasnt constantly taxing the GPU and CPU.

If this still doesnt seem to do the trick for you, get one of them laptop fan pads that has fans built into the bottom of it that you can set your laptop on. Although bulky and not idea, it will help keep your laptop usable.

Answer 4

It will depend on your computer, BUS type, and possibly the type of fan it has (some 2-wire fans, common in laptops, do not show up).

I would definitely download Speedfan here:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Then go to Readings tab>Configure>Fans tab. If your fan shows up, you can configure it, if not, I doubt there will be a way to configure it.

As you can see in the screenshot, I cannot configure my laptop's fans, so this is not uncommon.

This is probably because I have an unsupported BUS, as can be seen on this page:

http://www.almico.com/forumbuses.php

I looked for both of your BUS'es, but could not find details on them. You can find this using Software Information for Windows, run it, and look in the motherboard section, or you can simply install Speedfan, and see if the fans show up.

Answer 5

All modern laptops will have fans which can be monitored for speed based on system usage and temperature. The fact that your system does not report the fans to other apps indicates either a software or a hardware issue.

Either way, you should update your BIOS and mainboard drivers and try SpeedFan again. Your BIOS, even with its limitations, may be able to show you what the fans are up to and the system temps. If it does, then it's probably a limitation in SpeedFan, it's not compatible with that chipset.

However, if the BIOS doesn't show the fans and temps, and SpeedFan cannot find a fan controller, you should contact HP support for this.