If the fan of a laptop using the Windows operating system suddenly breaks while the laptop is operating, will the user be able to realize it? Will there be a notification from Windows or anything?
6
-
1If it's the fan for the CPU heatsink, you'll know relatively quickly after it happens since the CPU will overheat within minutes to ~99C, where it's guaranteed to thermally shutdown the machine.– JW0914Commented Aug 2 at 9:54
-
Is a computer that shuts down automatically due to a broken fan or other thermal issues based on a T Junction or something else?– Yusup SutisnaCommented Aug 2 at 10:04
-
No idea, I only know it's hard coded into the motherboard firmware - some motherboards will auto-shutdown when the CPU is at 90 - 95C, however it's guaranteed at 99C– JW0914Commented Aug 2 at 10:36
-
@JW0914, it's not always a shutdown. Some systems will respond by slowing the CPU down until passive cooling is sufficient.– MarkCommented Aug 2 at 22:18
-
1@JW0914, my boss's laptop. A few years back, he asked me to look at it to see why it was so slow. After a bit of investigation, I found that the cooling fan was so clogged with dust that it was no longer spinning, and the CPU had downclocked itself to the hundred-megahertz range to keep from overheating.– MarkCommented Aug 3 at 2:02
|
Show 1 more comment
2 Answers
Obviously if the fan starts making strange noises (or suddenly stops making noise all-together) the user will notice. Whether he/she realizes there is a fan problem, that is up to the user and not something I can predict.
As for notifications:
It totally depends on the computer hardware and the software what happens.
Fans can have a control signal that can be monitored by the motherboard. If the motherboard manufacturer provides monitoring software (often integrated in the drivers) to read the motherboard fan-state that software (if available for your OS and installed) may alert you to the problem.
There are a lot of if's, may's and can's in there. It is probably safe to say that in most computers a "fan-error" notification won't happen.
On the other hand: Losing a fan usually means that the computer, or part of it, starts to run hot and eventually overheats.
If the temperature rise affects the CPU or video-chip this is usually detected fairly soon by the drivers and the OS will notify you or even goes into emergency shutdown.
In many cases the hardware monitoring of the motherboard can also shutdown the computer (in case of overheating) all by itself to prevent further damage. In that case you won't be notified at all before it happens and there will be no controlled shutdown. Power will just be cut.
(Some computers will allow you to configure the over-heathing handling in the bios/UEFI settings, which may give you more fine-grained control.)
-
-
2
-
@IsmaelMiguel I did. I'm not a native speaker of English and that comes through sometimes :-) I tend to overlook these silly mistakes when proof-reading before actually posting. I have fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out.– TonnyCommented Aug 2 at 22:43
-
@Tonny I'm not a native English speaker either, and I tend to point out when I see these. Sadly, it was just a 1-character edit, and I couldn't do it (6 minimum). Commented Aug 2 at 22:55
I'll note that at least a few laptops I've worked with will warn that a fan failure has happened when they are rebooted. Notably two older HP models actually stopped the boot process with a "Fan error: Fan failed" error message, and would not continue booting until the message was acknowledged or cleared.
-
1Yep, and I've also seen a few refuse to operate properly after an aftermarket fan was reinstalled in said laptop... cough Apple cough... support the right to repair!– Jimmio92Commented Aug 3 at 14:45