0

The fan on my laptop only works occassionally (I estimate it's about 15% of the time). The fan won't work most of the time then, occasionally (usually at least once a day) when I'm playing quite low resource games or using my web browser the fan will randomly turn on, it seems to always stay on for at least 1 minute after turning on, but then after a minutes it suddenly turns off.

Most of the time the fan jsut doesn't turn on at all even when the left side of the laptop is like 35-40C.

Error Messages I Get When I Turn On The Laptop ON After It Overheats:

Most of the time the laptop turns off suddenly, when it turns off suddenly I get error messages when I turn it back on that tell me that the BIOS detected the fan wasn't woorking.

The error code I usually get is 90B Iirc.

I typically get two error messages when I first turn on my laptop again after it shuts down due to being quite hot.

General System Specs:

I am using Ubuntu 20.04.02 LTS

Here are the specs for my laptop: https://pastebin.com/AvtFKTGb

Things I've Tried & Possiblre Causes:

I remember at some point in the last few months trying to use pwmconfig to fix this problem, and it did seem to increase the frequency with which my fan turns on.

The only theory I have currently is that sometimes the left side of the laptop goes over a certain temperature (my guess is it's a high threshold) and the fan automatically turns on until it goes below that temperature whilst the chassis remains at a high temperature.

Also, I had a ton of dust removed from the system about 2 months ago, Iirc it did help a little bit but only 5-10%.

Details About WHen The FAn Chooses To Work:

I've also noticed that when if I put my laptop into hibernation mode enough times then the fan will randomly turn on at the same time that the laptop exits hibernation mode, the fan will usually stop working but it seems to be after a longer duration like say 5-8 minutes instead of the usual 2-4 minutes from when it randomly turns on whilst I'm using the laptop.

If I remember correctly in the past when I first got this laptop (about 5 years ago) the fans worked and were on pretty much all of the time without issue (granted it was on Windows 8.1 originally then Windows 10).

My situation shares similarities with this person's situation: Notebook keyboard gets hot only on the left side! in that only the left side is getting hot.

I didn't use it for a few years after that due to the hard drive dying and not knowing what the problem was or how to fix it.

In case it's relevant I did install more RAM into the laptop about 7-9 months ago, got it off of ebay I think, went from 4GB-16GB.*

Some screenshots I took from when the fan suddenly turned on whilst I was using the laptop during the writing of this: Here's a picture I took of just after the laptop's fans stopped working today, the information above the sensors command was the sensors info I got when the fan was working

Nmath
  • 12,333
terras
  • 1
  • Everything you've written here indicates a hardware problem. Fan controls are generally a function of firmware, not software, so check your BIOS/motherboard settings. In addition to dust removal, heatsinks may need to have thermal paste cleaned off and reapplied. If the cooling problem is so bad that the hardware is shutting itself off, it's because the heat is so excessive that it cannot continue to operate at a safe temperature. I would bring the laptop in for repairs if you are unable or uncomfortable with performing this maintenance on your own. – Nmath Nov 30 '21 at 01:40
  • Edit your question and show me ps auxc | grep -i therm. In your sensors output, I don't see any CPU temp specs. Did you calibrate sensors when you first installed it? – heynnema Nov 30 '21 at 03:34
  • Please see my answer. If it helps to solve the problem, please remember to accept it by clicking on the checkmark icon that appears just to the left of my answer. Thanks! – heynnema Nov 30 '21 at 03:35
  • @Nmath re: "Fan controls are generally a function of firmware"... please see my answer about OP's old BIOS. – heynnema Nov 30 '21 at 03:41
  • @heynnema +1 I definitely agree that a BIOS upgrade could potentially be helpful especially if it addresses a fan issue. Noticing that the hardware is 5+ years old also could be an indicator that thermal paste has dried significantly and would be the next thing I'd try if BIOS upgrade does not address the problem or doesn't do enough – Nmath Nov 30 '21 at 03:51
  • @Nmath Yes, thermal paste is another candidate. – heynnema Nov 30 '21 at 03:52
  • @heynnema

    Output from: ps auxc | grep -i therm

    root 95 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? I< 16:36 0:00 acpi_thermal_pm root 9849 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? I< 19:23 0:00 kworker/0:1H-acpi_thermal_pm

    "Did you calibrate sensors when you first installed it? "

    No, I barely know what I'm doing.

     – terras Dec 01 '21 at 00:37
  • Do the BIOS update first. Then report back. – heynnema Dec 01 '21 at 01:36
  • Run sensors-detect to calibrate your sensors. – heynnema Dec 01 '21 at 15:30
  • Here's the output from sensors-detect: – terras Dec 01 '21 at 23:44
  • https://pastebin.com/DCkQMNFj – terras Dec 02 '21 at 00:02
  • Also, here's the output from ps auxc Z grep -i therm from after I ran sensors-detect: – terras Dec 02 '21 at 01:10
  • root 95 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? I< 18:09 0:00 acpi_thermal_pm – terras Dec 02 '21 at 01:11
  • When you want my attention, send a comment that starts with @heynnema or I'll certainly miss it. – heynnema Dec 02 '21 at 18:37
  • Have you done the BIOS yet? – heynnema Dec 02 '21 at 18:37
  • I go on the webpage where the new version of BIOS is and the only thing I see is: "We were unable to find drivers for your product." – terras Dec 08 '21 at 21:49
  • @terras If you follow the link in my answer, once you get there, you have to select the Windows 8.1 OS to see the BIOS update files. Also, start comments to me with "@heynnema" or I'll miss them... like I did with your Dec 8 comment. – heynnema Dec 14 '21 at 03:10
  • @terras Status please... – heynnema Dec 29 '21 at 14:57
  • Not resolved but not important currently. – terras Sep 14 '22 at 09:40

1 Answers1

3

BIOS

You've got a very old BIOS version F.17 from 08/07/2013. There's a newer BIOS available, version F.39 Rev.A, dated Apr 21, 2017, and can be downloaded here.

Note: Confirm that I have the correct web page for your model #

Note: Have good backups before updating the BIOS

Note: You may also have a problem with old thermal paste... but we'll discuss that later.

heynnema
  • 70,711