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CPU Fan at cold boot, Is this normal?

pjo123

pjo123

pjo123

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Joined
30 May 2007
Posts
96
Hi all

New build. E6600 Core 2, Gigabyte-p35-DS4

Turned on for first time yesterday, went into BIOS and turned on fan warnings etc. Rebooted numerous times, all OK.

Today on a cold boot, PC beeps every few seconds. I look inside as it's booting and CPU fan is stopping, PC beeps, CPU fan starts. Once PC nearly finishes booting, fan is on constantly.

Tried rebooting, fan now on, BIOS says it's 1850 RPM.

Am I correct in presuming what's happening is that the CPU is so cold at cold boot that the MB thinks the fan isn't needed so it stops, hence the warning?

thanks

Phil
 
I had that problem. The fan did spin at boot up, but then 'sort of' turned off as it got to windows. It just flicked round half a rotation, then stopped, then a couple more rotations, then nothing, then a twitch. It just went on like that like it didn't really think it was worth the effort. I don't know why that happened, but I do know that the CPU temp, even with the fan in that condition, was still under 30C. Maybe the thermostat just wasn't kicking in. Anyway, I set the fan controller to OFF in the BIOS, rather than Auto, and that solved it. I guess it's running at max speed, but i've no idea really.

Either way it's at 3ghz now on a Gigabyte S3, still with the stock cooler and case fans set to medium; it hardly breaks 60C after 6 hours of Orthos and it's not exactly been chilly recently.

EDIT: I should mention that I didn't try for an overclock while the fan was having spasms.
 
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Hi,

I have the same motherboard and you are correct in your thinking. There is a section in the manual that advises you don't turn on the warning as this may happen.

I just switched it off and it was fine :D

For best results you should set:-

CPU/SYSTEM/Power FAN Fail Warning: Disabled

Smart FAN Control Method: Legacy

Smart FAN Control Mode: PWM
 
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Still having odd problems. Have set up BIOS as per coneypark's instructions and all seemed fine.

I installed the Easytune 5 software and setup the fan warning from within that. As the CPU fan was running at around 862 when PC idle, I set the fan warning to come on at 800.

I turned on the audio warning.

Had a break from the PC, suddenly "Danger Danger" comes from my speakers. I look at the hardware monitor and the fans at around 1000 and the CPU temp is 32. Then the speed dropped to zero and I got the "Danger Danger" warning. This kept happening around every 30 secs. I took the side off my PC and even though the software says it keeps stopping, the fan is constantly whizzing away. As soon as the PC is under any load, the warning goes away.

Could this be that the fans spinning, CPU temps ok, so the fan power is being cut for a split second causing the warning but no noticeable visual drop in the fan speed?

I really want some sort of warning should the fan fail as I've just spent a fortune on my new system, at the same time I don't want it screaming "danger" every time I leave it idle for 30 mins?

I also left the PC idle in the BIOS H/W monitor screen and the fan speed never dropped.

I then re-enabled the alarm in the BIOS and booted to Vista, left the PC for a while and sure enough the easy tune software kept screaming "danger" at me and the software was telling me that the fan speed was dropping from 1300
to 0 for a split second then back to around 1300. But I got no BIOS warning that the fan had stopped.

Any suggestions? Crappy software?

thanks

Phil
 
Hi again,

You got it correct again - the software is a little flaky. If you haven't done so click on the Gigabyte Live Update in Easy Tune as I updated mine today for the very same thing and this seems to have sorted the problem out.
 
Ah, many thanks.

I downloaded what I thought was the latest version of Easytune from Gigabytes web site but sure enough clicking on live update installs a newer version.

So far so good. If it does start happening again, I'll set the fan speed warning for the CPU to 0 so it turns off and will rely on the cpu temp warning to alert me of a fan failure.

One other question, Have a fan connected to Sys Fan 1 on the MB and the Bios shows the fan speed for this fine, but the easy tune s/w shows it as zero. Wondered whether moving the fan to Sys Fan 2 on the mb might make the s/w work? Not a big deal to do but does involve cutting cable ties so don't want to do so unnecessarily.

Thanks again

Phil
 
Hi again,

To be honest I would just leave it. It's not the best software in the world. I personally use Everest to keep an eye on temps and fan speeds as Easy Tune is flaky. It's good for trying out a quick overclock without restarting the PC but thats about it.
 
coneypark said:
Hi,

I have the same motherboard and you are correct in your thinking. There is a section in the manual that advises you don't turn on the warning as this may happen.

I just switched it off and it was fine :D

For best results you should set:-

CPU/SYSTEM/Power FAN Fail Warning: Disabled

Smart FAN Control Method: Legacy

Smart FAN Control Mode: PWM
Click to expand...

Can i ask the difference between the control methods please? :)
 
PWM (though I cant remember the full acronym) is Pulse Widget Madness ( :D ) which basically means rather than dropping voltage to slow the fan down it alternates the current on/off so the fan is constantly speeding up and slowing down hence the problems. Id imagine the software sees no voltage return from the fan every few seconds so throws a fit. Telling it your using PWM stops it having a fit.
 
Mercutio said:
PWM (though I cant remember the full acronym) is Pulse Widget Madness ( :D ) which basically means rather than dropping voltage to slow the fan down it alternates the current on/off so the fan is constantly speeding up and slowing down hence the problems. Id imagine the software sees no voltage return from the fan every few seconds so throws a fit. Telling it your using PWM stops it having a fit.
Click to expand...

Wow, interesting! What about the Legacy thing? i have mine set to Auto in my bios.
 
coneypark said:
Hi again,

To be honest I would just leave it. It's not the best software in the world. I personally use Everest to keep an eye on temps and fan speeds as Easy Tune is flaky. It's good for trying out a quick overclock without restarting the PC but thats about it.
Click to expand...


Thanks, now removed and a trial version of Everest installed. Will see how I get on.

best

Phil
 
Well acording to the manual:-

Auto - Lets BIOS control CPU fan speed - This is default option
Legacy - Allows CPU fan to run at diffrent speed according to the CPU temperature.
Disabled - Forces CPU fan to run at full speed.

I`ll admit i'm not sure what the diffence between Auto and Legacy are as they sound like the same thing to me but the advice I have been given is that setting it to Legacy and Control Method to PWM is the best way to have these options set up.
 
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