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I have an Alienware Aurora, less than a year old. Recently, the fan has started running EXTREMELY loud. So loud that it sounds dangerous. It has never behaved this way in the past, so I don't understand why its started all of a sudden.
I read that it being dirty could cause this problem, so I opened the side panel and used a can of air to try and get all the dust out. But, even after doing that it is still spinning out of control.
I also checked the system thermal controls, and I didn't see anything that looked alarming. But, I wouldn't know whats abnormal even if I did see it.
It does seem to only be doing it when I have multiple streams open, and when playing the WoL and HOTS campaign. Still though, the fan never sounded anywhere close to this loud in the past when playing PC games.
Its so loud that my wife heard it all the way down the hall while in our bedroom and came to ask what was wrong with my computer.
What do I do? Could a virus or something be causing it? Do I need to get in to a shop? Please help T.T;
Edit: Pics of my Thermal Controllers info page thingy-ma-bob
When its quiet (nothing open, just the desktop screen):
+ Show Spoiler +
When it sounds like its going to explode (sc2 campaign running and web browser open):
+ Show Spoiler +
Peak RPM @ 4k+ RPM
+ Show Spoiler +
HWMonitor When quiet (nothing open):
+ Show Spoiler +
HWMonitor When Loud (sc2 campaign going):
+ Show Spoiler +
CPU-Z When Quiet:
+ Show Spoiler +
CPU-Z When Loud:
+ Show Spoiler +
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Uhh, it's just a case fan? Or the cpu cooler fan or gpu fan? Depending on the fan it's probably a thermal issue.
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On March 12 2013 15:42 Infernal_dream wrote:
Uhh, it's just a case fan? Or the cpu cooler fan or gpu fan? Depending on the fan it's probably a thermal issue.
sounds like just the case fan, using the ear test. I'm taking some screen shots of my fan speeds and temps now to upload. Not sure if thats helpful or not though =/
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If it's just a case fan you can probably unplug it and be fine. Unless for some reason you only have one case fan.
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On March 12 2013 15:46 Infernal_dream wrote:
If it's just a case fan you can probably unplug it and be fine. Unless for some reason you only have one case fan.
added the pics to show the fan speeds and temps. Does this give you any ideas?
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Well it's clearly the system fan, whichever that actually is then.
Maybe try downloading and running something a little more informative like HWMonitor and see what the reported CPU and other temperatures are. Those ambient sensors are not that interesting.
Looks like the system has some closed-loop liquid cooling for the CPU, and I would assume the so-called "system fan" is placed on that radiator unless there are more than three fans in there (aside from the one in the power supply). Seems like it could be a CPU temperature issue for whatever reason.
depends on design and size, but ~4000 rpm would often make a lot of noise, no doubt about it...
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
4k RPM is extremely crazy.
"CPU Pump: Running" is a little worrying, alienware closed loop liquid cooling is probably not particularly good and i doubt you can perform maintenance on it.
You really need CPU temps, not some sensor temps, get hwmonitor or Core temp or something. Your CPU load temperatures are somewhere between about 35c and 105c, ambient sensors dont say anything for that - they just tell us ambient temperatures.
CPU-Z screenshot during this would also help.
Lol Myrm we made mirror posts >.>
I already told him to get hwmonitor in PM, before.
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Added the HWMonitor pics as well.
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Well there's your issue. 100 degrees. Your radiator fan isn't cooling the water.
Is this a prebuilt? I don't know much about liquid cooling but if this is a prebuilt computer you're probably going to have to take it somewhere to get this issue fixed. I wouldn't keep using the computer as the fan could stop and then the liquid loop has a chance to burn and get water in the computer.
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On March 12 2013 16:03 Infernal_dream wrote:
Well there's your issue. 100 degrees. Your radiator fan isn't cooling the water.
Is this a prebuilt? I don't know much about liquid cooling but if this is a prebuilt computer you're probably going to have to take it somewhere to get this issue fixed. I wouldn't keep using the computer as the fan could stop and then the liquid loop has a chance to burn and get water in the computer.
So this is an eminent danger then? Do you think its something the Geek Squad at BestBuy can fix?
Yes, its pre-built from the manufacturer. I just ordered online through Dell and picked the different stuff I wanted.
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That's pretty conclusive. ~100C is around the throttling point and way too high. The fan responsible for CPU cooling is going nuts to try to bring the temps down.
As for what's broken, it's hard to say for sure. It could be that the liquid pump is faulty, the block somehow got shook a bit loose from the CPU heatspreader, or something else. You could try remounting or replacing the CPU cooling apparatus. Or get it serviced, especially if it's under warranty.
So, just to confirm, the system used to be normal and then became like this, when? How? After doing what?
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Yea you have a major problem, with anything like this with liquid cooling id say just power down now. You could have something wrong with pump, maybe the radiator is not getting cooled by the fan (big black thing - fan should be on it - is it blocked?) maybe a sizeable amount of leaking happened and the loop is no longer correctly functioning, you basically dont know and if something else goes wrong you could have major system damage - liquids on live sensitive electronics is NOT good, excessive temperatures due to complete cooling failure is not good either - one more question though, are you overclocked at all? stock settings? voltage?
CPU-Z screenshot before you shut down would be awesome - it should be easy. I ask because there's a chance you are randomly running at like 1.4v or some insane overclock - especially accidentally - which is both dangerous if you leave it and a quick fix to your temp problem if that's true.
Do you think its something the Geek Squad at BestBuy can fix
They're probably going to overcharge you a lot. Do you know anything at all of system building?
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Wait a sec, agreed with checking something else like CPU-Z too, especially to see the clock speed while doing something like SC2.
I just noticed VCore says 1.4V, which is very high, which would drastically raise temperatures. Maybe you enabled some kind of ridiculous auto-overclock mode.
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On March 12 2013 16:07 Myrmidon wrote:
So, just to confirm, the system used to be normal and then became like this, when? How? After doing what?
When: ~1 week ago.
How: I don't know. The tower has been in the same place, untouched and unmoved since it arrived on my doorstep.
After doing what?: Lots and lots of internet porn in the last week.
@Cyro: I know absolutely nothing about system building. I haven't intentionally changed any settings at all. Certainly nothing to do with overclocking and the like.
@Myrm: sec; editing.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Wait a sec, he's right, your vcore says 1.4v in the screenshots provided. I didnt see that. I literally predicted EXACTLY whats happening, wow im impressed.
Its likely you have multiple issues but this, hahahaha
1.4v and like 4.6ghz you are looking at like 50c hotter than stock.
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Ok; I can try to find the download for CPU-Z if you guys think that its worthwhile. I didn't intentionally change any settings, but is there a way to fix that voltage thing yall are talking about?
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Yea there is.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
Its a very light download, dont even have to install, you can google it, dl, open within 10 seconds no problem.
I gotta say as well, 3.3, 5 and 12 volt rails reading as 3.3, 3.7 and 16v is very worrying - but i dont know what to expect with random OEM motherboards, psu's etc. Maybe a malfunction or something else funny going on?
Mine read as 3.3 - 3.344v,
5 - 5.00v,
12 - 12.352v
which is normal.
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For the record I think Dell / Alienware does onsite service, at least early in the warranty period. But that's probably not necessary, as it's probably just some bad setting somewhere.
It could be that some of the Alienware software or whatever has some setting to some overclocking profile, and it was turned on. I don't know anything about their software.
If not, reboot the computer and hit the key to go into BIOS, before Windows loads. Look for some kind of overclocking and voltage control and set them to default.
On March 12 2013 16:16 Cyro wrote:
I gotta say as well, 3.3, 5 and 12 volt rails reading as 3.3, 3.7 and 16v is very worrying - but i dont know what to expect with random OEM motherboards, psu's etc. Maybe a malfunction or something else funny going on?
A lot of times the power supply voltage readings are way off. I think the software just doesn't know how to interpret whatever raw values it's getting from the motherboard. It's clearly not actually 16V on the nominal +12V line, or 3.7V on +5V. A lot of times there are bad values when nothing's actually off. Occasionally there are good readings when it's actually bad, or at least different. It's not much of an indication of anything. I'd guess it's more likely than not that if you probed with a multimeter that you'd find something non-trivially different than what's reported there.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Please CPU-Z screenshot before making any changes to profiles or bios - want to see what its at now to cause the problems.
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back; had to uninstall some random toolbar that was driving me nuts. uploading cpu-z pics shortly.
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On March 12 2013 16:27 Cyro wrote:
Please CPU-Z screenshot before making any changes to profiles or bios - want to see what its at now to cause the problems.
Updated OP with CPU-Z pics. I haven't changed anything.
Edit: but looking at the pics, I don't see any difference between them really =/
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
You're at stock (or close to) speeds, its just crazy voltage. That 1.4 figure should be around 1.2, maybe a bit lower.
You may still have a temperature issue on your hands - but you can cut it down massively by fixing that.
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On March 12 2013 16:35 Cyro wrote:
You're at stock (or close to) speeds, its just crazy voltage. That 1.4 figure should be around 1.2, maybe a bit lower.
You may still have a temperature issue on your hands - but you can cut it down massively by fixing that.
By fixing do you mean taking it into a service technician? Or by trying to change something here at home in settings?
Also, HOTS just released tonight and I'm really wanting to play~ Do you think its safe enough to play for now? Or is this so serious that I need to get a professional to look at it before I play any games on it?
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
On March 12 2013 16:24 Myrmidon wrote:
For the record I think Dell / Alienware does onsite service, at least early in the warranty period. But that's probably not necessary, as it's probably just some bad setting somewhere.
It could be that some of the Alienware software or whatever has some setting to some overclocking profile, and it was turned on. I don't know anything about their software.
If not, reboot the computer and hit the key to go into BIOS, before Windows loads. Look for some kind of overclocking and voltage control and set them to default.
That should do it, if you cant set to default, try a value of 1.2v manual.
I think you have another problem somewhere - the temperature difference from being at 1.4v is large, but not that large. You will likely still be running too hot or have another issue, its really hard to say - though i have to add - im not sure about Sandy Bridge-E (which your CPU is) but 1.4v is dangerous to Sandy Bridge. If there's a chance you were running it long term, its not good for the CPU, degradation (a small to a large amount) or complete death is a possibility in time periods a lot smaller than a year - A lot of bad overclockers or manufacturers use unhealthy voltages all the time though - the people buying from them dont know any better.
Also, HOTS just released tonight and I'm really wanting to play~ Do you think its safe enough to play for now? Or is this so serious that I need to get a professional to look at it before I play any games on it?
My CPU is about 20-30c hotter under stress testing than sc2 gaming load - you have major thermal problems. If you could adress voltage (and go to default, or 1.2 or something) then it might be a better situation so you might be able to play some - but it might not improve enough, and there is the possibility of another problem (CPU temps dont just randomly go that high - especially under sc2 load - is alienwares closed loop cooler THAT BAD or is there a fatal problem somewhere?)
I wouldnt play unless you can get to default voltages and your temperatures are a lot lower - or you can have some solution like i would be able to do with a normal motherboard (i dont know if you can do with alienware..) like setting the CPU to 25x multi for 2.5ghz, undervolting it a ton, so that it consumes very little power and creates very little heat and would still run cool even with a major cooling problem - but you probably cant do that.
Regardless of what you do, i would still be cautious. You might have a leak in liquid cooling, pump might not be running properly or something like that, again i doubt your temperatures would be that high unless there was a major problem.
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Nevermind, it could just be a bum reading, which is rare for software reporting on VCore (CPU voltage).
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19444344/20088236.aspx
In that case it's as originally suspected, something wrong with the cooling setup.
Also, I'm not sure if they actually allow you to change the voltage in the BIOS.
Give Dell / Alienware a call, and I think under the limited warranty if it's clearly an issue like this then they'll send a tech to come. I think. I don't really know which of the products are covered under that support, but I would sure hope something as expensive as an Alienware should be.
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blah T.T;
Ok~ I'll find a shop to take it into then and/or give Dell/ALienware a call. This really really sucks, but I overpaid for a pc from a manufacturer because I felt to retarded to try and build my own. Definitely don't want $3,000 to get flushed because of whatever this problem is.
I wasn't sure if this super loud fan was simply an annoyance, or something potentially fatal to the system. Thanks guys <3 You are amazing for taking time to look at this. Its very much appreciated.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
That system is not worth anywhere near $3k, i can say that without even having a specs list.
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On March 12 2013 16:51 Cyro wrote:
That system is not worth anywhere near $3k, i can say that without even having a specs list.
I overpaid for the name. I knew it when I did it, but it seemed like throwing money at it with the hopes of not having to worry about screwing it up on my own or getting ripped off by a shady local dealer it would be worth it.
At the very least, maybe I can get solid customer service out of it.
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Seems weird, given prices here:
http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r4/pd
option is with 7800 series, so probably the 7870. They're overpriced but not over 2x cost of what it should be. Or you got lots of monitors or other accessories, etc.? If some of the extra cost is from service plans, maybe you should use that.
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On March 12 2013 16:55 Myrmidon wrote:Seems weird, given prices here: http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r4/pdoption is with 7800 series, so probably the 7870. They're overpriced but not over 2x cost of what it should be. Or you got lots of monitors or other accessories, etc.? If some of the extra cost is from service plans, maybe you should use that.
You're right. I just asked the wife and she said it was just over 2k before the monitor and keyboard.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Im pretty sure you can get a better CPU+motherboard with a 7870 and ssd at half that price, with much better cooling and maybe a bit of luxury, id reccomend going to build resource thread or something similar for future systems and finding someone who knows their stuff to build for you, if you have to pay it shouldnt be nearly as much as the kind of price difference and you can get much better quality stuff and also have a lot more control - it is a bit more bother though. Be careful, Alienware and other shops are a lot more shady than most people realize with low quality parts, part selection or overclocking practices, pricing etc.
If you are interested you could probably learn to build yourself pretty fast, its worth getting into (:
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Interesting thread... others are experiencing exactly the same thing I am
Link
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kind of a strange development...
I did a restore back to factory settings on a whim, and reinstalled sc2. For now, it appears that this has fixed the problem. I'm playing the campaign while the download finishes, with my web browser open, and everything seems to be running normally. temps and fan speeds all appear to be normal.
Wth?
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Try looking at CPU-Z (or HWMonitor) again when the PC is under load. Perhaps the VCore setting wasn't a bad reading, but really was set to that high voltage and is now down again to a sane value (something like 1.1 V for 3.8 ghz?).
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Another possibility, though remote, your vcore, temperature readings were all not actually real and just a bug, the fan and system were just reacting to false readings.
What are "normal" temps and as above said what does cpu-z/hwmonitor say about your vcore?
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just looking at hwmonitor, vcore is still showing the same 1.392 ~1.4V, but under the gaming load, tempartures are stable at 68-70 degrees C now (they were 100 C before the factory restore).
I haven't re-downloaded the cpu-z yet though.
All core temperatures are steady at 60~65 C (they were all in the 90's before the restore).
screenshot of current HWmonitor stuffs w/ live stream and sc2 campaign going
+ Show Spoiler +
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Thats good.
Is your CPU at stock settings though?
Its senseless to use a closed loop liquid cooler for stock.. and even if it were done, i would expect temps to be a lot lower. Your temperatures are similar to the 92mm zalman cooler i got free with my 3770k (which is trash) - i would expect that thing to be beat by like 35-55c by a high end air cooler or a high end closed loop liquid cooler - even a low end one, i would not expect 65c under gaming load at stock. I dont really understand Alienware.
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Honestly Cyro, I don't know what stock is for my rig. When I selected the processor, it said overclocked "up to 4.1GHz." What I can tell you is that all the settings are exactly the same as it was when I took it out of the box. I haven't changed a single thing.
I don't understand Alienware either. I'm just a noob who didn't mind blowing a bit of money on a name because I didn't feel comfortable building my own or using a local. And I still prescribe to the idea that spending more money is supposed to mean better quality.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Well i wouldnt be suprised if they just used 1.4v on the CPU or something as a shortcut instead of testing them all individually for a long time for stable settings, its hard to say. If you still dont want to build yourself, there's better sites out there that will build for you (:
good that temps are ok now
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On March 12 2013 21:29 Cyro wrote:
Well i wouldnt be suprised if they just used 1.4v on the CPU or something as a shortcut instead of testing them all individually for a long time for stable settings, its hard to say. If you still dont want to build yourself, there's better sites out there that will build for you (:
good that temps are ok now
Yeah, in hindsight I wish I would have spent more time researching other brands. iBuyPower maybe? I'm sure there are others too~ Oh well, live and learn! As long as it keeps doing like it is now I'll be happy.
Ty again so much dood!! You really are a stud <3
Final(hopefully) Edit:
Fans and temps started getting high again =/ So, I called the alienware tech support and spent an hour on the phone with them. They updated the BIOS and hopefully that has the problem fixed. All Temps have lowered significantly (down to 45-50 C on the 1 pin that was running hot).
I guess I'll know by the time I finish the HOTS campaign if its fixed!
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On March 12 2013 20:28 Cyro wrote:
Another possibility, though remote, your vcore, temperature readings were all not actually real and just a bug, the fan and system were just reacting to false readings.
The core temperature and power readings are read directly from the CPU and so are normally extremely reliable. Also the power and temperature readings do correlate here, and it's implausible that both would fail. The VCore reading may also be reliable for Sandy Bridge, but I'm not sure. The other temperature or voltage readings are untrustworthy because they're read from often badly-configured motherboard chips.
On that note, the IA Cores power reading in the "fixed" HWMonitor screenshot is only 16W, as against 75W for the "loud" version. That suggests that the OP had both a software problem that was causing excessive load, and a cooling problem that's not yet fixed.
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On March 12 2013 21:32 Joedaddy wrote:
Fans and temps started getting high again =/ So, I called the alienware tech support and spent an hour on the phone with them. They updated the BIOS and hopefully that has the problem fixed. All Temps have lowered significantly (down to 45-50 C on the 1 pin that was running hot).
Can we have a post-BIOS-update HWMonitor screenshot? 
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On March 13 2013 00:30 jaj22 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2013 21:32 Joedaddy wrote:
Fans and temps started getting high again =/ So, I called the alienware tech support and spent an hour on the phone with them. They updated the BIOS and hopefully that has the problem fixed. All Temps have lowered significantly (down to 45-50 C on the 1 pin that was running hot).
Can we have a post-BIOS-update HWMonitor screenshot?
+ Show Spoiler +
running a tad bit hotter, but still worlds better than when this all began.
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On March 13 2013 00:50 Joedaddy wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2013 00:30 jaj22 wrote:On March 12 2013 21:32 Joedaddy wrote:
Fans and temps started getting high again =/ So, I called the alienware tech support and spent an hour on the phone with them. They updated the BIOS and hopefully that has the problem fixed. All Temps have lowered significantly (down to 45-50 C on the 1 pin that was running hot).
Can we have a post-BIOS-update HWMonitor screenshot? + Show Spoiler +running a tad bit hotter, but still worlds better than when this all began.
Meh, running a CPU at 70 c is never going to do any serious damage but it's a little disappointing for a non overclocked 3820 with a closed loop cooler on it. Noise levels will probably be quite annoying too :/
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On March 13 2013 00:52 Fragile51 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 13 2013 00:50 Joedaddy wrote:On March 13 2013 00:30 jaj22 wrote:On March 12 2013 21:32 Joedaddy wrote:
Fans and temps started getting high again =/ So, I called the alienware tech support and spent an hour on the phone with them. They updated the BIOS and hopefully that has the problem fixed. All Temps have lowered significantly (down to 45-50 C on the 1 pin that was running hot).
Can we have a post-BIOS-update HWMonitor screenshot? + Show Spoiler +running a tad bit hotter, but still worlds better than when this all began. Meh, running a CPU at 70 c is never going to do any serious damage but it's a little disappointing for a non overclocked 3820 with a closed loop cooler on it. Noise levels will probably be quite annoying too :/
It peaked at 108 c last night. I've played through 3 of the campaign missions since the bios update, and haven't had a single hiccup yet. Certainly no more of that jet engine at take off fan noise. When this started last night, the only way to make it stop was to turn the game off completely.
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United Kingdom20298 Posts
Any chance you could download Intelburntest, do 10 standard runs (its set to default so you can just hit go) with hwmonitor open and give max temps from that?
Thats a more standardized way of reporting temps
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Interesting. That's a much better power to temperature ratio both at idle and load now, but nothing else appears to have changed. Idle and load power are similar, and the VCore reading is still 1.4V, assuming that it's correct.
It's possible that the pump in your cooling system is failing intermittently, but time will tell.
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Today, this happened to me too. I was playing the HotS campaign too.
I have an old computer, with GeForce 9800GT, which I bought from my friend a year ago (I had a sudden need to play SC ).
The computer was running continuously for ~6 days, without problems. Played 70 hours of Dragon Age Origins, in the last ~10 days without problems.
The sudden loud fan scared me, so I shut it down and came back 15 minutes later. Turned it on, got back to HotS campaign, and after about 15 minutes the same thing happened again.
Checked the temperature on the GPU-Z, it was normal.
The fact that we have a same problem could be a coincidence though.
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