T420 Fan noise

I just bought a T420 a couple of days ago, and am rather surprised by the constant fan noise (level) after having read that it is very quiet. The fan runs constantly with a noise level that is much higher than other notebooks I've used (maybe noisy isn't the right word here, but it's noisy relative my expectations).
Even the Dell E4300 and D505 which I have at home is much more quiet, and I only hear the fan when there a lot of load. On the T420 even small loads will trigger the fan to run and at a noisy level. It could be my expectations are unrealistic, but I have quite a few notebooks in my history to compare with.
I've already had a noisy keyboard replaced by IBM (called them the first day I received it) and I don't want to be a difficult guy (the space key is still irritatingly noisy!).
Any similar experience with the T420? Is it a general feature with this notebook?

@lenovoT420,
The T420 is fairly new and there hasn't been any reports on fan noises on this particular model so far. Maybe you can upload a clip on youtube or record it?
A very good example of a customer who recorded the fan issue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqQwp6K1kK4
//JameZ
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Similar Messages

T420s Fan noise Issue

Hi JameZ, I just PMed you with the requested information. I didn't figure out what "MTM" is.
Thanks for the support.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I found a temporary fix for our hair dryer issue.  There's a German guy who calls himself "troubadix" (the bard in Asterix) who developed an application to adjust the fan speed on ThinkPads. The application is called TPFancontrol. It's latest version is 0.62 and is set up for his T60.  The latest version can be found at troubadix page from uni-marburg right here.  Donations are welcome to him.  Discussion threads are here and here.  And below are the settings I use in the TPFancontrol.ini file to run my ThinkPad T420s quietly when on the go (passive until 50°C). When docked in the Advanced mini 3 plus docking station and using two external monitors (1920x1200 + 1050x1680) the discrete graphics kicks in and the CPU is always near the 60°C mark. With the settings below you should be able to keep the temps around 60°C with moderate office work. The fan spins between 2900 and 3700 RPM.  Settings: //// >>>> Celsius / Fahrenheit: temperatures in °C (active) / °F <<<<
// !!! Temp of lowest Level > 79 -> switch to Fahrenheit !!! see below
// ATTENTION: example temp values are for my T61, especially// BluetoothEDR=1, SensorName5=no5, IgnoreSensors=no5 too // temp levels 10 degrees centgrade higher than in T4x, R5x,// change for your purposes.// Achtung: die eingetragenen Temperaturwerte benutze ich beim T61,// speziell hier: BluetoothEDR=1, SensorName5=no5, IgnoreSensors=no5// Für T4x, R5x können die Temps 10 Grad niedriger eingetragen werden.// Bitte alles für die eigenen Zwecke anpassen.
// advice for programmers: TPFanControl must acquire mutex named// "Access_Thinkpad_EC" to get access to embedded controller// Hinweis für Programmierer: TPFanControl muss den Mutex // "Access_Thinkpad_EC" aquirieren können um Zugang zum embbeded // controller zu bekommen.
// with Active=3 & ManFanSpeed=0 & ManModeExit=78 you can have a nice// quiet time until temps reaches 78 deg. centigrade :-))// mit Active=3 & ManFanSpeed=0 & ManModeExit=78 kann man nach dem // "Kaltstart eine schöne ruhige Zeit haben, bis die Temps 78 °C // erreichen und das Programm auf smart mode schaltet.
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// -----------------------------------------------------------------// "Active=0" program just reads config. // "Active=1" allow program to modify fan.// "Active=2" program will come up in smart mode.// "Active=3" program will come up in manual mode.// bei "Active=0" wird nur die Konfiguration ausgelesen. // bei "Active=1" die Veränderung des Lüfterverhaltens ist aktiviert.// bei "Active=2" startet das Programm im "Smart"-Modus. // bei "Active=3" startet das Programm im "Manual"-Modus.
Active=2
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// manual fan speed at program start// Lüfterstufe beim Programmstart
ManFanSpeed=7  // -----------------------------------------------------------------// Program exits manual mode and switches to smart mode with last chosen// profile, if this temp (degrees Centigrade or Fahrenheit) is achieved.// default= 80 degrees Centigrade / 176 degrees Fahrenheit.// Das Program verlässt den manual mode und schaltet auf smart mode mit // letztem gewähltem Profil, wenn diese Temperatur erreicht ist.// default= 80 Grad Celsius / 176 Grad Fahrenheit.
ManModeExit=78 //ManModeExit=172 // with Fahrenheit
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Window stays on Top if StayOnTop=1, normal behavior =0// Programmfenster bleibt im Vordergrund bei StayOnTop=1, ansonsten =0
StayOnTop=0// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Set to 1 for slim widget// Schmales Programmfenster bei SlimDialog=1, ansonsten =0
SlimDialog=1    // -----------------------------------------------------------------// set to 1 for bluetooth with enhanced data rate (i.e. T61,// X61 for T4x, R5x set BluetoothEDR=0 )// BluetoothEDR=1 für bluetooth mit enhanced data rate (EDR, z.B. T61,// X61 für T4x, R5x BluetoothEDR=0 setzen)
BluetoothEDR=1 // -----------------------------------------------------------------// Windows Priority of Process (0-5, normal=2), increase if fancontrol has // big delays in response while other processes consume performance.// Windows-Priorität des Processes (0-5, normal=2), ggf. erhöhen, falls // Reaktion des Programms zu träge wegen Resourcenverbrauch durch andere// Anwendungen
ProcessPriority=2
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Show no icon ballons: NoBallons=1, show icon ballons: NoBallons=0// Icon Sprechblasen anzeigen mit NoBallons=0, keine bei NoBallons=1
NoBallons=1
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// check temperatures every x seconds (default 5)// Überprüft die Temperaturen alle x Sekunden (Standard ist 5).
Cycle=5
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// For Thinkpads A2x,T2x,X2x set NoExtSensor=1 to exclude reading // of extended sensors to prevent program errors. Attention 570(E) // is NOT compatible. Fan speed is not available on all models.// Bei Thinkpads A2x,T2x,X2x NoExtSensor=1 setzen: die Sensoren 9-12// werden nicht ausgelesen und dadurch Fehlermeldungen vermieden. // Funktioniert NICHT bei 570(E), Fanspeed nicht immer verfügbar.
NoExtSensor=0
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Minimize to systray immediately when starting// Minimiert das Programm schon beim Start in die Taskleiste.
StartMinimized=1
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// check icon of tpfcicon.exe (optional) every x seconds (default 1)// Überprüft das Icon von tpfcicon.exe alle x Sekunden (Standard =1).
IconCycle=1
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Show new icon with max. temperature / sensor name// Zeige neues Icon mit Max. Temperatur / Sensorbezeichnung
ShowTempIcon=1
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Save the icon by a start delay of the program/service of // "SecStartDelay" (sec.) within "SecWinUptime" (sec.) after (re)boot// Delete slashes '//' at next 3 parameters.// Das Problem der nicht erscheinenden Icons wird durch eine // Startverzögerung um SecStartDelay (Sekunden) innerhalb einer Zeit von// SecWinUptime (Sekunden) verhindert. Kommentarstriche "//" entfernen.////SecWinUptime=120//"SecWinUptime" (sec.) after (re)boot//SecStartDelay=60//start delay of the program (sec.)//NoWaitMessage=0//set to 1 to avoid sleep message//ReIcCycle=600//rebuild TempIcon every xxx secs.
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Temperature thresholds for turning the taskbar icon// yellow orange red (Smart and Manual mode only and// only together with MinimizeToTray=1)// Temperaturgrenzwerte, die das Symbol in der Taskbar gelb,// orange bzw. rot färben. (Nur im "Smart"- und "Manual"-Modus // in Kombination mit "MinimizeToTray=1" verfügbar.)
IconLevels=65 75 80 // Fahrenheit: IconLevels=122 140 158
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Beep frequency and duration (in ms) for successful// fan state changes. (Set either or both to zero to // disable)// Frequenz und Dauer des Piep-Signals (in ms), das eine erfolgreiche// Änderung des Lüfterzustands ankündigt. (Um den Piepton abzuschalten,// setzen Sie entweder einen oder beide Werte auf 0.)
FanBeep=3 2
// --------------------------------------------------------// If this max number of consecutive EC read errors occur// program will switch fan back to bios mode and exit// Sobald die maximale Anzahl aufeinanderfolgender EC-Lesefehler// erreicht ist, schaltet das Programm auf den BIOS-Modus um // und wird beendet.
MaxReadErrors= 10
// --------------------------------------------------------// Log2File=1 enables, Log2File=0 disables writing to TPFanControl.log// Start program with admin rights.// Log2File=1 aktiviert, Log2File=0 deaktiviert// Schreiben nach TPFanControl.log, Programm benötigt Admin-Rechte.
Log2File=1
// --------------------------------------------------------// Log2csv=1 enables, Log2csv=0 disables // writing to TPFanControl_csv.txt renamed to // TPFanControl_last_csv.txt after restart of TPFanControl// rename to *.csv for use with excel// Start program with admin rights.// Log2csv=1 aktiviert Schreiben nach TPFanControl_csv.txt// Programm benötigt Admin-Rechte. Datei wird umbenannt in // TPFanControl_last_csv.txt nach erneutem Start von TPFanControl// In *.csv umbenennen für anschliessende Bearbeitung mit excel
Log2csv=0
// --------------------------------------------------------// List (separated by comma) of sensors to ignore when// determining the max. temperature. (Use lower case,// e.g "IgnoreSensors=pci,aps")// Liste der Sensoren, getrennt durch Kommata, die bei der// Ermittlung der Maximaltemperatur ignoriert werden. (Verwenden// Sie kleine Buchstaben, z.B. "IgnoreSensors=pci,aps".)
//IgnoreSensors=no5
// ---------------------------------------------------------// List of new 3 letter sensor names, delete leading // slashes to aktivat. Don't use capital letters for readability // of temp icon.// Liste von neuen Sensorname (jeweils 3 Buchstaben), zum// Aktivieren die Schrägstriche löschen. Kleine Buschstaben // wg. der Lesbarkeit im TempIcon gebrauchen.
//SensorName1=cpu//SensorName2=aps//SensorName3=pcm//SensorName4=gpu//SensorName5=no5//SensorName6=x7d//SensorName7=bat//SensorName8=x7f//SensorName9=bus//SensorName10=pci//SensorName11=pwr//SensorName12=xc3
// ---------------------------------------------------------// calculating Highest Temp with: // temperature of sensor no. = real temp minus SensorOffsetno.// Default SensorOffset1-12=0 , Capital O in SensorOffset,// to activate delete slashes '//',// Negative SensorOffsetno. values increase temperature values.// Berechnung von Highest Temp mit: // Temperatur des Sensor Nr. = reale Temp minus SensorOffsetnr.// Default: SensorOffset1-12=0 , Grosses O in SensorOffsetnr.// zum Aktivieren Schrägstriche '//' löschen,// Negative SensorOffsetnr-Werte erhöhen den Temperaturwert.
//SensorOffset1=20//SensorOffset2=20//SensorOffset3=0//SensorOffset4=2//SensorOffset5=1//SensorOffset6=5//SensorOffset7=5//SensorOffset8=4//SensorOffset9=3//SensorOffset10=2//SensorOffset11=1//SensorOffset12=5
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// set to 1 to show calculated temps for sensors// =1 gesetzt zeigt die Temperaturen mit Offsetkorrektur an
ShowBiasedTemps=0
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Show all/active sensors at start up. all=1 only active=0// Zeige alle/aktive Sensoren an: alle=1, nur aktive =0
ShowAll=1
// --------------------------------------------------------// temperature levels 'Level=' with associated fan levels// (for the fan to come back, temperature must fall// down to previous level). There may be more or// less levels in this list. The first one should// have a fan speed of zero and is the "turn off"// temperature.// Fan speed of 64 is extreme and may be an *unsupported*// and *damaging* mode. A fan speed of 128 setting is// not really a fan speed in itself but will instead switch// fan control to BIOS mode (0x80). The idea of this// is to let the program get out of the way and let the// BIOS handle extremes.(and then switch back to smart if// the temperature is okay again)//// Im Folgenden sind die Temperaturpegel samt den jeweils// zugeordeten Lüfterstufen aufgelistet. (Sobald die Temperatur in// den Bereich eines niedrigeren bzw. höheren Pegels wechselt, wird// die Lüfterstufe automatisch angepasst und folglich verringert bzw.// erhöht sich die Geschwindigkeit des Lüfters.) Diese Liste kann// weniger oder auch mehr Stufen beinhalten. Sinngemäß sollte die// erste Stufe die gewünschte Temperatur definieren, bei der sich// der Lüfter ausschaltet (Lüftergeschwindigkeit 0)// Die Lüftergeschwindigkeit 64 ist ein Extremwert und könnte somit// eine von IBM nicht unterstützte und sogar schädigende Betriebsart// darstellen. Die Lüftergeschwindigkeit 128 ist an sich keine eigene// Geschwindigkeitsstufe, sondern gibt stattdessen die Kontrolle// des Lüfters an das BIOS (BIOS mode, 0x80) zurück. Der Hintergrund// dieser Einstellung ist die Möglichkeit, das Programm auszuschließen,// um Extemfälle wieder vom BIOS steuern zu lassen. (Sobald sich die// Temperatur wieder im Normbereich befindet, wird erneut der Smart// Modus aktiviert.)//// Temp of lowest Level (commonly set to fan speed zero) of profile // "Smart Mode 1" will switch from Celsius to Fahrenheit if set higher // than 79 degrees. Temps of higher levels have no influence on F/C. //// profile "Smart Mode 1"// change values and number of items for your needs// Celsius: // Fahrenheit:
MenuLabelSM1=Smart Mode 1/ Label for Icon Menu, must be terminated by '/'
Level=45 1// Level=140 0Level=50 2// Level=150 1Level=55 2 // Level=165 3Level=60 3// Level=175 7Level=65 4// Level=195 64Level=70 5Level=75 7Level=90 128
// optional 2nd profile "Smart Mode 2", switched by icon menue// change values and number of items for your needs// to deactivate, insert leading '//' into following lines
MenuLabelSM2=Smart Mode 2/ Label for Icon Menu, must be terminated by '/'
Level2=22 0// Level2=70 0Level2=33 1// Level2=90 1Level2=38 2// Level2=100 2Level2=44 3// Level2=110 3Level2=55 7// Level2=130 7Level2=66 64// Level2=150 64Level2=77 128// Level2=170 128
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// IconColorFan=1 digital Icon will turn green while fan is running. // IconColorFan=1 Digitales Icon wird grün während der Lüfter läuft.
IconColorFan=1
// -----------------------------------------------------------------// Lev64Norm=1 : Fan level 64 acts as normal level with hysteresis, // fan will run till next lower temp step is reached (no pulsing fan). // If set to zero fan level 64 acts as emergency level without hysteresis,// fan will run till level64 temp is reached again (pulsing fan can happen).// Lev64Norm=1 : Fan level 64 arbeitet mit Hysterese, Lüfter läuft, // bis nächst tieferer level erreicht wird. Lüfter pulsiert nicht.// Falls Lev64Norm=0 gesetzt, arbeitet level 64 als Notfallkühlung oberhalb// der Temperatur von level 64. Ein Pulsieren des Lüfters ist möglich.
Lev64Norm=1 I hope this helps. I wish you a great sunday.

T530: Unbearable fan noise

Probably similar to this thread, the T530 I recently received has fan noise issues. I've invested considerable time in solving this, but found that a solution can be achieved with reasonable effort only by Lenovo:
Introduction:
Most ThinkPad models do not provide the operating system (or the user) the ability to set the fan speed directly (e.g. in rounds per minute) or in a fine-grained way (e.g. as a percentage of maximum speed). Instead, there are "fan speed levels", usually 9 levels (level 0 through level 7 as well as the level "disengaged"). For each level, a particular fan speed is defined and the Embedded Controller tries to achieve this particular fan speed by measuring the fan speed and adjusting the electrical properties of the fan (e.g. voltage or pulse length or something like this).
The fan noise problem:
Every time the internal temperature sensor reaches 50 °C or so, the fan starts with about 1900 rounds/minute and then quickly goes to about 2737 rounds/minute, where it is loud. Then it takes about 20 seconds, the temperature drops to 45 °C, then the fan is switched off. Then, after maybe other 30 seconds, the cycle repeats and the fan is switched on again, ...
There are major problems with this behaviour, because:
The fan is not running continously, but pulsating.
The fan is running at level 1 at a much higher speed than needed, creating unnecessary noise.
I have measured the individual fan speeds for individual fan speed levels:
The fan speeds at different levels are as follows:
Level 0: 0 rounds/minute
Level 1: 2737 rounds/minute
Level 2: 2944 rounds/minute
Level 3: 3033 rounds/minute
Level 4: 3074 rounds/minute
Level 5: 3597 rounds/minute
Level 6: 3773 rounds/minute
Level 7: 3773 rounds/minute
Level disengaged: 4754 rounds/minute
Solution draft:
A minimum solution to the problem above would be introducing another fan speed level between 0 rounds/minute and 2737 rounds/minute, with about 1900 rounds/minute. The reason this makes a difference is that there is a fundamental difference between laminar flow and turbulent flow, where the laminar flow makes nearly no noise and the turbulent flow makes a lot of noise. (Whether an airflow is laminar or turbulent is easiest influencable by affecting its speed.)
As you can see on the observed mapping from fan speed level to fan speed, level 6 and level 7 map to the same speed.
Thus, no particular fan speed would be lost if the mapping would be changed to the following:
Level 0: 0 rounds/minute
Level 1: 1900 rounds/minute
Level 2: 2737 rounds/minute
Level 3: 2944 rounds/minute
Level 4: 3033 rounds/minute
Level 5: 3074 rounds/minute
Level 6: 3597 rounds/minute
Level 7: 3773 rounds/minute
Level disengaged: 4754 rounds/minute
Solution implementation by user is impossible:
The problem, however, is that, while a user can decide which fan speed level should be active at a particular time, the user cannot decide which fan speed should actually be achieved for a particular level. Thus, the user can either decide to have 0 rounds/minute (which is not particularly sustainable, because the equipment becomes hotter and hotter) or to have 2737 rounds/minute (which is not particularly sustainable either, because both the user and other people arund the user's Lenovo computer are distracted from work).
The mapping from fan speed level to fan speed is actually stored in the Embedded Controller Programm ("ECP"). This Embedded Controller Programm is freely changeable or configurable by the user. Only Lenovo has the source code to this Embedded Controller Programm, and actually only Lenovo may know how to disassemble such a binary Embedded Controller Program in case the user wanted to change it. Thus, even advanced users cannot fix this problem by fixing it where it should be fixed.
It should be noted that, because fan speed is a long lasting issue at Lenovo, a third party has been even developed an after-market hardware solution: TPFC. However, this solution probably voids the warranty, and it work arounds the problem at the wrong place, and it costs time and money and effort to actually install it.
Only Lenovo can fix this problem:
How Lenovo should fix the problem
Thus, this is my call to Lenovo to fix this problem (at least for the T530 series, but probably W530, T430 are also affected). Ideally, the solution should be as follows:
Change the Embdedded Controller Program such that the mapping from fan speed level to fan speed is as follows:
Level 0: 0 rounds/minute (no noise level)
Level 1: 1500 rounds/minute (low noise level, sweet spot)
Level 2: 1700 rounds/minute (low noise level, sweet spot)
Level 3: 1900 rounds/minute (low noise level, sweet spot)
Level 4: 2100 rounds/minute (some noise level)
Level 5: 2600 rounds/minute (high noise level)
Level 6: 3100 rounds/minute (high noise level)
Level 7: 3773 rounds/minute (high noise level)
Level disengaged: 4754 rounds/minute (high noise level)
The reasons for this fan speed design are as follows:
The "sweet spot" where both the fan will run most of the time and where the user would not complain is between 1500 rounds/minute and 2100 rounds/minute. If the fan needs to be faster to keep the system cooled, then the user is likely to run the system with considerable load to CPU or GPU. In this case, there is no option to reduce the fan speed, but also in this case, the user probably accepts the fan noise for the computing power delivered.
The "sweet spot" in terms of CPU load is where the users do not accept fan noise while actually generating only minute CPU load (e.g. during web browsing or writing documents, where the CPU and the GPU is mostly idle). For many users, this is their normal working state (e.g. working in a quiet office, a very quiet library, a quiet bedroom, a quiet boardroom, ...). These scenarios are where Lenovo ThinkPads currently fail to deliver, unnecessarily
The "sweet spot" needs higher resolution (more fan levels allocated to these fan speeds), because slightly different load patterns may make it necessary to go from one level to the next higher level, but then the next level still should be bearable. Conversely, the higher levels (e.g. from 2600 rounds/minute on) do not need such a high resolution, because for most of the users, these levels will be only attained rarely anyway, and then they are accepting the noise.
Currently, there is no fan speed level at the sweet spot. With the proposed fix, there would be 3 fan speed levels at the sweet spot, with a neighbouring fan speed level (2100 rounds/minute) still being bearable when considering the performance delivered.
There is no fan speed level below 1500 rounds/minute. This is ok, because the fan is nearly inaudible at this speed anyway, and below a certain speed, there is a risk (depending on the fan) for the fan to actually not rotate at all (e.g. due to friction).
How much time and effort would Lenovo need for fixing the problem:
The Lenovo engineer responsible for the Embedded Controller Program of the T530 should need less than one day to change the source code of the Embedded Controller Program and to recompile it. The engineer may need one additional day to test this program (e.g. for different types of fans), and there may be a need for an additional day to release the update to the BIOS and ECP. All in all, Lenovo should not need more than 3 engineer-days (maybe worth 1800 USD) to fix the problem.
Why Lenovo should fix the problem:
Probably the whole current T series (T530,T520,T430,T420) as well as the current W series (W530,W520) fails the users in any of these scenarios (among others):
User working in a quiet office.
User working in a quiet library.
User working in a quiet bedroom.
User working in a quiet boardroom.
Thus, the Lenovo T series is currently not usable for many business users and almost all students. This problem should cost millions of USD of revenue, while fixing it would cost it maybe 1800 USD.
Incidental remark: Lenovo subsidiary can do better:
Lenovo has bought the majority of the Germany consumer electronics company Medion. Medion currently offers a consumer level notebook "E7222" for 499€ including German VAT. Despite of this low price, this notebook delivers very good fan control (that is: the notebook is nearly silent when the CPU is near-idle). (However, being consumer-grade, it does not offer a docking-station or a FullHD screen or WWAN.)
What will I personally do:
Some weeks ago, I had a powerful W530. I returned it due to fan noise for cash refund. Now I have the T530 (Serial number: R9RRF26) which has exactly the same problem. The deadline until I can legally request a cash refund runs until 2012-09-07. I hereby ask Lenovo:
To fix the problem and release an ECP or BIOS update until 2012-09-06 (it is doable, see above) or
if the problem cannot be fixed in this time (e.g. due to bureaucracy): provide me with a written statement (e.g. e-mail or forum post is sufficient) that my legal cash refund deadline (German law: §355 BGB) will be voluntarily extended by Lenovo (to some date Lenovo thinks it needs to fix the problem).
If none of the above happens, I will have to return the T530 as well. This is the 2nd chance Lenovo has gotten from me, there will be no 3rd chance. I would have to turn to Fujitsu (they do have business-class machines with big batteries, FullHD, WWAN) and they probably have better fan control.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

kaawee,
Thank you for the considerable thought that you put into your summation / analysis and proposal for a change.
I don't agree that you are wasting your time as we did make EC changes on the X220 and T420s to change fan behavior (along with several other systems). However, not all customers agree that the changes made the system behave the way they wanted and were completely satisfied (hence some of the dissenting opinions expressed here).
We are interested in feedback on T530, W530, T430 fan concerns and we are investigating. It is possible that a future change might be made, but I cannot say for certain that it will, nor can we commit to making this change within 4 days (2 now remaining) from your original posting.
Best regards,
Mark
ThinkPads: S30, T43, X60t, X1, W700ds, IdeaPad Y710, IdeaCentre: A300, IdeaPad K1
Mark Hopkins
Program Manager, Lenovo Social Media (Services)
twitter @lenovoforums
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Problems with new Yoga 2 Pro (battery, fan noise, yellow, screen orientation, on-screen keyboard)

I purchased the Yoga Pro 2 on Thursday October 17. I love the computer for so many reasons, (especially since it replaces my 4 year old Compaq that was 6.5lbs!) however, I am also having a few issues with it.
It is the i7/8GB/256GB model from BestBuy. I am experiencing the same yellow issue as is mentioned by many on here. I didn't realize it, though, until reading these forums and then comparing to my old computer and my ipad and iPhone. A little disappointed, though it looks like Lenovo may be working on a solution.
But the real reason I originally came to look at this forum is because of 2 things: my fan and battery.
The fan (on the right side of the keyboard) is always on! I didn't expect this, and am wondering if mine is a lemon or if others are noticing the same thing. It's pretty noticeable, especially in a quiet room. I was showing off my new computer to a friend and the very first thing she said was that it was loud! She was using a MacBook pro, which wasn't making any noise at all.
The second thing is the battery... I am attaching 4 photos all taken within a few minutes of each other. If you cant see them, they are all of the battery meter on my screen. I am listing the time of day (to show how much time passed), percent remaining, and time remaining:
10:04 (88%) 306 hr 15 min
10:05 (88%) 8 hr 48 min
10:09 (86%) 4 hr 54 min
10:29 (81%) 5 hr 12 min
I feel like my computer just cant make up its mind!!
Another issue I had... I turned on my computer to show it to a friend (same friend who said it was noisy) and the screen image wouldn't flip when in any of the modes. This means I showed her the stand mode with an upside down image. Even in tablet mode I couldn't get it to flip. I turned the computer off and then on again, and luckily it decided to work, but it was frustrating, and I hope it's not something that becomes an issue.
Also, when I have the computer in tablet mode, the keyboard automatically pops up when I click somewhere to type... but this doesn't happen in stand mode or tent mode. Is this normal? I would have thought that the keyboard would appear in any of those modes, since the real keyboard is not accessible in any of them. And of course now that I am testing it out while writing this, none of the modes (including tablet) is having the keyboard come on screen. Of course, I know I can always choose the icon on the task bar to bring up the keyboard, but it would be nice if the computer did it automatically since it knows there is no other keyboard accessible in those modes. Is this an issue anybody else has had?
I really do enjoy using this computer, but some of these issues really need to get worked out if I am going to keep it. I'd love to hear if anyone is experiencing anything similar, and if there are any good fixes!

I just got a Lemontine Yoga 2 Pro i5/8GB/256GB from lenovo.com and the silver one from BestBuy in the same configuraiton. The silver one has no issues except for the crazy number of hours remaining on the battery which is fine, doesn't bother me. The fan noise is very quiet, and you can only hear it if you put your ear up to the vents in a quiet room.
Now the Clementine one...It was heating up pretty good. I put my ear to it on many occasions and can hear nothing at all, the fan is either missing LOL or doesn't work. I had an issue where I left the thing on for 4 hours, but sleep is configured after 5 hours. When I tried to use it, it showed me the screen brielfy, then blank. Tried hard reset, called Support, nothing. Support says its dead. Ok, an hour later, it turned on. I'm guessing it was too hot and was in some mode to protect itself, like a smartphone that is left out in the sun for some time, it won't power on till its cooled down.
I'm still in process of trying to get a hold of Lenovo to swap it, but since they no longer sell this configuration, I doubt they'll be able to get me a new one.
The silver one from BestBuy us solid though, love it, best in class in my opinion...actually got it from Future Shop sorry...from Canada, but they're essentially the same store.

HP TouchSmart 610-1280qd CTO Desktop PC Fan Noise

Hi,
Can you tell me if a loud CPU fan is normal for this computer?
The CPU fan is working very hard and the CPU and GPU are all ~38 degrees Celcius. The bios reports 1100 CPU Fan Speed and 3800 system fan speed. It sounds like my CPU fan is actually spnning faster than that.
Thanks
SOLVED: I spent some time with technical support and they had a model in the lab and confirmed that the loud fan noise is not by design. I returned my Touchsmart and received a new replacement and it is almost silent. I checked the BIOS and the fan speeds are reporting 1100 CPU Fan Speed and 2100 system fan speed with the same low temps above. I believe in my original machine they did not install fans right by swapping the plugins on the motherboard; I do not have solid evidence of this though.
I hope this help and just know that these machines should be very quiet most of the time other than some low level harddrive access noise.

Hello sal4303. I understand your screen is going blank.
Have you tried changing the settings for how long it takes your monitor to turn off? Here are the instructions.
Let me know if this has an effect on your issue.
Have a lovely afternoon!
Please click the white star under my name to give me Kudos as a way to say "Thanks!"
Click the "Accept as Solution" button if I resolve your issue.

Big fan noise problem: the rear fan won't shut off, the BIOS won't update, systemupdate locks up

I received new ThinkStaion (oh boy, lots of memory and CPU speed, yay!)
I unfortunately left the originally installed Vista OS on there. Very much regretting that as I believe it contributes to the following problems (BIOS).
So the original problem was that after just a month of using my new ThinkStation, the System Board died, and it had to be replaced. Honestly, all I did was choose the sleep or hibernate option in Vista to shut down. Afterwards,poof! didn't even get the proper Power lights on the system. I diagnosed this with the online docs and then sat for a few hours on our tech support line doing all the same things to re-diagnose it.
So after the replacement, the rear fan will not shut off. Jet engine noise all day. I went into the system settings and selected "Quiet" for the Fan settings but that did not help.
Research on this forum resulted in the possibility of a BIOS update fixing the problem. Comparison to my co-workers systems which arrived at the same time shows this BIOS is woefully out of date, so even if it does not fix the fan issue I want to update it. However, everything I've tried to do is failing for one reason or another.
(The fan issue does need resolution since in one week I will end up sharing an office (first time in many years, thanks IBM for nothing!) so since I don't want us both to have to wear noise cancelling headsets, I'd like to fix this without having to just pull the @#$@ power to the fan. Grrrr. )
I downloaded what I felt were the appropriate Lenovo apps to update both the BIOS and the serial number but none seem to work properly from the command line in Vista. One of the two (can't recall which) asks me to reboot and it never actually shuts down. Eternal "Shutting Down" message. Ga! The other throws some gosh awful
systemupdate le
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-69701
eternal reboot
BIOSD attempt:" 2xjy26usa
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-69701
error 1275 no admin priv - I AM the administrator account, there is no other acct to use!
Then I decided Vista might be the problem and found sites recommending flashing the BIOS from a bootable USB. So I started down that path and after burning the wrong version, finally geting the AIK Vista tools installed and to the point of trying to make the USB bootable, it won't allow me to put the OS boot on it. Ah, for the days when a simple "sys a:" took care of that.
So, after reformatting the USB and pounding my head in the wall, keyboard, etc. I am at my wit's end. What to do. I just want the fan noise to go away.
This does seem to duplicate other forum messages but I can't get anywhere on this. Help!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

FYI to all the helpful folks here (and any looking to shut their jet engine off as well): Flashing the BIOS did the trick.
First I had to find a website with DOS OS files and put those on the USB instead of Vista. Oldie but a goodie, but at least it booted! No other versions would.
I had been intending to use the WinPhlash utility that Lenovo supplied with the BIOS update but since I was booting from DOS that was useless. However, I found a DOS version of it and used that instead. Boom baby! Flashed and rebooted.
It did take two boots to get it back to normal (first one gave very alarming messages about no operating system being found but I think it was just a remnant of the reboot that was triggered from the DOS session). A second boot returned life to normal and blissful silence from the server. And I was finally able to get the model and serial number back in there to get rid of the bootup message it throws for that too.
Ahhhhhhh.
Thanks to all for the hints - I believe I had gotten the idea of flashing the BIOS to solve this from some other thread I found here. This is a very nice forum to have bookmarked.

HT3964 How do I stop my Macbook from overheating and making a fan noise?

My Macbook Pro 17 Inch keeps overheating and making a fan noise after I use it for... say... an hour.
I use Windows on my Macbook, is this related to my problem? If not, do I need to get my fan replaced?
It gets annoying whenever I play a game, and then suddenly my Mac goes to sleep for no reason (probably due to overheating).
The fan noise is kept to a minimal when I use a web browser, or listen to music, but it goes up when I start an application.

Since overheating is something the computer tries to prevent, it will shut down if the temps get too hot, thus your experience is not overheating.
You can have a look at Activity Monitor (Menu Bar > View > Show All Processes) and then sort by CPU to see what the culprit is during downloading.
A hot Mac is not that big of a problem, the fan takes care of the heat and if you do not mind the noise, then that is it.

Macbook pro- OSX lion 10.7.2 fan noise

I just bought a macbook pro laptop, upgraded it to the Lion version, it is now 10.7.2, with processor of 2.7 GHz intel core i7, memory of 8GB, 1333 MHz DDR3. Whenever I am on a program like imovie, safari, iphoto, charging my smartpen...etc.... the fans goes off like crazy. It lasts for a very long time. Sometimes the noise get so bad, it goes from loud to louder...... I don't know what the problem is.
I am a new mac user, I have no idea how to install, delete, clean softwares. Please help?? Thank You ...

Thanks a lot for replying, but what exactly does the istat widget program do?
Also, the fan noise seems like a normal noise every time I launch a program, but it's getting to the point where I am frustrated(annoyed) of the fan noise. I would've thought that upgrading to a Mac book would cause less fan noise because of it's high processor. Sometimes I feel like I should go back to a Dell or HP because of this problem, but at the same time, I love my laptop. ;)

Mac Pro 2x2,8 Ghz - Fan Noise - Please help evaluate

Hi Guys,
Since yesterday, I'm the proud owner of a Mac Pro 2x2,8 - Really happy - really nice machine.
However I'm slightly irritated by the posts I've read all over the internet, saying that you can't hear the fans of this machine at all in idle.
As you may have guessed, my box is not silent at all - it is quite quiet compared to other noisy PCs, yes, but no match for the previous iMac 24" which it replaced. You could hardly hear the iMac versus now the Mac Pro... you notice it's there... sitting under the desk - audible.
I realize that fan noise is highly subjective, and I'm using the Mac in a completely silent environment. No AC, no nothing. I've tried the following: removing the hard drive and silencing the graphics card... Upon bootup the Mac would quickly "turbo" it's fans and then go to it's normal state. The loudest fan (which is drowning out all other noise) is the one at the bottom front (CPU?).
Looking at istat, it's in normal parameters (500rpm or so) and doesn't move up or down...
Comparing it to other devices, it would sound like a PS3 when having played 1 hour (fan speed at level 2-3) or an (quiet) xbox in idle mode (dvd not spinning). I know... geeky comparisons
Now, again - not close to my interpretations of "whisper quiet" "can't hear it at all"... "only hear it when I put my ear to the grill" "sounds like it's cooled passively"
Which makes me think that either
a) people out there are deaf /
or
b) my Mac needs a closer look by a genius
Would really appreciate your opinions.
Thanks,
Tom

hey tom,
you might have the same problem i have. I have the 2.8 octo 2008 mac pro. and it used to be whisper quiet. I was amazed. But recently as in the last few weeks the graphics card fan has become audible. I put in an e sata adapter last week and while inside the mac pro I took a look at the fan to see if it was dusty or visibly distressed. Nope. Couldn't find anything wrong with it. So now i'm just dealing with the noise. Which is too bad cause I really really really don't like fan noise. But the air conditioners on most of the time now so I really can't complain about a little fan noise compared to the ac's grumbling.
but i'd like to know if others are having this problem
thanks,
jayson
www.oldchildprojects.com
Message was edited by: woodybrando

Vaio E series - Cooling Fan noise

Hello, 2 weeks ago I bought Vaio E series. I was very excited that I will have Vaio laptop. It was like my dream wish. According to our standard, we are poor country and the Vaio laptops are extremely expensive. But, Vaio laptops are know for high quallity laptops and great support from Sony. So, I bought it. I am very satisfied with the quality. But I have one problem. The cooling fan is making a lot of noise even the CPU usage its 10 %. I have the latest BIOS version. So, Sony I am expecting from you to release a new BIOS update fixing this issue.. I dont want to start thinking that I pay a lot of money only for the name. With that money I could buy a more powerful machine but I put my trust in Sony. The model number is Model # SVE17122CXB. PS. Don't say that I should go to service center because they can do nothing. I am an IT student and I know how this stuff works. And I dont want the fact that the new laptop will be repaired. So the only solution is BIOS update. Sony, do not make me regret that I have chosen you before other brands.
I am expecting a positive feedback.

t0n1,
Engineering came back saying that fan speed control is not supported on the SVE17 hardware so there is no way on this model to control the fan speed manually. I apologize for suggesting this initially, at the time I did not have your exact model at my desk but instead I had a very similar one (SVE14A)
I also received two SVE17 notebooks and both have extremely quiet fan (especially if CPU usage is very low). Loud fan noise is not a characteristic of this model.
If you feel that the fan on your SVE17 is abnormally loud, then you have two options at this point:
1) You can make a audio/video recording of this fan noise and post it for me to review; after that i can try to give you more suggestions or let you know if this is in fact normal or not. At this time you do not mention that your computer is shutting off, so the unit is not overheating.
2) Or you can consider service. (I realize you initially refused service in your original post, but sometimes some new thermal sheets or re-seating of the heat-sink can address these issues.

I changed permission setting on main disk...took forever now when I bootup I get the chime...apple icon...fan noise...thats it...internal drive is broken...no Mac install disk..I have a windows XP desktop with installation disk..if I was to get external d

I changed permission setting on main disk...took forever now when I bootup I get the chime...apple icon...fan noise...thats it...internal drive is broken...no Mac install disk..I have a windows XP desktop with installation disk..if I was to get external drive ...could I use windows XP styartup disk just to boot the "17"Powerbook-G4...have no intention of downloading XP on the Mac...just want to boot it up...or is there a way to boot the Mac from the XP desktop...cables...etc?

Hi Romko23, just pasted info from manual...PowerBook G4 "17" 5.3
Your PowerBook comes with a minimum of 512 megabytes (MB) of 533
MHz Double Data Rate (DDR2) Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory
(SDRAM) installed. Both memory slots can accept an SDRAM module that meets the
following specifications:
Â Double Data Rate Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module (DDR SO-DIMM) format
Â 1.25 inch or smaller
Â 512 MB or 1 gigabyte (GB)
Â 200-pin
Â PC2-4200 DDR2 533 MHz Type RAM
PS my keyboad is loose...I tighten the tiny screws...only...once ...tried all the key-strokes...Comand-option..P-R.....safe-mode... etc...Mac only reacted ...once...right after.. I tightend K-board >>C-OpT- P-R...mac chimed twice...the Apple icon in grey screen got smaller....now after trying ...keyboard .boot short cuts 10 times..nothing...it chimes ...grey screen....apple in window...fan noice ....thats it...do you think I need to tighten screws...again,
I actually think when I was changing permissions...on entire it was taking so ong...20 min...I just hit power,,shut it down...when it wasn't done...no patience.,...just thought of something ...sounds important...whern I resgisted on this site..I tried to use my Powrbook login name ..got message.... .. blocked...Secury problem....that has to be the problem..blocked..how do I unblock?
Message was edited by: CMK1

TA25225 Display Flickers in my 21" Imac Intel. This happened after the fan noise in my machine. I also reported the problem and gave to the service centre, but the problem still persist. Please help. I purchased it 3 - 4 weeks ago

Hello,
I purchased my imac intel 21" 3-4 weeks ago and in the 2nd week i faced an issue with the machine. When i switched on in, there was a fan noise and a white screen. The machine had hanged. I reported the problem and gave to the service centre. After testing for a week, they said that there is no problem with the imac. Again i faced the same problem after receiving it from the service centre. They again tested the machine for 3-4 days and reported as no problem with the machine. Couple of days back, I received the machine from the service centre, and on the same day when i switched it on, there are flickers in the display. Please help me solve the issue. I am from India. The service here is very bad.
Hope for a resolution
Thanks

Hello RedDevil07
Yes I agree with seventy one. It's common sense to do this, especially now. I would also contact AppleCare and report this issue with them, it will get documented and you will have a caseID that you can refer to when talking to them in the future should this issue go one.
Be polite with AppleCare and your AASP. Hopefully everyone is being honest and trying to help you and not what might appear to be the opposite.
Patience is a virtue, but I thoroughly understand your frustration.
Let us know how it goes, we are here to help in whatever way we can.
I encourage you to contact AppleCare to report this experience and get their recommendations. There is an expectation that you should have that AppleCare is there to help you as a customer. I am sure they will too!

Mac Pro will not boot, constant loud fan noise and nothing else

hello,
earlier tonight,i put my mac pro on sleep, then later on, when i wanted to take it off sleep and use it, it made the loud fan noise, which it always does but goes away, but this time it the fan wount slow down and the loud noise stays and i dont see anything on the screen. im guessing the fan noise is the ATI x1900 card...
any help please..i just bought it 2 months ago...

Hi, here are the steps I would go through. I would unplug the Mac Pro completely from everything and look at the video card's fan intake to make sure it isn't plugged and just make sure everything "looks" correct. I would then plug the machine back into one monitor/keyboard/mouse (leave all the other peripherals disconnected. Once that is done push the power button. Does anything happen? If not then if you have another mac and an external hard drive, make a copy of the OS on the drive and see if you can get the Mac Pro to boot off that drive. If the video card doesn't work then it will not show anything when booting off an external drive. If the external boot does work then I would suspect that you have a bad hard drive (or it crashed). At that point I hope you have a back up of all your data and such.
Mind you these are steps I would go through. What a nightmare. One other thing to check, make sure your monitor didn't die.
Message was edited by: jlseattle74

2 years of this fan noise....check my temperature?

so i've been battling the dreaded imac g5 (first gen) fan noise for the entire 2 years I've had the computer now. one midplane (out of 3 now? 4?) almost fixed the problem, but it had other problems. For the past year I have just let it go as it was in a room with a noisy window air conditioner and a noisy PC. Now I've moved and am back in a quiet room and the noise is unbearable.
Took it back to the apple store but they said it wasn't noisy (and it seemed less noisy there, not near as much "whine", but that could have just been all the ambient noise as well - music, crowded store, etc)
but my real question here is what temp should the imac g5 (1.8ghz) run at? at idle my CPU usually sits at about 155, under load about 165-170. this is acceptable right?
maybe its just a sign to give up on this machine and be an early adopter with the new mac pros and get to deal with whatever engineering probs are there (had the cube before this, bought right when it came out, cracked case, flaky sensor, temp problems, etc) or learn my lesson and wait another 9 months or so
I'm also having USB problems, but Apple told me they couldn't replace it (logic board) because my headphone jack is broken and that part isn't under warranty even though the USB is. sigh

Hi Eric, you might get more help posting in the G5 forum. This forum is for the iMac Intel Core Duo.

Why do I have fan noise after OS 10.7.5 update?

I used to have moaning sounds coming from my Mac Pro (Quad Core, early 2008) when I was in motion graphics programs, or in NetFlix. But ever since I updated to OS 10.7.5 3 days ago, the fan moaning is incessant. Help! I just spent $200 on an old geezer "official Mac" technician, who came to my home office and spent 2 hours doing DiskWarrior!
I am so busy right now, I can't stop to take the tower to a local authorized shop. Will the noise sink my CPU? What is causing it? Is it a glitch in OS 10.7.5? Or do I need new fan(s)?
Anyone hear complaints of sudden incessant noise other than mine?

I used the following:
Copy and past the following in terminal followed by your password when asked for:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
Note that if you've got anything listed in the Spotlight control panel in Privacy, it will be deleted.
To turn it back on (which I haven't tried yet since I don't use Spotlight):
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
When Spotlight is frantically reading everything and indexing it, a lot of CPU % is used, and the HD is being exercised too. That generates heat and could be the cause of the increased fan noise when your Mac Pro speeds up its fans to try to protect itself. 10.7.5 seems problematic in this respect and since your noise problem started after the 10.7.5 update, the two might be connected. Apple tends to run a Mac Pro's fans very slowly to keep the machine quiet, so any speedup would be noticeable.

T420 Fan noise

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