Terin
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2008
- Messages
- 15 (0.00/day)
| Processor | Intel E2200 2.2GHz Dual Core Pentium 4 |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Foxconn G31MV-K |
| Cooling | 2x 80mm case fans |
| Memory | 1.5GB scavenged DDR2 |
| Video Card(s) | Powercolor Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB DDR3 |
| Storage | 160GB 2.5" Seagate Freeagent |
| Display(s) | MPC 1280x1024 LCD |
| Power Supply | 420w RaidMax PSU |
Long story short - My Dell Inspiron 1501's fan doesn't work. It spins up on boot up, but then stops and doesn't spin again, up to the point of overheating and shutting down.
Long story long - I swapped out a 160GB external hard drive with my 60GB internal one, after I figured out how to get it out of it's casing. I lost my Dell CDs long ago, so the only choice was to reinstall the OS on the new hard drive, which worked out before when I downgraded from Vista to XP. After putting in the new hard drive, installing XP again, installing new drivers, and reinstalling some old programs, everything seemed to work out. I use my laptop pathetically for gaming, and about a day or two after the installation, within about 20 minutes of gaming, the FPS would drop significantly. I used CPU-Z and RMClock to figure out that the clock multiplier would get stuck at x4, resulting in a speedy 800MHz, no matter how much I loaded the CPU.
RMClock allowed me to get it out of this stupor with a little success, but after about two days of doing this, the computer started to shut down after it being on for a bit. Using the same magical programs, the CPU was running at the full 2.0GHz, in complete contrast to the previous issue. On top of that, the fan was not working at all, except on boot-up. This combination of quickly generating heat and no cooling made it so that it was pretty much impossible to have the laptop running for more than 20 minutes. I got lucky and was able to find power scheme in the control panel, and changing it from Portable/Laptop to Minimal Power Management ironically re-enabled the CPU to scale dynamically, from 800MHz to 1.6GHz to a full 2.0GHz. So now the problem is the fan. I currently have to put a desk fan behind the laptop in order to cool it.
Here are some things I've tried -
1. Updated the BIOS from 1.70 to 2.63. Changed nothing.
2. Tried to use SpeedFan to force the fans on. Does nothing. I even saw a suggestion to enable the Dell support check, and have it start up with the OS. However, there's an error "DELL Support Enabling has been disabled because SYSTEM CALLS were unsuccessful"
3. Using Christian Diefer's Fan Control. This outright fails, as it can't detect any temperatures or any sensors at all, even though SpeedFan and RMClock can.
4. Reinstalling the drivers. Mostly, I tried reinstalling the CPU driver. While I was having the 2.0GHz locked clock issues, I did that, at sometimes, it re-enabled the fans at a low speed. It wasn't enough for the full 2.0GHz, and now, no matter how many times I reinstall, nothing has changed.
5. Going back to the old hard drive. No change there, either.
With this situation, I can only do some online work, as it's very uncomfortable and cumbersome to have the fan set up all the time. If anyone could shed some light on this situation, it would be a huge help to get me back to full-use of my laptop.
Long story long - I swapped out a 160GB external hard drive with my 60GB internal one, after I figured out how to get it out of it's casing. I lost my Dell CDs long ago, so the only choice was to reinstall the OS on the new hard drive, which worked out before when I downgraded from Vista to XP. After putting in the new hard drive, installing XP again, installing new drivers, and reinstalling some old programs, everything seemed to work out. I use my laptop pathetically for gaming, and about a day or two after the installation, within about 20 minutes of gaming, the FPS would drop significantly. I used CPU-Z and RMClock to figure out that the clock multiplier would get stuck at x4, resulting in a speedy 800MHz, no matter how much I loaded the CPU.
RMClock allowed me to get it out of this stupor with a little success, but after about two days of doing this, the computer started to shut down after it being on for a bit. Using the same magical programs, the CPU was running at the full 2.0GHz, in complete contrast to the previous issue. On top of that, the fan was not working at all, except on boot-up. This combination of quickly generating heat and no cooling made it so that it was pretty much impossible to have the laptop running for more than 20 minutes. I got lucky and was able to find power scheme in the control panel, and changing it from Portable/Laptop to Minimal Power Management ironically re-enabled the CPU to scale dynamically, from 800MHz to 1.6GHz to a full 2.0GHz. So now the problem is the fan. I currently have to put a desk fan behind the laptop in order to cool it.
Here are some things I've tried -
1. Updated the BIOS from 1.70 to 2.63. Changed nothing.
2. Tried to use SpeedFan to force the fans on. Does nothing. I even saw a suggestion to enable the Dell support check, and have it start up with the OS. However, there's an error "DELL Support Enabling has been disabled because SYSTEM CALLS were unsuccessful"
3. Using Christian Diefer's Fan Control. This outright fails, as it can't detect any temperatures or any sensors at all, even though SpeedFan and RMClock can.
4. Reinstalling the drivers. Mostly, I tried reinstalling the CPU driver. While I was having the 2.0GHz locked clock issues, I did that, at sometimes, it re-enabled the fans at a low speed. It wasn't enough for the full 2.0GHz, and now, no matter how many times I reinstall, nothing has changed.
5. Going back to the old hard drive. No change there, either.
With this situation, I can only do some online work, as it's very uncomfortable and cumbersome to have the fan set up all the time. If anyone could shed some light on this situation, it would be a huge help to get me back to full-use of my laptop.
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