Laptop Fan?? Crazy

[Flysofree]

When I run my computer at home, the fan runs almost constantly. Not real loud but just so you are well aware that it's running. When I run same computer at public library or at the local mall, I don't hear the fan noise at all? How crazy is this? :confused:

At home it's not plugged into an electrical strip, but directly into the wall outlet.

[Augenj]

When I run my computer at home, the fan runs almost constantly. Not real loud but just so you are well aware that it's running. When I run same computer at public library or at the local mall, I don't hear the fan noise at all? How crazy is this? :confused:

At home it's not plugged into an electrical strip, but directly into the wall outlet.
Just guessing but maybe the surfaces are different with the one at home not conducting heat away from the laptop? The bottoms of most laptops can get warm and some pretty warm.

[Flysofree]

That has to be it! Thanks.

[wilderness]

The biggest contributor to laptop problems is heat.
You may buy an eternal fan (two actually) that sits a 1/2 inch platform at computer stores as low as $10-20 that power on USB. Nicer ones with their own power supply are more.

I've had one for years and they cool the laptop down immediately. The difference is unreal.

[DJofSD]

wilderness is correct.

I would look to see if the laptop has the ability to show you the temperature of the CPU then monitor it when using it at both locations. If the CPU is at the same temperature when running at both places then the fan is doing its job.
If the laptop does not have a built in facility for checking the temperature, try getting Speccy from Piriform (freeware).

However, if it is running hotter then it needs to be fixed. You could have dust bunnies inside the system and that can really foul up the ability to cool the CPU by blocking the air flow inside the laptop and by making the heat sink less efficient. It is possible to open up the laptop and clean in up but it is not for the inexperienced.

[Dave Schwartz]

Is the machine running on battery at the library?

If so, check the settings in the laptop. The power settings may limit the speed of the fan when running on battery.

Personally, I have a big, wide Toshiba laptop. I was surprised to find that the power settings on the laptop were such that when it goes into sleep mode, it cuts the power to all the internal ports and shuts down the wi-fi.

The problem was that when the laptop came back from sleep, the wif-fi card had to ALWAYS be reset. Very annoying.

Check out the settings by going to ControlPanel>> PowerSettings>> (ChoosePlan)>> Advanced Settings.

Just poking around in there will amaze you at what is being shut down at different times that could cause problems.