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Area 51m 766 fan noise

post #1 of 4
11/21/08 at 10:03pm
Thread Starter 
My friends gave me their Area 51m 766, which had started running super hot--so hot that it would just shut down soon after turning on.

I managed to get it stable by wiping the hard drive and reinstalling XP and all the appropriate drivers from the aw site, and then cleaning off all the dust that had caked on over the air grills. I'm sure the cleaning did the most good, but starting over with the hdd ruled out any software issues.

Now the machine runs fine, but the fan is still super loud and is on constantly. I've opened the bottom and cleaned out some tiny dust bunnies (and a little cat fur) from the fan itself, and I think it might be a little quieter, but it still is quite distracting.

SpeedFan tells me the cpu is running at 75C at idle. Is that normal?

I've seen threads about putting in new thermal paste, but is there anything else I should try besides that? Replace the fan? Update the BIOS? Bust out the credit card and buy the MacBook Pro I really want?

I wouldn't be looking this gift horse in the mouth, but it won't stop shouting in my face. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!
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post #2 of 4
11/22/08 at 4:17pm
Hi there,
I wish I had some great idea that could help you, let me just state that this machine for sure was simply fairly loud right from the beginning. I had mine (before the ATi Radeon 9700 gave up, anyone having one to sell (the AW variety of course) please drop me a line!) in the bedroom all the time and you couldn't leave it on when you wanted a good night's sleep.I'm glad for you the cleaning has helped (once it shuts down, it is likely to have gathered a lot of dust in the heat sink etc.), but unless you invent some cooling mod, it is likely to stay like that. The desktop CPU may be the reason, but I'm not that much of a technician.
Years ago there was a lot of talk here about different cooling pads, I have one that blows air under the lappy and the internal fan isn't as loud as before, but you will notice the one from the cooler that is just as loud :-)
My advice: Put some good music on, and loud enough :-)
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post #3 of 4
11/23/08 at 11:18am
I would take the heatsink off the cpu, clean it and apply new thermal grease. I don't know what the normal running temp is for the 766, but it does have a desktop P4 in there, so it likely runs pretty warm.

With older systems, the heatpads dry up and crack, and you end up with gaps in the thermal connection. I seem to recall my old 766 also had the fans on most of the time, so this may not get rid of the fan noise, but it should ensure the temps of the cpu are under control for a longer life.
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post #4 of 4
11/23/08 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the feedback, guys! Okay, I'll go ahead and put new thermal paste in there. I've seen some step-by-steps for doing this on other Alienware models. Anybody have an old link bookmarked for doing this on the 766?

Oh, also, if I leave the notebook off all night (you know, so the neighbors can sleep) then when I turn it on the screen won't turn on. I have to power-button it off and back on once or twice before it will show me the Alienware screen and the Windows XP startup stuff. It sort of sounds like the video card only works when it's warmed up a bit. I can't imagine why that would be. Any thoughts about that?

Thanks!
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