i changed my profile to max battery and the fan still spools up. i have no idea why. i thought it stopped it for awhile but i'm not really sure. i'll check some of the other profile options and get back to you.

hi,
so I called alienware again, because after testing my system again for several hours I remarked, that the fan just startet running at max without any reason.
the point is at the beginning (the first time the cpu temperature raises over the 40°C limit) the fan runs high for about 4 min, then he stops. The second time the temperature raises over the limit the fan starts again but then he stays on for an undefined amount of time, even if the temperature is again far away from the limit.
so as I said before, I called alienware this morning. I had luck, because I could speak directly to a technician. I explained the problem again, and I told him the only explanation I had was the fact that I had the newer bios version. wiccan and guerilla have the old 1.00.01AL and they don't have any problems, but me and chris we have the newer 1.00.02.AL. for me this is the only hint. everything else can't be the source of the problem. I told this to the alienware guy, I even told him about you guys ^^. now he said to me he would contact his technical supervisor and within 2 days I would get an answer. he said they would try to find that older bios version and would test everything. and if this is the solution to the problem I would get the older version. in any case now they are doing something and I hope they'll find a solution.

now another question to you guerilla or wiccan.
could you please describe exactly how your fan is doing.
as I understood your fan is running all the time but at low rpm, and rarely has to turn up high? is that correct?

because mine is off. and as the temperature passes the limit it runs at full speed. wich is a really stupid system. it is much more intelligent to let the fan run all the time at low rpm. whatever, chris have you made the same observations? is your fan off and then turns on?
plz guys give me more information. :-)

I love my system but this fan is just killing me. everything worked superb. I had the laptop within 10 days. everything works fast, the design, the handling everything is marvelous. only that fan is destroying everything. :-(

My fan runs so silently under general use it's hard to say if they're always on
But ya, the fans only kick on high when I'm playing F.E.A.R. or laying in bed watching a movie on it and the fan intake is sometimes covered by a blanket or my lap.

When mine hits 40/41c I can hear a little whirring sound of the fan for a little bit and ten it goes off. Otherwise I never notice it since I have the sound cranked up. Hard to hear a little fan over shotguns firing and grenades

interesting!
this is definetly different on my system.
I can really hear the fan, even when I hear music.
we'll see, I hope the alienware technician can help me out of this mess.

btw. does anyone of you use NHC?
if yes, I'd like to knwo if he/her uses the cpu voltage control. it would be interesting to see wich voltages he/her chose.
mine has the following settings:

Multiplier 6 ---> 0.9500v
Multiplier 7 ---> 1.0000v
Multiplier 8 ---> 1.0500v
Multiplier 9 ---> 1.1000v
Multiplier 10 --> 1.1500v
Multiplier 11 --> 1.2000v
Multiplier 12 --> 1.2500v
Multiplier 12 --> 1.2500v

untill now the system worked stable with those voltages.
maybe one of you has more experience with voltage settings?
any help is welcome! ;-)

well i found something else out today. i tried to take my laptop to class again. and everything was fine...for the first 15 minutes or so. i was monitoring the stats and everything, with only a word processor running. i had max battery scheme running for the power. i was watching the temperature and after it first booted up, the temperature was at about 33C. Then slowly it rose to about 45C after 15 minutes. at this point, the dreaded fan kicked in. it was back to its normal loud self. from what i noticed beforehand, it seems like the fan wasn't even on at all before 45C. i might be wrong, since the only thing i have to confirm this is that i put my hand to see if i could feel any air being sucked in or blown out, and i didn't feel anything. later on when i have more time, i'll try and take the cover off and see if i can physically see the fan running. but from what i have concluded, it takes about 15 minutes for the fan to kick in, at about 45C (although i have noticed before that the fan has kicked in sporadically at random times).

my fan is loud enough to hear through headphones when i'm listening to music. its scary.

definitely let me know when (or IF) alienware calls you back and let me know what they say. i might give them a shout today sometime if i have a spare hour. i am currently searching for another laptop and possibly putting this up for sale if i can't solve this. i cant take it to class and thats one of the reason i bought this little bugger. i love the design, the solid feel, and everything, but this fan just makes it feel unstable. i sure hope its nothing serious.

by the way, how long is the warranty on the sentia's? i'm just curious to see how long it is before i run out.

The warranty depends on what you bought. If you don't know, then you probably have the default 1 year.

I do use NHC and I watched the temp while I did some work (not on the laptop) and it slowly climbed to 45c and the little whirring sound of the fan came on, but only after I opened Firefox to check my e-mail. But it was never loud, just that little "whirrrr" any fan makes. It gets loud when I play games, but never so loud to hear over the speakers.

As for my voltages, I don't have any set in NHC. I never screw with that kind of stuff, it voids the warranty. I don't know that for sure, but since overclocking voids the warranty and changing voltages can cause your system to become unstable I steer clear of that.

My CPU Voltage monitoring is actually disabled. Probably because I have the free version. However, if you changed those voltages that's probably why if it isn't the BIOS version.

Just went to NHC's website and saw they just released a patch for NHC this week that corrects a "problem" with CPU voltages and the Core 2 Duo. This could be why my CPU Voltage monitoring is disabled and/or what might be screwing with your fans. Just released this week October 1st.

Edit: Ok, patched NHC and here we are:

Multi. 6 --- 0.9500v
Multi. 7 --- 1.0000v
Multi. 8 --- 1.0500v
Multi. 9 --- 1.1000v
Multi. 10 -- 1.1500v
Multi. 11 -- 1.2000v
Multi. 12 -- 1.2500v

I also just thought of something. The Core 2 Duo is already set to maximize battery life with its Dynmaic Switching control over voltage and CPU speed. Altering these voltages presents 2 problems:
A) The voltages may have already been as low as they should be (Did you run Prime95?)
B) Voltages fluctuate adding and subtracting about 10% from whatever it's set to. Or the motherboard may not tune exactly to where you have it set, so it goes for the closest setting it can tune to which may be too low.

Since you set the voltages lower this probably isn't your fan issue, but food for thought. I'd worry about your warranty.

I haven't really screwed with the voltages. My fan made funky noises before i installed speedfan and NHC. I just use the programs to monitor the stats and what not. I'm not so sure about lands, but i think my warranty should be intact.

My fan runs completely silent when the notebook is on a flat, open aired surface. If I move it onto my lap or something that will cover the air flow vents, the fan will start getting faster and a bit louder.

If I run programs that use DirectX (anything processing heavy) the fan gets loud enough its noticable if you are sitting near it. But its not unbearable.

But it doesnt sound anything like what you say yours is doing. Mine doesnt turn on unless its needed. And turns off when its not. And hasnt given me any issues at all.

i've also noticed that my laptop, when i first turn it on (before anything comes on the screen) is just now starting to emit this loud beeping noise. it definitely was not there before (started probably about a week or so ago). is this normal?

I also have this prob since the first day.

When i trun on the computer, the fan is very quiet.

After 2 or 3 minutes in windows, and only running IE or outlook express, the fan begin to be loud, not much as loud as when i'm running mame, but half-loud, and it begins to bother me.

And speedfan doesn't allow me to control the fan speed, i'll try to have a look at this on the WE, and probably appy some artic silver on the cpu, it can be the prob.

Yes, this is normal.

What the beeping is is your BIOS' code indicating it has detected peripherals. It's just detecting your 4-in-1 card reader, touchpad, keyboard and anything USB you have plugged in.

Every computer does it. Check it out here http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

I'm expecting alienware to contact me today. I hope they have some good news for me.

by the way, I have a little problem with my sentia. guerilla, maybe you could help me. as you said you play fear on this notebook, which is a game that needs a lot of resources to be played.
I installed battlefield 2 on the laptop, but everytime I start the game the screen gets black for 2 seconds and then I get back on the desktop.
does anyone have an idea why this is happening and how I could make the game run?
thx for help!

PS: the volatge settings weren't changed, as Chris said the fan made noise before. I was just asking if someone knew how to change voltages to minimize the heat production and maybe win time before the fan has to start again. so my waranty must still be intact. but that's not the question. ;-)

now I installed C&C Generals + Zero Hour, and here again the game won't start. I installed all games (BF & C&C) with the newest patches. Plz help me!
why can't I play any game on the laptop?
what drivers did you use? where did you get them from?
I looked on the intel support site, but I didn't find any section for the intel media accelerator 950? any help is welcome!

again another question, now I have downloaded the newest driver version after searching for a long time on the intel support site. now I have version 6.14.10.4670. but why can't I change the power settings on the driver control panel? help!!!