HP ZBook Studio G

[Stuart-]

I'm finding that the cooling fan in the HP ZBook Studio G3's is 'constantly' fluctuating.

I'm not really concerned with the volume of the fan noise, but I am finding it SUPER annoying to have the speed ramp up and back down every second even while the computer is mostly idle.

Is there a bios setting, OS/driver update/setting that will fix this so that the fan speed can rise and fall in a more controlled or stable manor?

Thanks in advance.

PS: I've got 5 of these notebooks and they all exhibit this behaviour, so I am fairly certain the fans are operating 'as designed'.

[sdoshi]

I'm having the same issue. It seems to go away after a restart and then returns after a short while. Is there anyone else experiencing this - or anyone else who was able to solve it? It's very distracting. I'll check this week to see if the rest of our office's deployment is also seeing this issue.

[SpeakerDamage]

Hi Stuart,

After reporting the same issue here in The Netherlands, nobody at HP seems to have heard about this issue yet.

They've sent a service engineer to replace both the fans module and the systemboard.

Unfortunately this didn't solve the problem.

Because of some other issues they replaced the systemboard for the second time last week.

This didn't help also.

I've returned my Zbook Studio as a DOA.

Yesterday I've got my new sample of the Zbook Studio.

But guess what... same problem.

Fortunately service at HP is top notch.  HP support is quick and appropriate, and they are really doing their best helping out.

I've read some reports about fan noise problems at some forums.

For example in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/hp-zbook-studio-g3-owners-review.787246/

The problem is also mentioned in this review here:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-ZBook-Studio-G3-Workstation-Review.165832.0.html

Search for:

System noise

Personally I think it might be an issue they can resolve with a BIOS update.

Or it can possibly be a fans design flaw, which I don't hope it is.

I will contact HP support tomorrow again.

I really do hope they can come up with a proper solution, because it is a very annoying issue.

I'll keep you posted . . .

Kind regards

[soccer_dan]

Did you try updating the BIOS? Current BIOS rev is 1.08. The BIOS manages the fan based on heat sensors built on the motherboard. If the latest BIOS does not address the fan noise problem, you may have to open a case with HP Support. I suggest you run HP ImageDiags data collection tool to capture information about your laptop to make available to the Support team

ImageDiags: ftp.hp.com/pub/idr

[SpeakerDamage]

Hi soccer_dan,

Thanks for your comment.

I'm a bit worried to update the bios to the latest version (1.08), because with the Zbook Studio I have returned, the service engineer updated from 1.07 to 1.08, and after the update the notebook gave a label error message. Also all USB ports stopped working after updating new USB 3.1 drivers via Softpaq Download Manager, while UEFI diagnostics didn't find any errors during testing. With the Zbook Studio I had before, I did update from 1.04 to 1.07, and this didn't resolve the fans issue.

My new sample of the Zbook Studio, which I did receive last weekend, is a newer built (May 2016), and came with BIOS rev 1.07. Fans problem is exactly the same as with the first sample. Also 5 recommended updates from the HP Support Manager won't install. Tried with HP Softpaq Download Manager... same problem.

I only want to try the newest BIOS update (1.08) if it is certain that this should resolve the fans issues.

Note that the notebook isn't getting hot at all and the issue is even there when idle or maximum 10 to 15% CPU load.

I had planned to call HP support about these problems today, but was too busy today, unfortunately. I will try to contact them tomorrow... hope they can sort things out for me.

I'll keep you guys posted . . .

Kind regards

[soccer_dan]

Be aware some of the updates recommended by SDM are likely for the Thunderbolt dock. You would need to have the dock connected for those updates to take hold

[SpeakerDamage]

I know... Thanks for pointing this out.

Problem with these updates, that it's not always mentioned in the description.

Think it would be better to adjust the installers so, that they only show up when there actually is a dock connected.

I don't have one.

Little confusing and annoying, because HP Support Manager keeps showing the updates everytime you have restarted your computer.

Kind regards

[Stuart-]

Hi SoccerDan... yes I have Bios 1.08.  Still not working very well for me.

My displays either don't get detected, get detected but not enabled for some reason, or detected as capable of only 640x480. Usually after 15 minutes of messing around I can get everything working.

I do have two other users here that seem to be ok now.

Going to try and make sure I didn't miss an update or something...

[SpawnSP2]

I also noticed the fan noise. I'ts very annoying that everytime the CPU usage passes 15%-20%, the fan starts making this variable pitch noise.

I installed the "Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Driver" (for me its Softpaq 74284, don't know if it's the same for every model of Zbook) but since i'm on a noisier environment right now, I can't assure that the noise issue is fixed. But you can try it.

[soccer_dan]

You can stop Support Assistant from showing needed updates by going into its console and modifying the settings. 

You are right, that it would be better if SDM should not show the dock updates unless one is connected. I am going to suggest that feature. There may have to be driver packaging changes done, perhaps, so that SDM would recognize those and point them out as needed for docking