Cooling Fan Error 90b for HP Spectre 14-ef2013dx

[unoono]

One year old  HP Spectre x360 14-ef2013dx (already out of warranty) just started having an error message on startup about the cooling fan is not working property (error 90B) and the PC will shut down in 15 seconds or the user can  press enter to continue to booting to Windows.  If selecting Enter to continue to use Windows, everything works fine, and CPU temperature is in normal range from 35c-45c during light use and around 70c-90c during heavy use. The fans can be heard working during heavy use to cool down the PC, so all appears working fine, except for that startup error.

It appears that others have had similar issues with this error and that BIOS updates can cause or solve this issue.  The notebook is up to date with all Windows drivers and Windows update.  HP Support Assistant was used to install any updates, including updating the BIOS. A hard reset was tried (powering off the device and holding the power key for 15 seconds then turning it on while plugged into the adapter).  Nothing has solved the issue and it is intermittent (the startup error happens most of the time when booting up).

Opened up the notebook in a shop and did not see any issues with the fans, they looked clean. While it was open, disconnected and reconnected the battery to preform a second hard reset.

Also tried the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI tool to run a fan speed test, and at the end of the test it said failed. I exported the fan test logs, here is the last part that was interesting, how it can show 255% for the last tests.

14:20:48 Starting Graphical System Diagnostic Menu
14:21:14 [L]> Fan Speed Test Started
14:21:14 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 60%
14:21:34 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 59%
14:21:34 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 80%
14:21:54 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 79%
14:21:54 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 100%
14:22:14 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 100%
14:22:14 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 60%
14:24:15 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 255%
14:24:15 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 80%
14:25:15 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 255%
14:25:15 [L]> CPU Fan: Set Fan Test Values 100%
14:26:15 [L]> CPU Fan: Get Fan Test Values 255%
14:26:25 [L]> Fan Speed Test Completed - Result 3

Based on everything I have seen, it appears the fans are working, doing their job to keep the CPUs cool (I am constantly checking the CPU temp with the monitoring tools such as Core Temp), and the startup error is probably caused by something else other than an actual hardware issue. Any help is welcome.

[erico]

At the shop did they unplug and plug the processor fan again?

[unoono]

No, the shop did not unplug the fans and reconnect them.

[erico]

That has been reported as a fix before. Most PC shop technicians would have done that.

You are most likely going to need to have the fan replaced to resolve the issue.

[unoono]

If that is true about really needing to replace the fan, that is rather unfortunate, as this is the third major issue with this new laptop only a month out of warranty.  The other two issues were about six months ago the laptop would not turn on and the only way to fix it was to take it to a shop where they disconnected the battery and reconnected it... then after updating the BIOS that issue never has not happened again. The other issue I had to contact HP support because one of the USB-c ports suddenly stopped working after changing some USB adapter cables. That issue was also solved by a BIOS update.  I was hoping that this fan issue could also be solved with a BIOS update, and perhaps it still may be in a newer BIOS version. I have had previous HP laptops including another HP Spectre without any hardware issues, it is rather disappointing that this newer and more expensive model appears to have so many semi-serious issues.