Elitebook 850 G5 Fan runs randomly for a couple of minutes with full speed without CPU load

[UweS06]

Good morning community.

I am using since about six months a refurbished HP Elitebook 850 GB with 32 GB RAM and a 1 TB NVME disc.

Every now and then the fan of the CPU blows on full throttle without a need. CPU load is low, it sometimes turn on even when device is idle on the desk without applications open. 

While doing that the air coming out to the left is absolutely cold,  no indication that the CPU needs cooling.

The problem is independent from the used Operating System. I was running Windows 11 and some flavors of Linux. No change at all. 

Once the fan starts running and i am doing a reboot, it continues even while in BIOS sequence. It is also independent wether the device is on AC or on battery. 

Sometimes it takes 1-2 hours before it starts, sometimes the fan is running only a few minutes after powering on the device.

The company where i bought the device already changed the fan (at least they told me), but after a couple of days silence, the fan started over his ridicolus behavior again.

I have plenty of IT skills, so i can clearly determine that the CPU is not getting hot which requires cooling and nothing loads the CPU at the time the fan is blowing. It starts sometimes running silently (as expected) once i do CPU intensive tasks (e.g. compile an application), but the noise is much less than full speed.

The device is using the latest BIOS version provided by HP and i have changed it back to factory several times - no change

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Dino1988 · Accepted solution]

Hello Uwe,

i have an Elitebook 850 G5  and pretty much the same problem. I bought my Laptop in very good condition on "refurbed.de", its pretty much like new. When i received the Laptop i have used it like it was, with the pre installed Win 10 Pro and a BIOS-Firmware from 2019.

Everything was fine for around a week, the problem has started when i decided to update the BIOS-Firmware to the most recent version. It worked fine for 1 Day after the BIOS Update, then when i turned on my Laptop the fan started to constantly spinning, but there wasn't any workload at all. I did nothing, just turning the Laptop on and not using the Browser or anything else, no update in the background etc. I have opened up the task manager and everything just looked fine.

I  decided to download the little tool "HWmonitor" and i noticed something strange. The Sensor called "CPUZ" was at 85°C all the time, there wasn't any change, normally the temps should go up or down, but not be constantly at the same temp. I thought about it and decided to install a different BIOS Version (a very old one from 2021). And what can i say, so far my problem seems to be solved.

So in my eyes it isn't a Hardware issue, it's a faulty BIOS-Firmware release. Im not new to Computers since i have a degree as " Computer Science Expert in System Integration", so i know a bit about Computers. 😉

If your problem still occurs, please try the little tool "HWmonitor" and look at the sensor "CPUZ". If it shows the same temp all the time try to downgrade your BIOS to the lowest you can get at the HP Support site. 

After i downgraded the BIOS the Sensor "CPUZ" has shown a good temp, so everything was fine......

Greetz from Germany

[UweS06]

Thanks for your reply.

It is a bit disappointing that now after more than a week HP did not reply in their official support forum. 

Anyways, i am working as well in computer industry since > 30 years with lots of expertise. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

Two main things:

• Where is the archive to access older driver and BIOS versions?
• How to "downgrade" the BIOS, if Linux is installed? I want to avoid installing Windows just for updating the BIOS

Any suggestions about BIOS location and solution for the non-Windows OS would be appreciated.
Linux has something similar and a sensor package which runs on CLI. Current results:

Package id 0:  +38.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +37.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +36.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +37.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +38.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

This is shown with the fan beeing quiet. I will check these values when the fan comes up again. 

Greetings

EDIT: Found previous versions of the BIOS on the HP FTP Server and a documentation how to run it on a Linux device. 
Let's see how it goes.

[UweS06]

Quick Update:

Checked the CPU temperature sensors while fan is running. It is not increasing, no reason for the fan to spin.

Package id 0:  +35.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +35.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +30.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +31.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +32.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

Next action will be the BIOS downgrade for testing.

[Dino1988]

You're welcome, the support most likely would give you just standart answers.

Your numbers look good so far, but not shows completely the same sensors i guess.

Yours are most likely the green bordered numbers, while the red bordered number on my picture must be a different sensor. Im still not completely sure what the red sensor shows, but the name suggests that it must have something to do with the CPU as well.

When i had the problem the green bordered numbers were fine and changed, just the red bordered sensor seemed to stuck at 85°C all the time.

For the BIOS downgrade, i dont know how it works on Linux. On Windows i downloaded the wanted BIOS and execute the EXE file, than it shows an option to extract the needed files with the right folder structure on an USB flash device (formated in fat32). 

The first option would be easier, but for this option you would need to be on the windows system where you want to downgrade the BIOS on, cause the BIOS file will be copied to the EFI Partition of your Harddrive and automatically will boot into the BIOS after a restart. 

If you have a Windows PC somewhere around you use it to create the USB Flash recovery drive. If not you could try to set up a virtual Windows Machine on your Linux system with Virtualbox or something like this. Of course you would need to passthrough your usb device to the virtual machine. 😉

[UweS06]

I think, the CPUZ values is the summary or the peak of the cores. The CPU doesn't have additional information beside the CPU temperatures per core. I posted only the values for CPU. the tool offers more under linux as well as shown below. I assume "temp1" is the same value as in your CPU-Z tool

I simply installed Windows 11 for getting the BIOS update done. This was quicker than the alternative by extracting the SoftPaq via Wine and install it in the EFI boot directory or setting up a Virtual Device (i know that passthrough would have been required 😉). All my files are on a network drive, so no backup/restore required.

Currently i have V 1.19 installed, a version which is from 01/2022.

So far the fan is quiet, even during installation of the linux distribution i am using every day. This was not the case on previous installation attempts. So i am rating this BIOS downgrade as a successful option so far.

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:            N/A   

pch_skylake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +32.5°C   

BAT0-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          11.33 V   
curr1:            N/A   

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +36.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +35.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +35.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +36.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +35.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

nvme-pci-3b00
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +29.9°C  (low  =  -0.1°C, high = +84.8°C)
                      (crit = +94.8°C)
Sensor 1:     +29.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 2:     +34.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 8:     +29.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +30.0°C   
temp2:        +35.0°C   
temp3:         +0.0°C   
temp4:        +29.0°C   
temp5:        +30.0°C   
temp6:        +28.0°C   
temp7:        +30.0°C   
temp8:         +0.0°C

[UweS06]

Device is currently compiling an application. The fan is running on low power as the CPU temperature is increasing. But almost not noticable. That's how it is expected to work.

Sensors are showing expected values:

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:            N/A   

pch_skylake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +53.5°C   

BAT0-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          10.63 V   
curr1:            N/A   

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +66.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +66.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +64.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +64.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +65.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

nvme-pci-3b00
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +33.9°C  (low  =  -0.1°C, high = +84.8°C)
                      (crit = +94.8°C)
Sensor 1:     +33.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 2:     +37.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 8:     +33.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +30.0°C   
temp2:        +64.0°C   
temp3:         +0.0°C   
temp4:        +41.0°C   
temp5:        +42.0°C   
temp6:        +31.0°C   
temp7:        +34.0°C   
temp8:         +0.0°C

[Dino1988]

Yes you're probably right that the cpuz value is just some kind of summary of the cpu values.

Anyway, im happy that the downgrade worked for you and the fan is quiet now. There is nothing more anoying as a noisy fan that runs all the time. Sure it sucks to be not able to use the most recent BIOS Version, but a loud fan sucks much more. Hope HP will fix the issue in one of the next BIOS Update. 

Cross my fingers that your problem stays fixed. 

When i had the problem with the fan and saw the stucked sensor i instantly knew there must be a problem with the BIOS, cause that was the only thing i changed. And so far it seems i was right, runs super smooth and quiet.

Those Elitebooks are great when it comes to quality, but the hardware is only as good as the software that drives it. 😁

Anyway

Good luck! 🙂

[UweS06]

After launching the device this morning, the fan came up again after some minutes, but only for a few seconds. After that it was quiet again. 

I will monitor it and if happening again, i am going to change the BIOS to 1.17 or even 1.16.

If i am not totally wrong, the issues started after a BIOS update. But i cannot remember all details, this was almost a year ago. 

Meanwhile i found instructions to run a BIOS update (or downgrade) in Linux, by copying the .bin files to the boot loader. That's more or less the same what the Windows tool is doing, but requires a bit more manual work.

[UweS06]

Quick update after extensive usage of the device.

Works perfect, fan absolutely quiet, only silent whispering while running cpu intensive actions. 

Seem to be that the problem is fixed. 

I also ran some test installations of my favorite Linux distrbutions (where the fan cam up after short time). Nothing happened.

Really disappointing why HP generated bugs with a firmware upgrade.