HP Envy 13-ah0003na Fans always on and short battery life

[Jamietk]

Hi, I have a brand new (week old) HP Envy 13-ah0003na and the fans seem to always be on, even with very light usage (one tab currently open in edge and the fan is spinning away). occasionally it sounds as if its about to stop spinning and then whirs up again and keeps going (not full speed but enough to be an annoyance and seems very unnecessary when the laptop is cold to the touch). 

On top of this, my battery life seems to be very short, about 4/5 hours light usage in the "better battery" mode with 50% brightness.

before I send off for a replacement (which I really dont want to do as I dont want to go over a week without a laptop i need for work), I was just wondering if this is normal behaviour? Is there any way to change this? I've already been through every other post like this on the support forums and tried everything suggested.

I'm on the latest version of the BIOS with all drivers up to date and most recent windows 10 updates.

Thanks for your help.

[BrianTan]

Try using Windows Task Manager to check if there are any system process with high CPU usage.

[Jamietk]

Looking at task manager, the process with the highest cpu usage (15-25%) is "service host: local system"

(also, avast, my antivirus software, is hovering around 10% cpu usage)

[BrianTan]

Expand that entry System Host: Local System to see what it is running.

eg. Windows Update. Kill it to see if fan dies down. If so, change your windows update setting.

Also try quit/kill avast to see if it makes a difference.

[Jamietk]

No luck, unfortunately. I'm down to about 7-8% cpu usage and still the fans are whirring away.

[BrianTan · Accepted solution]

I don't use avast, but tried install avast, it is making fan spin. Uninstalled avast, fan back to normal.

Make sure "FAN Always On" is disabled in BIOS if available.

You could install "Core Temp" and/or "SpeedFan" to monitor CPU temperature and load.

[Jamietk]

Any chance you could recommend a free alternative to avast? or would i be ok to just use windows defender?

seems like maybe avast is my problem as the fans have slowed down significantly since uninstalling

[BrianTan]

AVG looks the same as avast, but has a smaller CPU footprint, I think.

[Jamietk]

Thank you, I'll try AVG instead.

[CazT]

Hi,

Could you tell me if uninstalling Avast permanently solved the fan noise problem?  I have exactly the same issue with my new HP Envy 13 ah0001na.  The fan whirrs intermittently, no heat that I can discern but the noise a nuisance.  I have Avast installed.