The fans will not spin and make this laptop a heater

[Jure-Jancigaj]

Hi Everyone. 

First of all, I must say that the Spectre 15' laptop is absolutely great looking and has all the features I was looking for.  I have bought this laptop in the HP refurbishment program and at the beginning, I didn't notice any problems. 

The laptop just came out of a warranty inspection and I must say I'm not very glad it did without any changes. I'm not aware of what changes you have made to the thermal handling of this device but with every BIOS update, the situation is worse. 

I have usually read from the users that this laptop has noticeable fans with which I would be comfortable but in my case, the fans usually don't even turn on.  I've had a feeling that the performance of the laptop is being compromised as I was using it and to the touch, it is always pretty warm (on the speaker grill under-screen a little hot)  but I don't mind that. 

First I would like to tell my usage.

The laptop is usually used in work for 8h per day on a stand with a fan, connected to one external display and plugged in but I aswell migrate through the office and take it with me to take notes or do something on the fly. 

When stress testing the laptop the temperature rises to 90 degrees + and stays there and this can as well happen when browsing or using my work tools. The temperature stays there unless the temperature is above 95 degrees I would say for more than 5 minutes and in the meantime, the CPU works at a clock of 2.2GHz if plugged in or 1GHz when not connected to power. Once the fans turn on the laptop is feeling fresh again with a temperature of about 60-70 degrees but that doesn't last for a very long time. 

As mentioned at the start I wouldn't mind if the fans could be tuned very aggressive when I'm doing some extensive work but regardless of the setting, the laptop remains quiet even where there is no need and from a performance standpoint I would be better of getting the 8550u model as the additional power can't be used. It seems like there is something wrong with the firmware that handles the fans or with one sensor as I couldn't find any other sources reporting this. 

Just please don't say that I have a 45W processor and that I should expect a temperature of 90+ degrees in an ordinary workload like Microsoft Office or Google Chrome.

I've had as well some problems with the privacy filter of the laptop but this comes rarely, so I understand that the inspection didn't find it. 

[Echo_Lake]

@Jure-Jancigaj
Thank you for posting on HP Support Community.

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, I have a few troubleshooting steps we could try to fix the issue:  

use the following steps in order to isolate the issue.

• Shut down the computer, and then inspect and clean the exterior vents to remove dust buildup by blowing air through the vent openings. Dust can accumulate inside the vent openings and around internal cooling components, preventing the removal of heat.

For more information on reducing heat inside your computer, see Reducing Heat Inside the PC.

• After you remove the dust, turn on the computer. If the error message persists, continue with these steps.
• Perform a hard reset. Performing a hard reset can reset recorded thermal values in memory and enable you to use the computer again, even if only for a short time to access and save any important files before service.

For more information on performing a hard reset, see Use Hard Reset to Resolve Hardware and Software Issues.

• In some cases, updating the BIOS might help prevent this error from occurring.

For more information on how to update the BIOS, see Updating the BIOS.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[Jure-Jancigaj]

Hi Echo_Lake,

Thank you for your reply. 

I'm a little bit surprised to hear that the ventilation should be a problem since the device was just inspected by an HP authorized service and the laptop is half a year in my possession. Just to assure you the laptop has clean vents, cleanly installed Windows 10 and all the HP updates together with the BIOS updates that probably started my problems. 

After doing some additional search and putting in more of my time than I should I have found out that from the BIOS version F28 (currently F40 running) you have modified how the laptop is handling the power delivery as well as fan speed. I have no option to increase the fan speed in Windows unless I enable the Comfort mode in HP Command Center which locks my CPU clock to a slower speed but the fans actually run which seems nice. 

I have tried and installed ubuntu where the problem is not so obvious, so I assume some people are correct that you have some kind of code that is Windows-specific and ensures that the laptop fans are not running. From the current knowledge unless HP does a BIOS update that will bring me back to F28 state or at least allow me to downgrade the BIOS I won't have any better results. It's hard to prevent myself to not open the PC and just re-paste the GPU and CPU with a good thermal paste to check if there is any difference but I don't want to lose my warranty since I have seen some pretty strange things in my half-year use. 

Hopefully, HP didn't make the same mistakes with the new Spectre 15 (2020) version but I noticed that you have made bigger holes for cooling and I think you are to concerned with the fan noise. I have bought an ultrabook with a 45W CPU and if I want to use it I'm aware that there is a lot of heat being produced from it and the cooling is capable of keeping the device cool if it would run. 

Side note: I have noticed that if I run a stress test in the UEFI firmware the CPU reaches only 80 degrees max while in Windows 10 with any benchmark the device reaches 95+ degrees in 10 second. You should take a look at it or be aware that some users will notice that a stress test isn't so stressing the CPU as it should. 

[praveen196]

@Jure-Jancigaj 

Thank you for the update.

HP will not recommend applying the thermal paste.

I would suggest you contact our phone support. They will help you.

Here is how you can get in touch with phone support.

1)Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/

2)Select the product type.

3)Enter the serial number of your device or select let HP detect your product option.

4)Select the country from the drop-down.

5)You should see the HP phone support number or Chat option listed.

Have a nice day!!

[Jure-Jancigaj]

@praveen196

Thank you for your reply. 

I'm located in Slovenia, so there is no support number to call. Previously I have used the chat without any success as the agent or bot replied to me with wrong information and then I got the info that a pickup would be scheduled but instead I received an email that I need to contact a local service office. 

What I would be interested in is if there will be any additional BIOS update or an option to downgrade as mentioned before.

I would assume there will be no replacement for my laptop at any point as all the time I hear the word normal but I would say that the laptop was in a different state when everyone has done a review of it and now it seems that all the problem comes from Software which is really a shame to hear that it can't be addressed.  Still, the laptop is melting away my knees on my sofa currently without even being plugged in (I would assume a more conservative power plan when not plugged in).