# Increased fan speed on idle



## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

I have an Asus M32BF desktop.

When I leave the PC on idle (no activity for a while), the fans speed up considerably.

I do not think there is a mechanical problem with the fans, but the noise is considerable and annoying to others in the room e.g. trying to listen to TV.

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

You are right to assume it is not a mechanical problem with the fans. But something is telling them to speed up and that should not happen when the system is idle. 

Have you rebooted? That may sound like a cop-out solution but it sounds like there may be a sleep issue and rebooting can some times resolve those. And speaking of sleep, it make me wonder why, if idle, it is not going to sleep. Did it used to?

Are your temps normally okay?


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for the reply Bill_Bright

How can I check the temps?

It's not a new problem, so I have not rebooted. Has been happening as long as I have the unit (just others are complaining about it now).

If idle, all that happens is the lockscreen kicks in. If, for instance, I am casting from my PC to a Chromecast on a TV in another room, then the fans kick in, as there is no activity on the PC for a while.

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

> I am casting from my PC to a Chromecast on a TV in another room


Now wait! That is NOT an "idle" computer. It may not be a heavy load, but it is not an idle load either. It is a constant load that likely will cause temps to rise enough to cause the fans to kick in. 

There are many programs you can use to monitor your temps. I use and recommend CoreTemp to monitor my CPU temps. I also like Speccy (from the makers of CCleaner) which provides much more "System Information". It has a system tray applet too. HWiNFO64 is also very (if not too) informative, but does not have a system tray applet.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

I've just left the pC for about an hour and when I came back the fans were running at high speed. Nothing running on the PC except Outlook and Chrome.

I took a sample using Coretemp while at high speed and attached is the result.

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

It would seem something is running and eating up resources because if Outlook and Chrome were just sitting there, your loads should be under 10%, not in the mid 30s. 

You might take a look with Task Manager or Resource Monitor (from the Performance tab in Task Manager) and see if you can see what is consuming your resources.

47°C for a max is just fine.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks Bill_Bright

I will use Task Manager next time it happens.

Can you give me some specific details as to what area I should check or what information you need me to gather?

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

In TM under the Processes Tab, if you click on CPU, the processes will sort on that column. It may be tricky to see what is consuming the most as they jump around, but hopefully the one eating up those large percentages will be obvious.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

It seems to rotate between 

Desktop Window Manager
Google Chrome (multiple instances)
Kaspersky Anti-Virus

None go higher than 4%

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

I would kill Chrome to start.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

Hi Bill-Bright

In the meantime, I spoke to Asus and they advised me to update the Chipset driver and also do a Load Optimal Defaults in BIOS.

I have no idea what effect doing either of these would have on my PC, and more importantly, if I could roll back if I experience problems. Therefore, I won't be actioning.

Does this make any sense to you?

I'm continuing to keep an eye on the fan speed and will get a grab from Task Manager next time it happens.

T


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## Techwardo (Oct 10, 2016)

I would check the temperature of the pc periodically to see how hot it is. Also if it's near a heat source it could play a part.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks Techwardo

How do I check the temperature of the PC?

Also, is there an app that would do that and give me a report?

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

> How do I check the temperature of the PC?


I already showed you that and you already provided a screen shot where we saw your 47°C was just fine. 



> I spoke to Asus and they advised me to update the Chipset driver and also do a Load Optimal Defaults in BIOS.


That's just typical reading from the checklist suggestions by someone who has no clue, or by policy, must follow a checklist. 

Those steps will not hurt anything. And while it is possible updating the drivers may help, drivers don't suddenly go bad so I would not get any hopes up. 

I am concerned, however, that you don't seem to be following my suggestions - or at least are not reporting back with your findings.  

As I told you above, if you are streaming, your computer is not at idle. So you need to stop streaming and any other running application and see what fans do then. And I noted to kill Chrome but we don't know what happened when (if?) you did that either.


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

Thanks for the update Bill-Bright.

Let me assure you that I value your continued support and am following your instructions. I have been waiting for the fans to speed up again (they have not), before sending the details. Hence, nothing to report.

I will not be taking the actions as advised by Asus, as I don't do things that I don't understand.

I closed Chrome and nothing happened. I have opened Chrome again, as I want to run my PC in as "normal" a fashion as I always do, in order to try and recreate the problem.

When I get a recurrence, I will send the report.

In case I gave the wrong impression, it is not ONLY streaming that causes the fans to speed up. It happens fairly regularly, even when not streaming.

T


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## tomohawk (Dec 29, 2009)

OK - it's happened at last. No streaming this time.

Chrome is open with multiple tabs.

T


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 17, 2004)

Chrome is clearly suspect consuming 48.7% of your CPU resources, and over 2GB of RAM. 

It is common for browser problems to be caused by corrupt or wayward add-ons. So you might try running without any. Or better yet, start over. Uninstall Chrome, reboot and see what happens. If okay, reinstall Chrome and see if the problem returns.


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