Dell XPS M1330 Fan Stuttering
10/30/2008 9:22:48 PMJust in case anyone else bumps their head against this one for a while, I hope this helps.
I recently upgraded my XPS M1330 NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS drivers to version 17.15.11.7644 (Dell lists the version as 176.44 V32, A10).
After the upgrade my fan would constantly spin at high speed and then stop. Over and over and over . . . It was really annoying.
The issue was that I didn't flash the XPS M1330 to the latest BIOS. After flashing to BIOS version A12 the fan went back to normal.
Comments
ps
11/5/2008 1:53:38 PMThanks for your post! I had the same problem and this solution worked for me.
Pissed@dell
11/9/2008 9:12:53 PMIve had the same problem too... might give that a try. How does it run with the a12? Does the fan run all the time?
Hates Dell
11/11/2008 9:51:55 AMI've had this problem too, and more; Dell has gone to shit, their repair techs are incompetent and careless, and their Indian call center crew awful. It took TWO MONTHS for my xps m1330 to be repaired... first it was the faulty video card, then it was the damages THE REPAIR DEPOT CAUSED. I just got it back FINALLY and it has new and exciting damages (the faceplate that fits over the headphone jacks on the front is falling off and my plastic insert for the SD card reader is still missing). I will never EVER buy a Dell product again, and I will go out of my way to tell everyone of my awful awful experience. As far as I'm concerned, I wasted $2500. Fuck Dell!
Evan
http://www.evanclosson.com11/11/2008 11:29:05 AM
@pissed@dell
> How does it run with the a12?
Runs great.
> Does the fan run all the time?
Nope, all good after the bios flash.
@hates dell
Sounds like you had a bad time man. That sucks. Those call centers are horrible but I have only used them once.
I must say I'm very impressed with the M1330 and I am of the belief that Dell was kind of wandering aimlessly for a while but have now gotten back on the right path.
Rich T
11/15/2008 7:44:50 AMEvan = Hero Worked like a charm
Paul R
http://www.helitavia.com11/15/2008 10:25:30 AM
The Dell BIOS in the M1330 is now at version A13. I had the same issue with my 1330 until I updated the BIOS. Thanks to the OP for the clue, saved a lot of time.
chris
11/16/2008 12:48:10 PMomg, i found this a few seconds too late. as soon as i ran into the problem, i reformatted my laptop again. argh.. next time i will search earlier. thanks for the heads up.
Thanos
11/17/2008 5:54:09 AMYey...thanks for this mate...
Nick S
11/18/2008 1:48:27 AMThanks dude!
Ricky Cadden
http://www.rickycadden.com11/18/2008 3:56:29 PM
I've got the XPS M1330 and just updated to BIOS A13 (from A11) and I *still* have this issue. Chatted with Dell Support, and they informed me that I would need to have the motherboard replaced (after doing nothing but updating the BIOS). Any other suggestions to get this freakin fan to turn off?
Evan
http://www.evanclosson.com11/19/2008 9:38:23 AM
Not sure Ricky. The problem started for me once I upgraded my video drivers. They must have been out of sync with the bios revision I had and that caused the fan issues. Do you have the latest graphics drivers? Maybe reverting to BIOS A12 will help? What caused the fan stuttering to start for you?
Dann
11/20/2008 6:28:40 PMhai...I'm having the same problem..The thing is im using 2 OSes which are Windows n Ubuntu.For ur information the fan does not make noise if im using Ubuntu.I dont know what to do. I searched from the internet n found out that dell is having problem with NVIDIA GPU. Should I sell my laptop?I like this laptop but im worried that I need to spend more money after the warranty ended.(I'm a student).Please help me
Yingyot
11/24/2008 2:44:32 PMI update Bios A14. It solves the problem. I'm using M1330 Nvidia 8400GS.
Evan
http://www.evanclosson.com11/25/2008 4:26:19 PM
@Dann - Don't think you should sell. This hyperactive fan issue appears to just be a driver issue. I say keep fiddling with the vista drivers and BIOS from dell until you find a pair that work for you. If that fails maybe you should return it before the warranty ends :)
R2
11/25/2008 11:23:03 PMThe same problem after Windows update today including video driver for XPS M1330 Nvidia 8400GS. Thank you for the advise - I flashed BIOS with the newest version A14 AND WORKS FINE. Thank you
dave
11/26/2008 11:27:39 AMI noticed after updating the video driver having the same issue with starting and stopping. Now however it seems to run ALL THE TIME. I will flash my BIOS and let you know. Thanks
glove
11/27/2008 1:49:09 AMI had the same issue after installing an updated Nvidia driver, flashed new A14 BIOS and all seems fine now. Great advice - thanks
Dave
11/27/2008 4:49:31 AMA12/A14 do the trick. Keep up the good work ;)
dave
11/27/2008 9:59:26 AMOK, After flashing the BIOS to A14 the fan seems to not studder and remains in some kind of LOW RPM mode. This is much better. We'll see how it goes from here. Thanks for the info.
Alex
11/27/2008 10:31:08 AMCheers for that! big help
GSC
11/27/2008 7:30:54 PMThis worked perfect with A14 to solve that exact problem. Thanks a bunch!
Bahram
11/28/2008 11:50:56 AMThank you very much for your help
lukasware
11/29/2008 6:29:17 AManyone know why dell pulled 8GB support from A14? and why they pulled A13 (which has 8GB support) from the web site? Vista x64, XP X64 and VMware ESXi work very well with 8GB.
mike
12/2/2008 7:32:54 PMNoob question... I have this problem. I know neither how to check my bios version, nor how to flash things and update to A12. Can anyone help? Cheers
Bill
12/2/2008 9:34:11 PMI just started having the same problem. Dam updates! Lets see if I can figure out how to update the bios!
Babak
12/3/2008 3:36:52 AMThanks man... I flashed to BIOS A12 from A11 and it worked for me... phew... I thought my new buy would be a waste... other than that XPS 1330 seems to be amazing.. I hope my graphic card doesnt heat up though... anyway... thanks!
mark
12/3/2008 10:40:59 AMThank you thank you thank you, this was killing me. Against my better instincts I installed the latest windows update including the nvidia driver update - IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT is one thing I have learnt time and again. It feels like the fan is running constantly now though, at a low rpm. Can't tell if it did this before the problems started though.
answer
12/9/2008 12:20:24 AMMike- when you first boot up your computer on the dell title screen it will say "BIOS A XX" on the bottom. Look for it when you start. To flash the bios just download the update from dell support and double click the file
nowax
12/9/2008 6:53:37 PMI rolled back my video driver to 7.15.11.7597 and then updated my bios from A11 to A14. Worked like a charm. Thank you thank you thank you
Phil
12/11/2008 5:26:25 AMWas A11 just upgraded to A12 then A14 - seems to fix the problem. Thanks for the advice
Rom
12/11/2008 5:58:27 AMHello, I have XPS 1330, GeForce 8400GS, Driver Version 176.44 I payed attention to the fan noise a few days ago - it drives me CRAZY. Please, Can anyone tell me how to upgrade or downgrad my bios to be the correct one which solves this? How can I know what bios version do I have? HELP!
David
12/11/2008 4:58:05 PMI had this problem for a week, have just upgraded to bios A14 and it is working fine again.
Jon
12/11/2008 7:15:02 PMGreat post! this was driving me freaking insane...almost threw the laptop out the window haha...constantly going max to min max to min....thanks for the help
Matt
12/11/2008 9:06:34 PMThank you so much!!! You saved me and others countless hours of headaches with tech support. Went from A11 to A14 and it worked like a charm.
Rozard
12/20/2008 12:06:47 AMThanks a lot, man! This was bugging the hell out of me. Updated to A12, and everything's fine.
Igor
12/22/2008 5:53:08 AMThank you man, I went crazy from the fan noise... skip to A12 and now it's "Enjoy the silence"!
Phil
12/24/2008 12:03:23 AMWell done - many thanks Such a simple fix - Dell - not helpful
G
12/30/2008 3:20:45 PMnow twice my video card is bad should of brought the 1530, which does not have the same issue. What i did is unstall the driver and use standard VGA, now it works fine but I cant get the best HD pic with my TV tuner and there is no direct acceleration.
isaac
1/5/2009 12:55:38 AMin case anyone is wondering, the latest A14 fixes the problem.