Laptop Fan Detector?

[SplitCo]

I have a laptop (Gateway MT6460) and the fan stopped working. Well its not the fan but it stops working after booting into windows. Before I knew the fan wasnt really dead I ordered another one and put it in and it does the same. So I thought I would make a mess of things and wire a usb cord to the fan that reaches out of the case and plugs into its own usb port. Well that works but without the fan plugged into the motherboard it doesnt detect it and wont start without saying so.

So either if anyone can help with getting the motherboard to not detect it anymore or if someone would know why the fan stops working after booting into windows.
Please and thank you.

[ShyguyXPC]

fan probably stops running when booting into windows, because the CPU is cool enough to run Idle with no fan, only occasionally to vent heat out and keep cool.

It usually spins up on Initial Boot up, to cool the CPU from a cold start and maintain a set baseline temp so to speak.

Once Windows is running, and barely used, it will probably turn off and only spin up when needed to vent heat out.

Try running some CPU intensive Apps in windows, and you will most certainly hear the fan come on, stop running them, and wait a while and I'm sure the fan will turn off.

just about every laptop with a Fan works like this.

Helps balance out Temps and Power Consumption as well.

its also possible the fan is running at such a low RPM that its not heard or felt, to maintain temps at Idle when Windows loads up.


if you haven't fried anything yet with the fan, I'd just plug the thing back in to its connector on the motherboard and test it first.

run windows, run a CPU intensive App, for example, download and run Prime95 or something similar, run it for a few minutes or so, maybe 5 to 10 minutes, and see if the fan comes on, if so, shut the program down, and let the system sit for a while, come back, see if the fan is off, if so, you should be fine.

Also would be wise to check the Temps of the CPU and Chipset while your doing this, download and run HW Monitor: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

May even show the fan running at a really low RPM when you think its really off, as it should show Temps, Fan speeds (if the fans RPM's are being managed by the system, which most likely it is), etc.

[SplitCo]

I guess I didnt post my original problem. The laptop gets scorching hot and will not turn on to even get to bios. I have the panel off so I have direct view of the fan and I can see that it does not spin. After it is cooled off it will work again. I can let it boot into Windows and let it sit there with absolutely nothing running and it will continue to heat until it freezes from being too hot.

[stroyal]

Unless there is a setting in the BIOS that can shut off the fan controller, and let it run full speed,all the time, you may be out of luck.

You tried a new fan, and the only other part of this is the fan controller on the motherboard,
It will be hard to impossible to replace the controller.

[stroyal]

A possible fix is to hook the fan controller wire to the fan controller, and connect the power wires to an alternate source, as you tried.

I guess I have never checked laptops, but PC have 12v fans, and a USB port only has 5 volts.

5 volts won't hurt the fan, but it will run at less than half speed.