Fan keep spinning after shutdown.

Hello,

I have this out-of-warranty Acer Aspire 3 A315-51-582F that started exhibiting this strange behavior a few days ago.

During normal operations the Laptop is pretty quiet and works normally. Restart works normally too.

But when I shut down the Laptop, after Windows completing its shutdown process, the screen shut downs as expected, and the external power button led turning off, fan starts spinning at maximum speed and continues this way indefinitely. The only way to make it stop it’s to remove the battery which is internal and the AC power. Pressing the front power button (even for 30 secs) doesn't make it stop.

I can hear that the HDD starts working for about 10 seconds then it stops, but the fan keeps spinning.

I read some articles and they said that it could be because of HDD so I removed the HDD and after plugging in the AC power or the battery, the fan starts spinning again.

What I've tried:
Disable the fast startup;
Re-installing the windows 10;
Updating BIOS and drivers to latest versions;
Reset the CMOS battery;
Downgrading IME too.

Btw, I checked the battery health using command prompt and the health of battery is good!

I think that this is a hardware issue, but it would be nice to know which component should I replace.

Thank you.

Accepted answers

All comments

JackE

What do you mean by re-installing Win10? Was a full erase-everything factory reset using ACER's ALT+F10 cold boot method from the hidden ACER recovery partition?

And what do you mean by CMOS battery reset? Did you replace the coin cell? Did you short its mainboard terminals? Please explain.

Jack E/NJ

2ley

JackE said:

What do you mean by re-installing Win10? Was a full erase-everything factory reset using ACER's ALT+F10 cold boot method from the hidden ACER recovery partition?

And what do you mean by CMOS battery reset? Did you replace the coin cell? Did you short its mainboard terminals? Please explain.

Jack E/NJ

I mean by using an usb stick to format the HDD and install the windows from zero!
As for CMOS battery reset, i mean that I shorted it using a jumper.

JackE

>>>I mean by using an usb stick to format the HDD and install the windows from zero!>>>

Aye!!! You might've lost the ACER recovery partition. Try this. Shut down the laptop. Then press and hold the ALT+F10 keys. Then while still holding the ALT+F10 keys, turn the machine on. If an ACER recovery screen appears, select the option to remove everything for a factory-fresh re-set as in the video below. Jack E/NJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzLJRAZldA

2ley

JackE said:

>>>I mean by using an usb stick to format the HDD and install the windows from zero!>>>

Aye!!! You might've lost the ACER recovery partition. Try this. Shut down the laptop. Then press and hold the ALT+F10 keys. Then while still holding the ALT+F10 keys, turn the machine on. If an ACER recovery screen appears, select the option to remove everything for a factory-fresh re-set as in the video below. Jack E/NJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzLJRAZldA

I tried this method but unfortunately it didn't work! Any other suggestions?

GAMING6698

2ley said:

JackE said:

>>>I mean by using an usb stick to format the HDD and install the windows from zero!>>>

Aye!!! You might've lost the ACER recovery partition. Try this. Shut down the laptop. Then press and hold the ALT+F10 keys. Then while still holding the ALT+F10 keys, turn the machine on. If an ACER recovery screen appears, select the option to remove everything for a factory-fresh re-set as in the video below. Jack E/NJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzLJRAZldA

I tried this method but unfortunately it didn't work! Any other suggestions?

According to me this could be a problem with the Intel Management Engine Interface. Try to disabling it

JackE

Worth a try. If it still doesn't work, as a temporary measure you can gently insert a paperclip into the battery disconnect pinhole on the bottom for a few seconds. That should also stop the fan. Then we'll proceed from there on trying to fix this issue. Jack E/NJ

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ec/u47nlff9wah1.jpg

2ley

JackE said:

Worth a try. If it still doesn't work, as a temporary measure you can gently insert a paperclip into the battery disconnect pinhole on the bottom for a few seconds. That should also stop the fan. Then we'll proceed from there on trying to fix this issue. Jack E/NJ

Dear Jack /NJ, thank you for your recommendation!

I tried it with AC power plugged in and not plugged in too.

While the AC power is plugged in, the fan keeps spinning.
While the AC power is not plugged in, the fan stops spinning.

Commodore_1995#

I would try to do the following:

a) enter the bios and press f9 to restore it and then f10 to save on exit.

b) then, check if the notebook is actually shutting down, checking these settings:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/c2/actkjd2k0ozx.png

c) if none of these options work, restart the computer and press shift + f2 to enter the bios in factory mode. You will see something written in red above the bios. Then press f9 to restore the bios, disconnect the power adapter and then click save and shut down.

d) then, reset the battery as shown in the video and then after press the power button for 60 seconds:

https://youtu.be/NfhgnxUJoZo

e) right after that, connect the power adapter and check if the problem remains.

2ley

egydiocoelho said:

I would try to do the following:
a) enter the bios and press f9 to restore it and then f10 to save on exit.
b) then, check if the notebook is actually shutting down, checking these settings:

c) if none of these options work, restart the computer and press shift + f2 to enter the bios in factory mode. You will see something written in red above the bios. Then press f9 to restore the bios, disconnect the power adapter and then click save and shut down.
d) then, reset the battery as shown in the video and then after press the power button for 60 seconds:
https://youtu.be/NfhgnxUJoZo
e) right after that, connect the power adapter and check if the problem remains.

Dear egydiocoelho, thank you for your recommendations.
I tried all of these, but nothing works. I used a paperclip to reset the battery (and the fan stops, but of course I can't turn on the Laptop, as expected) and as soon I release pushing the "button" or whatever is inside the hole, the fan begins spinning again.

I also checked if shutting down the PC from ubuntu (live usb) to see if this is a windows problem, but it it didn't solve the problem!

Then I had doubt that this could be even a battery (or energy) issue so I checked the battery health using the following command
powercfg /energy (And it shows an error!)

I attached the generated report, maybe it could help you to figure out the problem.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/47/88t8f3xjc4c7.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/n7/idtfdzo1n9as.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ia/hq6b2aoe83r5.png

energy report.png

2ley

Can anyone provide me a link of IME 9.0 or 10.0 for Acer Aspire 3, a315-51?

JackE

That's part of the BIOS firmware at this link https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7210?b=1

But you indicated earlier that you already tried the BIOS update. Did you also try to disable or enable virtualization in BIOS advanced tab? Jack E/NJ

2ley

Hi Jack,

Yeah I just wanted to retry updating and downgrading the BIOS. None of them fixed my problem!

I also followed all recommendations that Egydiocoelho wrote above but unfortunately none of them was a solution in my case.

I have to mention that I updated the BIOS about 7-8 months ago (I also re-flash the BIOS 2 days ago, after the problem came up).

If the bios causes the issue, then why it didn't cause that problem 7-8 months ago at the moment I updated the BIOS? Could that really happen?
That makes me believe that the BIOS is not the problem! But however I downgraded, the same problem remains.

I also tried to shut down from Ubuntu (Live usb) to make sure that the problem is not related to drivers... still the same problem.

I opened the laptop to see if there is any shorted circuit but I didn't see any!

Today I generated the energy report using cmd and it shows an error.

I attached the file. Maybe this could help you to find the solution.

energy-report.pdf

Commodore_1995#

I do not know if it will solve the problem, but put some layers of electrical tape to better press these buttons:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ul/t2fuxcr1nz2e.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/j1/342p1jcmofju.jpg

JackE

OK. What's the priority order look like in the BIOS's Boot tab? Jack E/NJ

2ley

It's only:

1. Windows Boot Manager (WDC ...) and nothing more

2ley

egydiocoelho said:

I do not know if it will solve the problem, but put some layers of electrical tape to better press these buttons

I also tried pressing it with my finger to make sure that the button is pressed. Fan (until the battery discharge) and the HDD (for about 10-20 seconds) start working without turning on the laptop!

Commodore_1995#

It may not solve the problem, but have you tried to disable fast startup in power options?

2ley

egydiocoelho said:

It may not solve the problem, but have you tried to disable fast startup in power options?

I did, it didn't work.

JackE

>>>While the AC power is not plugged in, the fan stops spinning.>>>

For the time being, you'll have to unplug the charger and insert the paperclip to stop the fan. https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/805966/#Comment_805966

Meanwhile, what happens when you press & hold the power button while windows is still running till the machine shuts off abnormally? Does the fan still continue to run?

Jack E/NJ

2ley

JackE said:
Meanwhile, what happens when you press & hold the power button while windows is still running till the machine shuts off abnormally? Does the fan still continue to run?

While the windows is running, fan make normal noise while after abnormal/normal shutdown fan stars spinning at maximum speed!

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