Fan turning on and off 6 times a minute on 2022 Acer Swift X (SFX14-51g)

Just got the 2022 model and am happy with most things about the laptop so far. However, the fan is driving me insane. It is off, will ramp up to full speed, stay there for 5 seconds, then turn off. Not even 3 seconds later the fan will restart and ramp back up to speed. It goes through this cycle 5-6 times a minute, repeating ad naseum. I don't mind the fan being on, but it constantly turning on and off is driving up a wall. If it wants to be on, it needs to just stay on for like 5 minutes and not 3 seconds. This is a brand new laptop, and I'm not even doing anything processor intense on it yet - just some youtube and web browsing.

I have contacted acer support and they were largely unhelpful. I have reset the battery, throttled the power to the processor to 10% in the battery settings, and tried the fn+f option. I use it on a bottomless laptop stand, a table, and my lap. Nothing seems to work. I really can't take this cycling anymore.

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JackE

Press WIN+R. Enter 'msinfo32'. What BIOS version number/date is listed in right pane?

bkocak

Thanks for any help! It's "BIOS Version/Date Insyde Corp. V1.02, 2/21/2022"

kirmgrauza

Try disabling turbo boost by following these instructions:

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1142349#Comment_1142349

It might help.

Commodore_1995#

I advise upgrading to this bios version: Updates MRC version and thermal policy.1.038.2 MB2022/05/18 download

JackE

>>>Thanks for any help! It's "BIOS Version/Date Insyde Corp. V1.02, 2/21/2022">>>

OK If kirmgrauza suggestion doesn't work or for some reason can't be done, there is a new BIOS version 1.03 that changes the thermal fan policies at this link. I'm not sure if the new BIOS will improve or worsen the situation so I would try the kirmgrauza suggestion first because it's less risky.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/9265?b=1

bkocak

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1142361#Comment_1142361

Some interval updates, I disabled the turbo following the above instructions, and that seemed to improve it slightly to turning on and off every 5-10 seconds or so (from every 1-2 seconds). I then updated the bios and it seems to have improved it from turning on and off to every minute or two now, which is more acceptable but still noticeably annoying, as it occurs just with light use (web browsing, email, etc). Any further suggestions or is this the most optimal I can reduce it?

Thanks for the above suggestions though, it has turned it from a nightmare to a mild inconvenience.

kirmgrauza

There may be too many dust in the radiator.

JackE

>>>Thanks for the above suggestions though, it has turned it from a nightmare to a mild inconvenience.>>>

Thanks for reporting back. Please remember that your dealing with a fairly powerful mainboard stuffed inside a fairly cramped laptop case. There's an unfortunate compromise or trade-off in such a situation in order to keep the mainboard from frying. And that is more airflow relative to lesser mainboards. .More airflow means more noise & more frequently.

Sounds to me like you've now gotten the noise and on-off cycles down to a tolerable level. Accordingly, I suggest not pushing or forcing it to go any lower into "no noise-cycling inconvienice whatsoever" territory. 🙂

kirmgrauza

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1143121#Comment_1143121

If laptop is totally new, this might not be the case. But its really odd, if laptop with such a thermal design did reached the industry. Of course opening bottom lid is not that hard, there are few screws and you're in the computer (https://youtu.be/EX-2i3FWk2I?t=300). Then to check it out, you unscrew the fan (2 screws) and blow air through the radiator from inside to outside. If a lot of dust comes out - you got a jackpot, because it is the case.

Of course there might be a case, when thermal paste was not correctly applied in the factory, so the CPU reaches high temperatures easily. But there's a very low chance for that.

And another problem might be - Intel CPU. Intel CPUs are really hot, because they're still using 10nm lithography, when its competitor AMD said good bye to that technology and now are running on 6nm lithography which is more power efficient and cooler. If its the case - you can't do nothing just accept.

Commodore_1995#

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1143037#Comment_1143037

As you updated the bios, I advise resetting the settings. Access the bios by pressing the f2 key before the acer logo. Then press f9 to restore bios and f10 to save information. This might fix some bugs.