Fan comes on and......

I am NOT sure if this really a hardware problem, so if you all think it is a software or something else problem, let me know I will move the post.

I got Dell laptop, running xp media 2.0 processor, 2 gigs of ram, 100 gig hard drive.
Sometimes the fan will come on it will run and shut down after a couple minutes, but other times the fan will come and run and run and run. An hour sometimes 2 hours, but while the fan is running, if I close the lid of the laptop to go into standby, it DOES NOT go into stand by. Also, when the fan is running like that, everything runs slow, pages are slow to load. And the keys feel hot!
Any ideas???
thanks

 

How old is this laptop ?

Have you got one of these?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/nvidia-says-significant-quantities-of-laptop-gpus-are-defectiv/

 

it is about 15 months old.

 

Check to see how many fans you actually have. Maybe you have two and one is working intermittently. When it doesn't work, the remaining fan keeps running to try and cool down the notebook.

 

OK, Not sure on how to check but i will look at the paperwork that came with it
thank you

 

Could be that the heatsink for the CPU is clogged up with dust. If you can get to it easy, clean it.

 

On the underside of the laptop is a vent area, it has a small screen with louvers on it. the 3/4s of the screen holes were clogged up with dust.
This laptop just sits here, I got hardwood floors, and most of the furniture in here is wood & steel, so there is not a lot of objects to create dust, but I got it! Since I have cleaned the screen, it has not come on and run hard and long.
I don't know why I didn't think of checking the screen.....
and by the way, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

 

I do have another question about the fan. Any ideas when the fan was running on high, and I went to shut the lid to put it in "standby" that it WOULD NOT go into stand by. Do you think this is to prevent the pc from over heating?
thanks

 

To STUDIOT---no i got some sort of ATI unit!
but thanks anyway!

 

Lucky. Glad it's sorted.

Pc's are not like cars electric fans that come on after you have switched off the ignition.
However standby and hibernate sometimes do funny things and I always recommend not to use them.
Look in the advanced settings of power options in the control panel.

 

I opened the advance setting on power option, and there are 3 settings 1)close lid and do: a) do nothing b) go to stand by c) go to hibernate. 2) when I hit the power button a, c, and ask what to do, and turn off. 3)when I hit the sleep button--the same as hitting the power button.
The reason I use the standby, is because it doesn't use much power when it is sitting all night, and it seems like it takes a long time to turn off and turn on ( I am running a lot processes).
But what can happen when you place a laptop in hiberation or standby????
Can it affect the laptop seriously?
thanks
scott

 

Every so often someone posts, after leaving their laptop battery run out overnight with the machine set to hibernate or standby.

Windows has to save all the info about current activity to a very large file(can be 1 to 2 gig) when asked to standby or hibernate. Sometimes this file goes slightly wrong, especially iof the pc is short of juice.

Then you can't boot the pc again because hiberfil.sys is corrupt.

 

OK I am convinced.
The laptop gets shut down every night!
Thank you for your help and info!