How to Adjust Laptop Fan Speed

A laptop is a preferred choice for computing needs by many people, as it provides flexibility and mobility. Students, company employees and homemakers use laptops to study, do their work and pay their bills respectively. Just like desktops, laptops have maintenance needs and addressing them can make the laptop function better. One of the needs that come up from time to time is adjusting the laptop fan speed; here are some tips to do so.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Laptop speed software
• User or owner's manual

1. Check your laptop make and model and research how to adjust the fan speed that is specific to the brand. There is not one universal way to do this, so finding the exact model will help you do your research. Some brands have tips written in the user's manual.

2. Check in your laptop's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) to see if the fan speed is available. The BIOS provides an interface for a computer's hardware and software. This is where you can find the basic settings of the computer. You can go to the BIOS by doing a shutdown and upon restarting your computer, hitting F10 on your keyboard (F key and the number 10 key). You can change the settings from there by toggling the dropdown menu or prompt. Once done, go ahead and hit "Save."

3. Check if there is a chipset driver for a fan installed on your laptop. If there is one, you can adjust the laptop speed from there. The chipset is what controls the fan, network adapters, sound and video controllers depending what is on your chipset. You can find chipsets on your computer's motherboard.

4. Download the software to adjust fan speed if you cannot adjust it from your computer's BIOS. There is some software available for download, such "Speedfan." The software allows you to follow steps to adjust the speed of your laptop fan. Before purchasing the software, check first if it is compatible with your laptop. Get your laptop specs and contact the software maker's customer or technical support to find out if it will work for your laptop. Once they confirm, you may then proceed with buying and downloading the software.

5. Use the software carefully. Your laptop manufacturer may not support the software you are purchasing; therefore, you will use it at your own risk. If using the program negatively affects your laptop's performance, and you send it in for repairs, the manufacturer's warranty may not cover it if they discover that the software caused the problem.

6. Download CoreDuoTemp or smcFanControl to adjust the laptop fan speed of an Apple laptop such as the MacBook. Both of them will allow you to monitor and control the speed of your fan as well as the temperature.

7. Adjust the RPM (revolutions per minute) of your active fan speed by sliding the mark to the right. You can also adjust the temperature this way.

8. Call your manufacturer's technical support to walk you through adjusting the fan speed settings. They should know what to do and what to avoid depending on the symptoms. If they cannot do it over the phone, they can send someone to you or they can ask you to send your laptop for adjustment of fan speed.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are unable to control the fan speed on your laptop, you can keep your laptop cool by using a portable laptop cooler. You can place your laptop on top of it while in use. It helps cool down the temperature of your laptop's CPU. Check the link in "Resources" entitled "Laptop Cooler" for more information.
• Remember that you are using the downloaded software at your own risk, so be very careful before using it.

Resources

• SpeedFan Software Additional Info
• Laptop Cooler