Lenovo S10 users complaining of endless fan noise

Lenovo's S10 netbook has always had a reputation for being a bit warm to the touch, but it sounds like the little lappy has some more serious issues with heat -- the official Lenovo support forums are flooded with users complaining that the fan endlessly spins up and down. Making matters worse, Lenovo apparently hasn't acknowledged the problem, and some customers report that S10s sent in for repair return in exactly the same condition. That doesn't sound totally awesome -- anyone else having this problem?

[Thanks, Denis]

[MarcC @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:15AM]

Sounds great when I play my Helicopter flight simulator.

[ninwest @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:26AM]

I do indeed have this issue,and also on startup I get an odd grinding sound(almost as if the fan is spinning backwards or the motor is broken)for about 10-15 seconds till the software starts.Then it's just loud speedups and slow downs.

[royola @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:47AM]

That sound is in fact your fan not functioning as it should, mine also grinded. I sent it in for repairs and received it back in about a week, but it' still as noisy as ever...

[royola @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:49AM]

Sorry I should have clarified. When I got it back the grinding noise was gone, the repair form indicated that the fan had been replaced. However it is still as noisy a fan on a laptop as I've ever experienced.

[rujake94 @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:19AM]

My N100 does the same thing.

[arvindin @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:20AM]

Yes and the laptop slows down.
I am not sure how many reported one key recovery also does not work out of the box.

[Dave @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:22AM]

One key recovery does work out of the box. Maybe you just got a bad apple (pun intended). First thing I did was power it up and make a backup image and then burn it to DVD. If the first think you literally did was press the one key recovery without even powering it up the first time why would it work dince you're already at factory default?

[ash @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:21AM]

My '94 S10 has over 250,000 on the original engine and tranny. I haven't had any issues with the power steering, locks, or even the fan. I don't know why you'd mail your truck off but, frankly, I'm glad they're not fixing all of these whiners fans. I bet you've all lowered your's and put neons on 'em.

[sdantes13 @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:58AM]

I see what you did there.......

[Dez @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:03AM]

i love what you did there.

[waterwagen @ Feb 23rd 2009 8:29PM]

+1 for creativity

[Major4Play @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:27AM]

Unless it states on the packet "Now with no fan noise" do you really have a right to complain ?

[Dez @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:07AM]

When you buy a new car, if the stickers doon't say "now with fewer check engine lights on," should i just expect them to be on?

[skyblaze @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:30AM]

i always thought apple was the one with the endless "fan noise" problem... especially here :\

[Eric @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:37AM]

You must be referring to my MacBook Pro and how it can't even watch a YouTube video without the fans spinning up to 6000 RPM.

[trevor @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:40AM]

i see what you did there skyblaze...

[Kelmon @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:12AM]

@Eric

Blame Adobe and their damned Flash Player. Why they can't write an efficient one is quite beyond me but there is no reason why not. I mean, watching a small Flash video seems to take up about 105% CPU time on a C2D 2.33GHz but yet a 1080p video takes up about 80%. Something screwy going on there. No wonder Apple doesn't want them to write a Flash Player for the iPhone - damned thing would probably spontaneously combust or something...

[Dez @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:08AM]

@Eric

I think you missed the point.

@Skyblaze

Bravo.

[digitallysick @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:40AM]

put 3 in 1 oil on the fan, i did this on my msi wind, works wonders

[Firelight @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:41AM]

My S10 does seem to have the fan issue - but no worse than any other laptop I've had in the last 8 years. I'm more bummed about no internal bluetooth and only 2 USB ports than anything else. Going looking for a 6-cell replacement battery because the 1.5 hour oem battery just doesn't cut in on the plane.

[Frederick Mills @ Feb 23rd 2009 7:17PM]

6-cell is online now.

Love it

[Dave @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:39AM]

You can install an internal BT module for like $25. Do a search on eBay for it and you should find it from an Asian seller. Personally I use an external BT nub. My other USB port I use for my Sprint wireless aircard. How many more USB devices do you need to plug into it? If you need more you should go get yourself a USB hub or never have bought the S10 in the first place. Personally, I'm a big fan of the S10 and I knew going into it that I'd only have two USB ports because I can count. Don't fault the S10 for doing what it was actually designed to do. That would be like saying the iPhone sucked because it really had no good way of hooking up to my Sprint network. The fan issue however is an entirely different animal. I however have not had issues with the fan and I also expect that when the fan runs it will make some noise. But if it ever starts to sound like a jackhammer I'll have it checked out. Just make sure your temp are good by running a free app like Speed Fan.

[act487 @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:35PM]

I get a good solid 3 hours+ on my battery, even though I will up it to a 9-cell just cause I am greedy. The fan problem, I really have not had many problems with. When it does run, it is loud. But it does not bother anyone in class. The biggest problem I have had is the Right Shift button is so freakin small! Why oh why! But whatever. Other than that it is cool.

[row1 @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:01PM]

I recently got a 6-Cell S10 and it has internal bluetooth.

[Sam Jordan @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:44AM]

My Acer Aspire One's fan used to be constantly on. Had to update the Bios, and us an app to keep a balance between warmth and infuriating-throw-it-against-the-wall fan noise.

A little better, but still. You'd think they'd just get people to use these products for a week, get feedback and fix them.

[veyron3k3 @ Feb 23rd 2009 9:47AM]

It's not an "endless" fan noise. It's more of wind up then down, for no reason. Sometimes I just move the mouse and it winds up then down. and It's really hot

[Mark @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:08AM]

Mine does the same thing, it is not constant but it winds up and down all the time. I was wondering when I was going to start seeing more about this, hopefully Lenovo responds

[Deuche ex Machina @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:22AM]

"Hey, Paris Hilton, how's that new S10 feel sitting on your over-utilized crotch?"

It's hot.

[trevor @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:26AM]

+1000

[act487 @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:37PM]

Epic.

[Ron J @ Feb 23rd 2009 4:40PM]

I wonder has anyone taken there NETBOOK apart and looked at the processor/fan assembly. I wonder if the contact/thermal paste is worth a crap. Wonder if putting some Arctic Silver there would help. It might just be a nature of the beast if its effecting other bands and models though.

[Nicholas Braun @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:36AM]

Wow, 90% of these comments are completely worthless...

I owned a S10 for about 3 months and the constant on/off of the system fan was definitely a problem. After only about 20 min of use, the netbook would get to it's threshold temp (right before the fan would need to be kicked on) and then the annoying fan issue would start. Any CPU spike would be enough to push it over the threshold and turn the fan on for about 10 seconds until it cooled back down. This made web browsing really painful as every single website you went to made the system fan jump on and off.

And no, the system fan was not controllable via software like SpeedFan. Lenovo could so easily fix this by putting in a variable speed thermal cooling profile for the system fan, instead of their default full off or full on approach.

[Jeff @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:13PM]

"Wow, 90% of these comments are completely worthless..."

Welcome to the internet!

Anyway, Lenovo has fan issues with all of their laptops lately, it seems. I've complained about my Thinkpad SL500 here before, and while the fan on it doesn't bother me much, it does bother some other people if you read their forums. It basically just never turns off. On the plus side, the one thing I *do* like about my SL500 (and literally, the *one* thing) is that it never even gets warm. But that makes it all the more puzzling why the fan never shuts off.

It's gotta be whoever they've got writing their BIOS's.

[Phillyk @ Feb 23rd 2009 10:46AM]

Mine does it when I let it sit & don't do anything.. I haven't noticed it being a problem.
I use 3-4 different OS's & it does it in all, but it's not a "problem" that I can tell yet...
It doesn't get as hot as a dell inspirion 5100 I have either. NO burned .. anything for me.
Of, course, it's so small, I almost hold it as a hand held most of the time I don't have a desk.

Also, RE: the 1 key restore, It worked for me out of the box.. until I deleted the partition. But I made a few recovery DVD's before I went & really busted it. And I have to re-partition it to restore the XP from DVD.
If I REALLY hose it, that's kinda my fault, so I'm not complaining. But I can recover it ;-)

[Yashi @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:15AM]

The fan noise was a problem at first, then it became much worse when I installed an antivirus program that caused spikes in CPU usage, making the fan go on and off continuously. Eventually it broke, and I noticed this when the fan would go on and get stuck on something inside the fan enclosure (think sticking paper clip wire into an electric fan). Uninstalled the anti-virus, but the fan still causes the netbook to crash (with the same horribly loud noise) when it comes out of hibernation for some reason. Checked around on different forums and it's supposedly a design flaw, from the too-narrow enclosure that does not allow the fan to vibrate even slightly when it turns on or off. Black units also have an extra grill that does nothing but retain more heat by blocking the outward airflow.

Haven't had it fixed yet because the Lenovo support center here said it'd take 3 weeks and I can't wait that long because I use the s10 for work. Needless to say, I'll probably never buy a Lenovo computer again.

[ZenTech @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:18AM]

Same problem here with an s10e. However I don't find the actual temperature hot at all. Sure the fan is on at 70000 rpm, but the laptop is no more than luke warm even at full load running prime95.

Man up and fix the fan Lenovo before we send Chuck Norris in after you.

[Rick @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:23AM]

Buy an Asus 1000-series. You won't have problems like this!

[act487 @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:40PM]

fail.

[Ewic @ Feb 23rd 2009 3:07PM]

My s10's fan is on much more than i'd like it to be, however it's quiet enough not to interfere with class, so it's fine by me.

[Blake H @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:30AM]

No problems here. Had it since December.

[ran @ Feb 23rd 2009 11:52AM]

"and some customers report that S10s sent in for repair return in exactly the same condition."

Hey that sounds like the kind of service I've been getting for the last 3 years!

[MidKnight @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:00PM]

S10 owner here:

My S10 can run dead silent, however, sometimes I get an endlessly running fan. I notice particularly when it's waking up from a hibernation. If I shut it down before closing the lid, it almost never happens.

Other than that, I love my S10!!! 160gb HDD is awesome. Touchpad rocks (multitouch + circle scroll). Screen is great.

Battery life is meh.

[Anwar @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:18PM]

I have an Ideapad y510 and my fan used to do the same thing. Eventually I opened it up and noticed that there was a lot of dust clogging up the fan and vent. Now I have to clean it out regularly but hey, what are you gonna do?

[Adam Lynch @ Feb 23rd 2009 12:44PM]

Yeah, my S10 does it all the time. Any amount of CPU usage above 20% tends to turn the fan on for a short interval. Not OS dependant... XP, Win7, Ubuntu, OS X... Same deal.

The unit does get hot, but its not testicle-baking.

The best part of this whole fan debacle is that Lenovo could easily crap out a BIOS that would allow some sort of thermal threshold control with minimal effort. However, there's yet to be a single peep from them on the issue.

[navyn @ Feb 23rd 2009 1:00PM]

check this thread out at lenovo's official forum. Theres a new firmware, might help a "little"

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&thread.id=795

[chad @ Feb 23rd 2009 1:11PM]

I have a "quick fix" that works for my S10. I start either from full off or out of hibernation as normal. Tons of fan noise/RPM's. Once up and running I send it immediately to stand-by mode and then fire it back up. No fan noice/RPM's This has really helped with the fan. Works for me. Try it out.

[takamaru @ Feb 23rd 2009 1:26PM]

I have had my S10 for about a month and the fan does spin up and down but it is not annoying. Now when I push it hard (like flash movies) it will get going but will stop about 10 seconds after I close the movie. Case in point I am writing this on my S10 with seven tabs open in Firefox, Word open, and iTunes streaming bassdrive.com at 128k and the fan has not come on yet. Sounds like a bad batch of books....

[Ryan Voth @ Feb 23rd 2009 4:12PM]

I got my mother an S10 and she says the fan is the only down side. It is very annoying though. Anything you do, including scrolling a web page even, kicks the fan on and then off. Should have gotten her the Samsung NC10 which is what I got. No fan noise that I can hear.

[Jose @ Feb 23rd 2009 1:47PM]

My wife has an S10, and I have an MSI Wind. Hands down the S10 is a better build. Feels solid, and is solid. Ya, hers makes that darn fan noise too. I just keep telling her Lenovo uses it to charge the battery.

[J. Eidelberg @ Feb 23rd 2009 2:16PM]

this happened to me once i just restarted the comp and the fan went back to normal. maybe that was foreshadowing of what i should expect but so far so good.