I have an HP Elitebook 860 G9 that's about 3.5 years old and recently the fan has been acting up even though the CPU and memory usage are low. It's like the fan is stuck in overdrive, sometimes revving up like it's trying to take off, regardless of what I'm doing. I've tried a full reinstall of Windows 11, reverted the BIOS, cleaned out dust, adjusted power options, and monitored temperatures—all of which seem normal. The fan sometimes calms down but then goes wild again for no apparent reason. I'm considering trying Linux to see if it behaves differently, but I'm mainly using Windows for work. Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas on what else I could try?
3 Answers
Those erratic fan speeds can be really frustrating! It's possible that there's a bug in Windows related to your specific chipset. Have you checked for any firmware updates from HP that might address these issues? Sometimes manufacturers release updates that resolve fan control problems.
It sounds like your laptop might have a faulty temperature sensor. If the sensor thinks the CPU is too hot, it will crank the fan up to max. You could try running a live Linux distro to see if the issue persists there; it's a good way to rule out Windows-specific problems. You could also check for any BIOS settings related to thermal management, though the fan might be controlled by a separate sensor on the motherboard that's not visible in BIOS.
From what you've described, it seems like the fan is misbehaving. Have you tried doing a comprehensive stress test on your CPU and GPU using some benchmarking software while in Linux? That could help you see if it's a software or hardware issue. If those tests go fine but the fan keeps acting up, it might be time to swap out the thermal paste or even the fan itself.
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