Just curious...

[Zog1971]

Hi there. I'm an i7, 256 owner and have been very sensitive (perhaps overly so) to when my fan has been coming on. In all of my experience, it only comes on when my cpu usage is sustained around 25% or more. Or, I have one art program that uses the GPU rather than the CPU, and it can cause the fan to come on even with lower CPU usage. For me, I usually only watch Netflix with a few other webpages open so my CPU usage never goes higher than 20%, thus, I have never had my fan come on while watching Netflix--before or after the 9/9 update. Not even in it's lowest setting (since the fan seems to have a few output levels). If this is happening for you with only Netflix running, I would be monitoring my CPU processes from the task manager and try and see how much is being used and if there are possibly other processes that are peaking it and causing the fan to kick in. Even though my fan is actually very quiet even in turbo mode, I know it would bug me greatly for it to come on streaming Netflix.

 

[cemian]

Thanks everyone for their comments ... CPU usage actually doesn't seem to matter as the fan always seems to be on..either in low or high mode... my task manager is open and I do not see CPU utilization more than 20% most of the time...normal range stays under 10% as I do not use CPU intensive programs... but I do notice it seems to depends on what frequency the CPU is operating... if CPU is around 800MHz the fan will be fairly quiet in low mode....but when CPU operates at frequency higher than 1000MHz the fan kicks in louder and stays in that mode until CPU can calm down back around 800Mhz...I also notice the upper right corner above the windows logo on the bezel is fairly hot..but not burning.. to the touch...as well as the back area towards the ac connector behind the kickstand..I have read that the CPU is around the upper right corner so that would explain the heat..but do not know why the heat below..maybe gpu...I also did encounter high fan mode downloading a file in firefox. Maybe disk access has a part to play as well....

 

[kundas1]

I would check to see if any updates failed and are trying to install? also there is an app that someone posted from MS that supposed to clear your failed updates and clear them, then you check the updates again and they will all update with no trouble.. but I can't find the post, maybe someone else can find it?

 

[cemian]

I would check to see if any updates failed and are trying to install? also there is an app that someone posted from MS that supposed to clear your failed updates and clear them, then you check the updates again and they will all update with no trouble.. but I can't find the post, maybe someone else can find it?

I have one failed update from sept. 19th which was a duplicate firmware update that was successful back on september 9th. After that failed update something appeared to have changed...and now I am noticing the issue with the fan and battery life. I don't think you can undo a firmware update can you?

 

[hughlle]

Never used Netflix in my life, have absolutely no intention of ever changing that, but watching a flash video, or even doing nothing, I've recently found the fan to be spinning up more than when I first got the device, nothing over 3 percent CPU usage in task manager, but the fan will still spin up, and then it'll take a good 5 minutes for it to cut off. All updates supposedly are successfully installed.

 

[Aegeas]

If you will use IE to watch Netflix it will use HTML5. If you use Chrome it will use Silverlight. You want to use HTML5. It is superior in every way and you don't have to have Silverlight or Chrome which are both gigantic battery hogs that produce a ton of excess heat. Blame MS for Silverlight and Google for the Chrome issue. The way out is to use an efficient HTML5 client for web video.

 

[Zog1971]

Good to know, Aegeas. I haven't even installed Chrome since I read about the battery issues before purchasing my SP3 and I typically use Firefox. Do you know what it uses? I never get the fan streaming Netflix and that is what I always use.

 

[cemian]

well for whatever reason my sp3 has now decided to stay cool....no heat and no fan coming on...feels weird for it to actually be silent...lol

well that silence didnt last long ..a youtube video got the back very hot and fan blasting..now waiting to see if and when it will cool down enough to stop blowing

well it did cool down and is back to silent..seems like it is working better now...i guess i needed to cool down and vent as well Thanks for listening