Hello,

There was a date and time issue with my HP ze4900 series (4953ea) laptop. I went to a service center and they took 16 days to get a new mainboard placed in it. When I got it back, I noticed that they have willingly installed a Compaq nx9030 mainboard instead of the HP Pavillion ze4900 mainboard. I was okay with it. Now, I have noticed that the laptop has started to get more hotter than ago (or maybe it's because the weather temperature has increased ?? Doubt that though!).. I have checked back at the bottom of the laptop and found that the fan isn't working. I don't know whether or not it used to work previously but now it isn't. Is it supposed to work during normal operation (while in windows watching a mpg movie)??

Looking forward towards some replies. I am having the worst experience ever with HP. I thought it was a good company, but sadly it isn't.

The room temperature is ~25C but I don't know the laptop temperature because I don't know how to find it. But most of the bottom parts are hot enough and when I press a key on keyboard, It seems to bend inwards (slightly though) so that makes me feel that it's real hot inside.

I suggest you take the laptop back to that service centre and show them that the fan isn't working. If they 'fix' something for you, then they'd. Nowadays those service center's are major rip-offs and are tend to work inaccurate.
But if you don't feel like going back to that place, see if you see a connector besides the fan. Maybe you can plug it into yourself.

Intel P4 3.2E Ghz@ 3.8Ghz
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
Kingston 2GB PC3200 D-Channel
Asus AX800 Pro w/Zalman Zalman ZM80D-HP
WD Caviar 160 GB
WD Raptor 37 GB
Zalman Reserator 1

cought a typo here. It should be: "If they 'fix' something for you, then they'd have to do it right"

Intel P4 3.2E Ghz@ 3.8Ghz
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
Kingston 2GB PC3200 D-Channel
Asus AX800 Pro w/Zalman Zalman ZM80D-HP
WD Caviar 160 GB
WD Raptor 37 GB
Zalman Reserator 1

I would certainly go there. But the issue is now that I have moved out of the country I bought it from and my current location has no service center. So I would like to have any other option.

I have download speedfan software to check the temperature. I hope it'll be able to detect something.

Thanks for replying.

I downloaded the speedfan software and it didn't detect any fan? But at least I came to know that I have an intel mainboard. No fan is detected, does that smells fishy??????

BTW, temperature goes as high as 60C at the room temperature of ~22C. How can it be so high! There are two temperatures, for hdd it is 40-45 and for the other (I think processor) it is 52-60+. DOES that means the FAN has FAILED TO WORK? I hope it's just the fan because I have to travel farther distance to get the laptop repaired.

60 degrees Celcius is a little high, but not TOO high. My Celeron 2.8GHz laptop has 53C idle w/ system fans running.
Plus, as far as I know laptops don't have CPU fans, but large heatsinks. There are however usually fans at the back of the laptop.
But if your CPU has a fan (which again, I'm not sure of) and it has failed to work, your laptop wouldn't even boot up because of the hight temperature safety.
Oh almost forgot, does the system reboot reboot every once in a while, while you're just working on it?
I'd say leave it like this for a while and when you have the time to travel, call and make an appointment at that service centre to make sure they don't leave you waiting for 30 minutes.

Good luck and let me know how it all works out.

~Liz

Intel P4 3.2E Ghz@ 3.8Ghz
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
Kingston 2GB PC3200 D-Channel
Asus AX800 Pro w/Zalman ZM80D-HP
WD Caviar 160 GB
WD Raptor 37 GB
Zalman Reserator 1

It is normal for laptops to have a thermal cutin temperature before the fan runs. This is to conserve battery power.

Recently I had to replace a mainboard on a laptop because the fan would run all the time.

HP and Compaq are the same company, it is likely that the two mainboards are identical.

Thanks a lot for your replies. I came to know that fan runs only occassionally. It first spins at the boot once and stops there. Then it starts spinning when the temperature is more than 60degree Celcius. And stops as soon as it becomes lower than 60. My laptop is running at 50C idle and upto 64C when running games.

It's not normal for this laptop because I have previously used it for 9-10 days (With the old mainboard) and it never ever seem hot to touch. I used to use it for all purposes (games, photoshop, encoding, etc..) and there was not a problem at all. Then sudden after the mainboard change it has started to heat up and games run slower than ago because the temperature goes too high and the CPU clock speed is automatically lowered. Fifa 2005 becomes too slow (70% slower than ago).

So what do you guys think? Isn't the fan supposed to start working when the temperatures passes 30C ??

How about you make up your own mind. Does the fan kick in at 30C or 60C.

As the fan spins at startup, there does not seem to be an operational problem. I suspect that it does run when things get realy hot. I believe that your only problem is that the sensor on the new mainboard is less sensetive / more battery conserative than the one that failed.

This site is based in Canada, but it is global. You haven't told us where you are. Fortunately so is HP/Compaq (global), if you have concerns, contact the help desk and make sure that your concerns are documented before your warranty runs out.

RimFire, thanks a lot for your response. I am located in United Arab Emirates.

The fan kicks in when the temperature passes 60C.

And I HAVE opened a case with HP but I just needed some information here and I am glad that people have tried to help me. Thanks a lot.

Now what I want to know is that what will they do to get the temperature down? Perhaps another mainboard change and a wait of another 15 days? If the sensors are less sensitive, the only way is to get a mainboard change right? I am moving out of this country and going to Pakistan (no HP service center) in 4 days and now that's the main issue. I can't leave my laptop at the service center. So I wanted to know what's the issue and what are the fixing procedures and how lengthy they might be.

Hmm, I thought that most jetsetters would be leaving their chalet in St Moritz and heading for the Bahamas.

Seems to me that most of your questions really need to be asked at the Compaq/HP help desk. I would think that the fan should cut in at around 45 - 50C. That's about where it does on my comcrap.

WOW! I am certainly satisfied with HP service center.. YIKES! My HP pavilion mainboard was better than comcrap mainboard but due to the date and time problem, I had to get it changed previously.

Well, HP service center guy says that he BELIEVES it's normal. I told him that previously temperature was too less so he said that then he can change the mainboard to a pavilion again and that will fix it. Another 15 days is a big no no so I said forget it.

Ahh.... is that temperature normal now :( ?? I am thinking to open it myself. HP's service is crap and there is no need of their damn warranty. or is there any way to mod the BIOS to kick in the fan at a lower temperature.

It's an intel centrino, so... ?

No, modding the bios go a little beyond my scope of expertise. It is possible but really should be left to those who specialise it that sort of thing.

Maybe when you get to Pakistan, you can look at getting the board replaced. There will be a service centre somewhere near there even if it is boyond a countries boundary.

Well, what you think? 60C is normal while playing games on a P-M?

I just checked the intel's website and found that the maximum operating temperature for a Pentium-M processor is 100C so 60C doesn't seems like it will affect it badly. But what's disturbing me is the hard drive temperature going to 50 or 51 when playing games for a lil longer. Though it idles at 40-45. What's the maximum temperature a hard drive can run at?

I cannot get the mainboard replaced because I cannot send the laptop anywhere. I have to do some PHP programming on it as I have some important little projects going on and I don't have any desktop PC with me in Pakistan. And It'll perhaps be for at least 4-5 months of me in PK.

So I am clueless. And I forgot to say, thanks a lot rimfire :) for your replies.

One another thing that's on my mind is that does the hard disk temperature increase because the processor is getting too hot? I guess it's the processor that makes everything warm. Because I have seen HDD temperature at 44 and processor's at 61. So maybe the processor is making everything hot. Maybe putting in some good quality thermal grease will help. The service center has put in a normal thermal grease which isn't a thermal pad from HP. It's normal grease. So maybe that's the issue.

I wouldn't go trying to replace the thermal grease. To do that requires some major disassembly.

The operating temperature of the HDD isn't all that critical. What does matter is if it is rapidly heated and cooled. Too much of this can in some circumstances degrade the magnetic surface of the platters. make sure you keep proper backups of your important stuff.