From the title you can tell this post will cover a few things. Let's start by saying until today I was working on new Dell 15-5000. Here was the issue:
For very long periods of time, like 4+hours for over 2 days with periods of only 1-2 minutes to rest, the Dell PC Fan was running at high speed and noisier than the sound of a happy Geiger counter that found nuclear material. Can you hear the loud static? That's the sound of the Dell fan running!
Why was it running. Well, of course, the machine was too hot. How hot? According to SPECCY, each of the i7 Core Processors was running between 90C-99C. Normally, they were at 42 C except for 1-2 second spurts when some heavy processor requirement spiked it up.
This processor had i& 8th generation Turbo Boost processors in it. Thus, they would run above the base speed of 1.8 GHZ to something like 3.8 GHz -- called Over Clocking. Nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact the processors were running as expected. The speed varied based on processor load. As you increase the speed though, more heat is added to the fire. For a second or two to get your application loaded, all is find. The boost certainly did help. But when Windows Update -- either the Windows Update process or the Wondows Modules Installer process -- was running, it demanded high processor use. Even though it drove the processors only to maybe 29-39%, the heat went to 90C - 99 C. When that happens, the thermal sensors catch it and STOP the boost and your right back to 1.8 GHz! So, what's the point of demanding high processor use?!
Now, here's the Dell running away -- who knows, could have been melting away -- and Dell support team has NO interest what so ever about it and wants me to send my PC to Dell Depot. Well, this is 2nd PC; first was defective having problem inside PC affecting the installed optical drive (went through 3 of those before they finally fessed up and agreed that the problem was with the PC, not any optical drive ... about a 2 weeks wasted with them over that matter before they exchanged it with this new one experiencing the heat problem). Well, the fifrst PC ALSO had the loud fan problem, but I didn't pursue it then and didn't record the temperatures. I can only assume similar; why else would it be running at high speed for long periods? To make a long, but really unbelievable support service issue, short, I finally had enough of their poor support staffed with 1st line technical (Ha) morons, all the way up to 2 levels of management. I was now on my 29th day of initial Dell order (first PC) and the exchange did NOT change the 30-day window I had to return for a refund. The clowns at Dell didn't care much about that either and offered to have advanced tech support call in 24-48 hours (not an option), send to depot and lose my windows (not an option), so reluctantly, I canceled the order and am getting a refund. The critter is in a box already on its way back via UPS.
Dell did not one thing to help determine the root cause of the overheating and loud fan. Just send it back yet again! My debugging immediately indicated that the Windows Update process was the culprit after I killed the process running. Instant silence -- oh what a relief it is. This lasted maybe for about 2-3 hours before Microsoft once again did it Updates Check, recognized that the update failed, and kicked off Windows Modules Installer to get it resolved. Warum, there goes the heat and fan again! The root cause is undoubted ly Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Version Windows Update! So, even before I sent the Dell back, I observed a large number of instances across all major computer brands running Windows 10 with identical problem. So, even though the Dell wasn't alone, the support sucked so much I sent it back.
Now, the end conclusion is that Microsoft obviously, like they did in past to get you off XP, then Windows ME, then Windows 7 forced multi-processing tasks to its maximum. I can see in the mist that for a large update, and the one a few days ago was one that created a "Windows.Old" copy of system files like it did when Windows 7 was upgraded to Windows 10, and later when that base version went to Fall Update and Anniversary Update. In other words, when hundreds, or even thousands, of modules must change, dispatching heards of them at once to execute independently will keep all the core processors you have busy forever, or at least until the entire update is done. Hence, overheat your PC. Now, here's a thought. Will a Microsoft processor, like the Pro or Book overheat on a Windows Update? Didn't see any! Well, how about that? Microsoft KNEW what Windows Update would do and is doing and designed their machines to handle the issue. The other brands have yet to figure this out and continue to slowly melt away or run their fan to death. Clever? I hate to sound like a conspiracy idiot, but man what a plan to kill the PC hardware business! Stay tuned for the future!
Guess by now, you are asking what can be done. Well there is one thing I did that I didn't get to test before sending the machine back. There is a setting under windows Update that allows (by default) your PC to act as the initial download hub for distributing downloaded updates to all other machines on your local network! Can you believe this? Anyway, TURN IT OFF! Why should your machine do the processing to determine other distributions and prepare the packages to send? Wish I had the machine to test this. I would have backed off the 11/15/17 monstrous update and reapplied it. But, thanks Dell, you made my day and saved me the time. I am back on my 2010 Dell Inspiron on Windows 10 Anniversary and have NO fan running!
I don't want to bad-mouth the Dell 15-5000 which was a superb machine so far with its 128 GB SDD for the system and the 1TB HDD for my data. It's processor BASE speed was less than this old 1440, but the Turbo Boost with the SDD configuration made it fly in comparison when starting, loading programs, etc. Once you were on the Internet, it really didn't help much though. But, I loved the fact that I could uniquely separate my data from the system. After the optical Drive fiasco was resolved with a PC exchange, I though I would have it for the next 10 years! I started looking at other brands -- Lenovo, ASUS, HP -- and all of them have the same Windows Update overheating issue and all them have a disturbingly loud fan that runs. So, there isn't any solution to Microsoft's "plan". Like in the past where they ran the uniprocessor to 80-95% doing Windows Update processing, they now do the same, but run EACH of the 4 core processors 25%!
Anything else you can do? Since they forced automatic updates, you could look around for hacks to turn that off! One clever way I found was to go to you network and change to METERED network connection mode even though yo probably don't have an ISP that meters your traffic. According to that suggester, that will essentially turn OFF windows updates from downloading, But, some day you are going to want to allow updates. Then you will burn in H.... until they are downloaded and installed. We need to demand that Microsoft LIMIT their processing, say less than 10% CPU per core processor to NOT cause overheating situations. I know that will never happen. Meanwhile the manufactures of cooling additions/extensions will benefit.
One question I have that is not answered is to Intel: What is the operating temperature range of the Kaby Lake processors? What can they tolerate and for how long before damaging them, let along other components of the machine? Still so many unkowns and questions well above my expertise. I'm an old dog now and don't want to do any more tricks! Where are the mindless millennials who are suppose to "save" us? Sounds like their mindlessly writing code to do to tend the trees while told to so by a few rich guys who own the forest.
Ok, I'm done with this. The youngsters will be crying to eat their cake in the future that they already stuck in the cabinet to mold (hello youth...there are freezers). Good luck if you are experiencing Overheating and loud fan noise.
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