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Troubleshooting

Fans spin up at idle on a ZBook that used to be silent

Started · 2 replies · 1109 views

  1. fury_g11_daily

    Member

    Joined
    Jul 29, 2026
    Posts
    38
    Location
    Manchester, UK

    #1 20:05

    User observation

    Machine sat quietly for eighteen months and now ramps up every few minutes at an idle desktop. Nothing visible in Task Manager above a couple of percent.

    Model and build in my signature. Before I start pulling it apart, is there a standard order to check this in?

  2. thermalpad_tim

    Member

    Joined
    Aug 03, 2026
    Posts
    22
    Location
    Bavaria, DE

    #2 07:30

    Documented fact

    Software before hardware, always. Intermittent ramps at apparent idle are usually short bursts of work that the Task Manager refresh interval hides rather than a cooling fault.

    • Log processor use at a one second interval for ten minutes rather than watching the graph.
    • Check for a scheduled maintenance task running on a short cycle.
    • Check whether a search index or backup agent is repeatedly restarting.
    • Only then consider dust loading or interface material.

  3. fury_g11_daily

    Member

    Joined
    Jul 29, 2026
    Posts
    38
    Location
    Manchester, UK

    #3 18:40

    User observation

    Logging found it. A backup agent failing, restarting, and re-scanning on a five minute loop. Fixed the credential it was failing on and the machine is silent again.

    Would never have found that watching Task Manager. Thanks.

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