What is 'normal' for the fan noise level?

New to the AA1, but not to IT / tech gadgets.

I'm curious to know if the annoying fan noise is normal on all AOA150 (w/ HDD) units, or if there is a particular production run with the noise issues (eg, bad lot of fans)?

Here's my deal: I purchased a refurb AOA150 from TigerD in the US 2 weeks ago. Fan was relatively silent right out of the box, but you'd hear it cycle on/off - nothing bothersome, it ran quietly. Unfortunately, I had a damaged LCD panel, so I had to return it.

I ended up buying a new AOA150 from FutureShop up here in Canada last week (practically same price as the refurb). Right off the bat, I noted that the fan was really noisy & constantly running - you'd swear that the fan was rubbing against something inside the unit. Loud enough that I wouldn't be able to keep it running on the nightstand at night. Returned it the same day.

I just received the new replacement unit, and while not as loud as the last one, it is still loud enough to hear the fan running. Not a 'rubbing' sound, but just like what a cheap fan with crappy bearings sounds like...a whiny kind of noise. Is this the 'normal' annoying sound everybody else is having? Both of these units have same 0903 date codes.

So I'm wondering, compared to the refurb unit which was practically silent (and didn't cycle as often), is there something different in the builds that can explain the noisy fans?

Stock bios is 3310, and I'm running AA1 Fan Control which seems to be working fine....set at 55/51, but it still cycles pretty regularly, and with high rpm, it's loud enough to hear it over a video being played, normal volume from 2 feet away. Lower rpm is tolerable, but high is a real nuisance.

That being said, can it be a bad lot, or is this as good as it gets, and just live with it - perhaps setting AA1 temps higher (or trying other fan ctrl solutions)? My only worry - I know the Atom can handle thermals up to 90c, but with a HDD & the radio working inside, the rest of the mobo will be running quite warm as well - not sure if this has caused any temp issues on other components?

Appreciate any feedback. TIA.

 

I've had the A150, 160 HDD, XP since last October. It looks like you've done the right things, i.e. most of the same things I did. Mine shipped with BIOS v3301 and never caused a problem so I've never changed it.

I wonder if your A1ctl settings are too low, forcing the fan: I've got it set Dynamic off 52, low 55, high 65. Also used A1ctl to patch ACPIEC and disable ethernet (LAN) and camera when not in use, Another key Device Manager fix is to reset the Atheros adapter Advanced / Power Save Mode from "max" to "off" - improves video and overall power management - there are discussions of this on this site and it made a good difference for me.

At a normal load (e.g. FF3.5 with several tabs and Excel or Word open) mine runs at comfortable "fan control temp" 52-54 and rarely triggers any fan. No problem running streaming video off news sites or YouTube. I haven't watched a lot of full length video on the little screen, but don't recall the high fan setting ever being triggered.

 

I got my AAO531 (i think ) today and i noticed the annoying buzz too, i downloaded the fan control software and i set it so that it only starts the fan when the temp reaches 70C, rarely does it go above 60 and thats good (only when running games), so the fan noise is not a problem for me.

 

I got acer to replace my fan