Windows 7: Question About CPU Fan

I have CPUID installed on my PC to monitor the heat, fan speed, etc. I don't ever get any high temps, but I notice I can clear all the stats before I go to bed and in the morning the minumum CPU temp is maybe 35 C and the CPU fan speed is 0. It appears the fan stops working when the temp gets low. This does not sound right as I would think it should work all the time, maybe just not as fast when there are low temps. Do any of your CPU fans stop working when the temps get low?

No. I never heard of such a thing.

I have to assume that is simply an error.

Unless of course, your fan really is stopping--which I would take to be a defect to be corrected.

If it did actually stop, I would expect to see a CPU temperature spike of some degree at the same time if it lasted more than a second or two.

Perhaps you can look at a log of some type?

Odd that it happens only when you are asleep. Gremlins.

When you awake and the fan speed reads 0, can you tell by ear if it is actually spinning?

Try another monitor such as HWInfo and see if it confirms the situation.

By the time I check it again the temp is OK and there is no problem. The highest the temp ever gets is the mid 60's. The minimum is about 35 when I am not using it and for a brief time when I boot it gets to the 60's but most of the time it is in the 40's low 50's. I just thought it was strange. Like you said, it may be an error because I am not getting any temp problems.

I was going to say that temps most of the time in the 40s and 50s is probably a little high.

Then I noticed that you have a P4. As I recall, they tend to run hot, so your temps are probably OK.

I'd just keep an eye on it and also use another app to check temps to see if it agrees with the one you have now.

My experience with anomalies like this (including radical CPU temperatures or various odd fan speed values) is that they are generally hardware sensor issues providing the odd values, rather than true hardware malfunctions (e.g. the fan stopped spinning... although that is also certainly possible). But there's really no way to know without your own physical examination (e.g. open the side of your machine case, and see if that CPU fan is actually still spinning or not).

In fact I suspect if you had a manufacturer's BIOS-level piece of motherboard hardware monitoring software available under Windows as an alternative (e.g. the SuperoDoctor software from SuperMicro, Probe-II software from ASUS, etc.) that you would see exactly the same odd values. In fact, I suspect that if you could instantly be talking to the BIOS itself (e.g. at boot time) you would again see these same odd values reported by the BIOS's own "Hardware Monitor" tab.

But that's still precisely what these hardware monitor software products are for, to visually present something to you onscreen for you to see and notice and look at on a regular basis, and get a feel for what normal behavior and operation of these various items looks like, in order to detect when anything unusual appears. If the software provides for onscreen or audible alerts, so much the better to attract your attention.


Anyway, CPUID provides a limited amount of hardware monitoring. But so should vendor-provided software typically available from your motherboard manufacturer.

Another commonly used (and more elaborate) similar product that provides for some customization but still doesn't allow for a true "miniaturization" to optimize screen real-estate required for its window is Speed Fan. Personally I was dissatisfied with Speed Fan, as I was with various other generally available [and free] similar hardware monitoring products.

I, myself, have tried many of these 3rd-party products over the years and have long ago decided to use a non-free but superb product named Aida64 (formerly named Everest). My own particular two "on-screen display", i.e. OSD) customizations look as follows (which I have set to refresh every 4 seconds):



Note that non-free Aida64 also provides many more items you can display if you want to and if your hardware monitoring/sensors provide measurement, such has hard drive temperatures, power consumption in watts, additional video card temperature or other GPU performance measurements, etc. On my Supermicro machine the ATI HD4850 video card is "fanless", so I have no reason to show the "GPU fan speed" which of course is optionally available for display, if measured. On my ASUS machine the ATI HD5770 does have a fan, and also reports power wattage used by the CPU (currently shown is with an HDTV window playing in WMC).

Also, notice that my own "CPU Temp" value on this Supermicro machine is seemingly way out-of-whack with the core temperatures reported, and with the other internal case temperature sensor on the motherboard itself which is located kind of near the CPU. This is actually due to a BIOS update (provided from Intel to Supermicro) which changed this particular type of measurement from a precise numeric value to a crude "low/medium/high" value which is apparently not "understood" correctly by Aida64. Before making the BIOS update this particular numeric value was in line with the other three temperatures shown, but I've come to accept the odd value I now see and still consider just one of many overall measurements I keep my eye on to observe "situation normal" from "situation abnormal".


I highly recommend Aida64. I do not use either SuperoDoctor on my Supermicro machine, nor do I use Probe-II on my ASUS machine, nor do I use CPUID or Speed Fan. I use Aida64 on both of my machines... because I like it's look and appearance, and because it contains no more and no less than my customization of it provides.

Incidentally, Aida64 also provides onscreen and audible alerts when values go "out of spec" per your settings... if you want to enable them.