My laptop fan won't stop

[mild scientist]

I cleaned it with compressed air, but that's not enough. I noticed that Microsoft Software Protection Platform Service regularly takes up 25% of the CPU, which may be why the fan is needed almost all the time.
Thanks for helping

 

[John Blakeman]

It could be a combination of too many things running at once and a build up of dust in places compressed air can't reach.

Try reducing the amount of startup programmes, scheduled tasks and services that run in the background.

If that doesn't resolve the issue it'll need to be taken apart for a thorough clean and a reapplication of the thermal paste around the CPU and maybe GPU chips on the motherboard.

 

[Scott@Tracto]

I assume you mean that the fan is running at full speed as opposed to running? I'd expect it to run all the time but not at full power. Is it loud and distracting?

How old is the laptop? Does the fan spin at full speed from pressing the on button or after a period of use?

Scott

 

[mild scientist]

Try reducing the amount of startup programmes, scheduled tasks and services that run in the background.

Prime suspect is Microsoft Software Protection Platform Service, which often takes up 25% of the CPU (I can kill it but it comes back).

I assume you mean that the fan is running at full speed as opposed to running?

Indeed.

Is it loud and distracting?

It was also an annoying source of heat over the summer, and is no good sign regarding the life expectancy of the computer.

How old is the laptop?

Half a dozen years, but the problem started recently and fairly suddenly (a bit after I replaced the HDD and switched to Win10 in the process a few months back).

Does the fan spin at full speed from pressing the on button or after a period of use?

It is not right from the start. Sometimes it is triggered by a genuine spike of activity but then does not go down.

 

[John Blakeman]

I suspect if anything runs your laptop's CPU hard enough it would trigger the fan in this way.

Microsoft Software Protection Platform Service monitors the license status of your install of Windows and harasses you when you don't have a genuine copy of Windows.

I'd recommend installing all available Windows updates. There are several updates for this service that might stop it from consuming so much CPU time . There are also reports of viruses hijacking this service, so virus scan would be advised.

Disabling this service temporarily until a Windows update fixes your issue is another option.
To do this:

Press Windows Key + R
Type regedit and click OK
Go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\sppsvc
Change the value of Start to 4
Reboot your computer

However this is not fixing the cause of your noisy fan.

There could be a build up of dust that is blocking the air flow that you cannot clear without taking the laptop apart.

Fans can get unbalanced because their bearings ware away, replacing the fan may end up being your only option.

The thermal compound applied to your CPU may need replacing, this can dry out and become ineffective, allowing your CPU to get hotter than the manufacturer intended.

 

[Stuartb3502]

If you stop that service does the fan stop? I had similar recently on my wife's laptop, but it turned out to be that Windows Update was broken.

The problem sometimes seems to occur with processors which have variable frequency. Certain things (e.g. Windows Update) call for the higher than nominal frequency on the processor and that triggers the fan as it generates the extra heat (even when CPU % is lower).

Stop any running prorammes and make sure that nothing like a virus scan or download is happening. Do Start, then type "Resmon" to start the resource monitor and look at CPU. On this you can see both the % utilisation of the CPU and the frequency. If the frequency is maxed, that could be the cause.

You then need to figure out which process or service is causing that which is sometimes not too simple.

Agree with virus scan as well (perhaps using a different virus programme if you already have one installed and in use).

Another tool which may come in handy is Process Explorer which can be downloaded from Microsoft, but its more techie so start with the above to begin with.