I recently noticed that my laptop’s fan gets super loud and runs constantly, but only when it’s plugged into the charger - even if I’m just doing light stuff like web browsing or watching videos. When I run on battery, it’s whisper quiet. The laptop is about two years old, and I’ve cleaned the vents recently and updated all drivers. I’m worried the fan running so hard might wear it out faster or drain more power when plugged in. Is this normal behavior for laptops, or could something be wrong with the power management settings or the charger itself? Has anyone dealt with this before and found a way to reduce the noise without sacrificing performance? Any tips on what to check or adjust?

On 02/09/2026 at 3:55 AM, im328 said:

I recently noticed that my laptop’s fan gets super loud and runs constantly, but only when it’s plugged into the charger - even if I’m just doing light stuff like web browsing or watching videos. When I run on battery, it’s whisper quiet. The laptop is about two years old, and I’ve cleaned the vents recently and updated all drivers. I’m worried the fan running so hard might wear it out faster or drain more power when plugged in. Is this normal behavior for laptops, or could something be wrong with the power management settings or the charger itself? Has anyone dealt with this before and found a way to reduce the noise without sacrificing performance? Any tips on what to check or adjust?

That sounds pretty typical, actually. Many laptops ramp up fan speed when plugged in because the power settings often switch to "performance mode," which pushes the CPU to run faster and hotter, even during light tasks. On battery, they usually throttle down to save energy and keep things cooler, hence the quieter fan.

Since you’ve already cleaned the vents and updated drivers, I’d check your power plan settings - try switching from “High Performance” to “Balanced” or customize the cooling policy to be less aggressive when plugged in. Some laptops also have manufacturer-specific utilities that control fan curves, so tweaking those might help reduce noise without hurting performance.

If the charger is OEM and in good shape, it’s unlikely the culprit, but a faulty charger can cause power delivery issues that might indirectly affect heat and fan speed. Worth a quick test with another charger if you can borrow one. Otherwise, software tweaks are your best bet before thinking about hardware fixes.

On 02/09/2026 at 3:55 AM, im328 said:

I recently noticed that my laptop’s fan gets super loud and runs constantly, but only when it’s plugged into the charger - even if I’m just doing light stuff like web browsing or watching videos. When I run on battery, it’s whisper quiet. The laptop is about two years old, and I’ve cleaned the vents recently and updated all drivers. I’m worried the fan running so hard might wear it out faster or drain more power when plugged in. Is this normal behavior for laptops, or could something be wrong with the power management settings or the charger itself? Has anyone dealt with this before and found a way to reduce the noise without sacrificing performance? Any tips on what to check or adjust?

That’s a pretty common quirk with laptops - when plugged in, they often switch to a higher performance mode, which can crank up the CPU and GPU even during light tasks, causing the fan to kick in more aggressively. Since you’ve already cleaned the vents and updated drivers, it’s probably tied to your power management settings. You might want to check the advanced power options and see if the plugged-in profile is set to max performance or has aggressive cooling policies enabled.

Also, some laptops throttle fan speed differently when on battery to save power and reduce noise, so the contrast you’re hearing is normal. If you want to dial down the noise without sacrificing too much performance, tools like ThrottleStop or manufacturer utilities can help tweak fan curves or CPU behavior. Just be cautious with third-party apps and keep an eye on temps.