Seeking advice: noisy laptop fan

jlb1705 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 07:40 PM

My laptop is about three years old, and just a couple nights ago the fan on it started making much more noise than it used to. It's kind of a louder whirring noise (as opposed to a whining or grinding noise). I'm thinking it might be appropriate for me to remove the cover from the bottom of my laptop and clean it out. Also, based on the things I've read poking around the interwebs, I might want to look into lubricating the fan. I know there are people here who know way more about this kind of stuff than I do, so I just wanted to see if there were any words of wisdom or recommendations before I end up doing something stupid an irreversible. Any help?

Best Buckeye · #2 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 07:42 PM

It is either the CPU fan or a tower fan , replace it in either event. If it is the cPU fan replace it tomorrow, you could burn out the cpu

OSUsushichic · #3 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlb1705

My laptop is about three years old, and just a couple nights ago the fan on it started making much more noise than it used to. It's kind of a louder whirring noise (as opposed to a whining or grinding noise). I'm thinking it might be appropriate for me to remove the cover from the bottom of my laptop and clean it out. Also, based on the things I've read poking around the interwebs, I might want to look into lubricating the fan. I know there are people here who know way more about this kind of stuff than I do, so I just wanted to see if there were any words of wisdom or recommendations before I end up doing something stupid an irreversible. Any help?

Rut roh. That's what mine started to do a few months before it fried. The noise slowly turned into a grinding noise, and then poof!

Has it been getting hot?

jlb1705 · #4 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OSUsushichic

Rut roh. That's what mine started to do a few months before it fried. The noise slowly turned into a grinding noise, and then poof!

Has it been getting hot?

It doesn't seem any hotter than normal.

Best Buckeye · #5 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 08:07 PM

Is it the fan in the case wall or the one on the CPU?

sandgk · #6 (**permalink**) 04-06-2008, 08:16 PM

How to clean the cooling fan on a wide variety of laptop or notebook computers (which one is your's anyway jlb?) is shown here at Repair4Laptop.

One common theme - close quarters - making it a job for nifty fingers. The tutorials show simple clean out / lube / or replacement.

MicroCenter or NewEgg should have replacement fans for most widely available models.

The earlier linked site also has cooling upgrades that can be applied in some instances.

Good luck and keep your cool