Laptop fan makes high pitch noise, fan wearing out?

[vStone1K]

How to fix noisy laptop fan

Hey guys, well I've been having an annoying problem with my laptop fan. It produces a high pitched noise that is just loud enough to annoy me :/ My room is quiet, so you can very easily hear it. I'm not sure how long it's been going on for, but I've noticed it the last few months. To me it sounds like the fan is starting to wear out, from a fan bearing maybe. I've tried cleaning it by disassembling the laptop, but the noise hasn't changed. Do I need to replace the fan?

Thanks in advance

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hmm gin mate what are the temps doing?? sounds like the thing is working overtime to me.

Try this and post back Speccy - Download < download from piriform.

One thing you can try if the temps are up is to shine a very bright light into the fan aperture and then look into the outlet vent if you cannot see much light then the cooling rad is blocked.
The pic is of a Toshiba but the principle is the same.

 

[vStone1K]

I recorded it with my phone right up to the vent, so that's why you can hear the air blowing onto the mic I'll download the program in a minute and post back.

 

[maxie]

Sadly i think its time for a Replacement ...

 

[vStone1K]

Alright here's the results:
This is with the fan running at that speed too.
@maxie You think?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok mate in the meantime tis is a pic of the actual board you have in that machine.

 

[vStone1K]

Yes I actually got down to that yesterday, I could sort of clean out the fan but I couldn't separate it from the motherboard. :/ There was one screw holding the fan part in place so I unscrewed it, but I could only lift half of it out. Something else was holding it down...

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep mate I think Maxie is right the temps are fine to fix it if you are confident enough is here
Toshiba Satellite L655 L655D L650 L650D disassembly

Just take note of this Laptop disassembly and repair tips for newbies especially the ribbon cables they have tiny lugs on them that can be really fiddly to use taking out and inserting.

A little something for you too

TAKINGLAPTOPS APART

I always spread out a large whitebath towel on the work top and using cloth or ordinary duct tape keep to be stretchedout fixed down to the work top. This isbecause when removing the sometimes very small screws it stops the screw form beingdropped onto a hard surface where it almost always will bounce and even land onthe floor never t be seen again. Of course if that happens you can scour thefloor with a strong magnet in the case of steel screws the brass ones (thereare some that have brass screws in certain spots) unless brightly coloured youwill not find especially in carpeted floors.

I prefer to use a battery drivenslow speed screwdriver as in pic and leave the screwdriver bits stuckonto a strong magnet or stroke then longitudinally to magnetise them it makeretaining the steel screws so mucheasier especially when replacing them. (If you drop on into the machine youwill need to completely disassemble it again to remove it)

It is also advisable to keep thescrews in separate containers as they will be of different sizes and locations

&

GENERALINFO

As a general rule of thumb toreplace the thermal compound in a laptop there are two areas to be concernedwith that is the CPU and the GPU (graphics) see pics of them before and afterremoving the heatsink assembly. How you apply the compound is your choice Iprefer to use a cleaner and prepsolution as in the Arctic cleaning kit -http://www.arcticsilver.com/arcticlean.htm and the compound from Artic - http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm but the choice of compound isyours.

To make the job easier because thedies are very shiny I prefer to clean with solution 1 then prep with solution 2 then use a vinylglove and spread a very thin layer / smear on the heatsink and the die – thenadd a tiny half grain of rice size dot of compound the the centre of the die/sand reattach the heatsink assembly. DO NOT apply more than that.

DO NOT over tighten the retainingscrews / bolts

Oncedone and before you reassemble now is the best time to make sure the “radiator”and fan assembly is clear of dust and crud (stuck on dirt).
TIP If you use compressed airto clean the dust from the fan DO NOTlet the fan spin it is not designed to spin at speeds exceeding what it wasmeant to and will if left spinning with the air blast will wreck the bearing.If the fan is tight to turn then it needs replacing as the bearings are usuallysealed.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes I actually got down to that yesterday, I could sort of clean out the fan but I couldn't separate it from the motherboard. :/ There was one screw holding the fan part in place so I unscrewed it, but I could only lift half of it out. Something else was holding it down...

Now you might find a screw that is not listed on the other side of the board some of the Toshibas I have worked on have a few hidden screws that are a pain to locate. You may even have to remove that whole cooler assembly, but it gives you chance to redo the thermal compounds eh?

PS Meant to say use these if you do the compounds
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...d=2173&zenid=50c9c7957bdb5869be0940eacb703b9f
&
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...d=2175&zenid=50c9c7957bdb5869be0940eacb703b9f

 

[vStone1K]

Yeah I've disassembled down to the fan, I'll just do the keyboard for now. I'll take a picture of it. I can try the full disassembly tomorrow maybe.

EDIT I'll take the keyboard out, I won't be on my computer for a few mins

 

[vStone1K]

Ok here's a pic I'm on my phone:
EDIT: I'll put the keyboard back on so I'll switch.
The picture is rotated the wrong way, can I fix that?

 

[vStone1K]

Ok I'm back on the laptop
I noticed some caked on dust on the fan blades... I wonder if there's any dust to be found inthe radiator next to it?
Anyway I'll disassemble tomorrow and show some pics of where I'm stuck xD

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I would expect quite a bit mate as there seems to be a fair amount on those fan blades, and if you look with the light as I said you should be able to see how much light is coming through the rad.

Now if you clean the fan with compressed air just make sure the fan is held still as the air can spin it well beyond it's operating speeds and wreck it (the bearing). The rad can be cleaned with those pipe cleaners or one of those long hogs bristle brushes (cheap painting brushes) just be very careful not to be too rough when doing it though just loosen the crud and blow it out.

 

[maxie]

This Link might be helpful .....


Toshiba Satellite L650D-ST2N01 Fan Repair Guide | Installation Video

 

[ICIT2LOL]

This Link might be helpful .....


Toshiba Satellite L650D-ST2N01 Fan Repair Guide | Installation Video

Yep mate that is a good site too the irisvista I use as it focuses on Toshibas which I have had some issues with

 

[maxie]

Have never replace a Fan John .. But i have taken out the DVD drive and replaced it with a SSD ..

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Depends on the brand Brian some like the Toshibas need taking it virtually apart whereas I have seen some like Asus and I think Sony where the fan is very easily accessed,

I think on the whole the manufacturers of laptops would do good to make such things as the fan more accessible like the RAM and hard drive are.

 

[vStone1K]

Yeah, it's a bit late now but I'll take apart some more tomorrow and snap some pics

 

[vStone1K]

Ok, here it is
What should I do now? xD

 

[vStone1K]

Actually nvm, I removed screws but still couldn't get it out. As I was reassembling I accidentally snapped off the retainer for the touchpad... Now it won't work That sucks.