Solved Laptop overheating caused by fan not speeding up.

[dust10]

Hi!

Recently my ASUS N61J laptop's been acting up. It's been overheating lately so I decided to change the Thermal Paste for the first time in 5 years which helped it a bit not a complete fix. Of course I cleaned the fan and vents. After all those it started cooling again like it was brand new! Or so I thought...

A couple of hours later it started heating up again which I monitored and saw that my fan wasn't spinning as fast as it should.

Proper speed reaches 2800 RPM to 3500 RPM:

A few hours later with the CPU temperature rising the fan starts to screw up:

Things I've already tried:
- I can't use Speed Fan to control the fan speed since it doesn't even detect my fan.
- Directly changing RPM in HWMonitor didn't work

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Me Dust mate In would try to relube the bearings on that fan - tiny amounts of WD40 (derusting / demoisturising fluid for engine electrics) applied with cotton buds or something that only carries a tiny drip on it - or replace the fan

 

[dust10]

Hi ICIT2LOL! Thanks for the reply.

Which side of the bearing should I relube? Again this is a laptop fan so is it okay to just add the lube at the front side where I can just pull out the fan blades and lube the metal rod, or at the back side where I have to remove the entire fan then remove the sticker to lube the area?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok mate what I have done in the past with many fans of different vintages is to remove very carefully the sticker that covers one side of the bearing and relube it there - the other side the WD40 or whatever you use should penetrate on it's own.

Just remember a tiny amount at a time or you will end up with a mess.

If you muck up that sticker some electricians tape or duct tape (tiny bit) just does the same job as long as it doesn't make the fan "too thick" to fit into the recess.

Without seeing your fan it is hard to say how to do it.

Just as a by the by I have gone to extremes and applied that vinyl protection liquid and even some anti static liquid to the fan blades just to make them smoother to improve the smooth airflow over them and to prevent anti static build up - but that's just me being super pedantic / OCD

 

[dust10]

Sorry for the post necro but I just got to do this now. As you can see in the picture below when I remove the sticker there's this golden circle thing. I can't seem to remove it yet alone puncture a hole through it.

 

[pbcopter]

It looks like a shaft in the center of that gold bushing. Just put a small amount of lubricant between the shaft and the bushing.

Can you see movement in the center when you rotate the fan?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes as pbcopter says mate and I find that you can feel for any movement by gently rocking the fan from side to side. For lubrication I use WD40 or any one of those very light penetrating oils - the ones you can use for loosening rusty nuts or dispersing moisture on car electrics.

Now to do that just spray some into a small container and dip a cotton bud (see pic) into it and apply that way it will not then flood the whole thing. Once free I usually do the same with some light sewing machine oil but sparingly.