Can someone help identify what's wong with my fan?

Edit: Sorry about the title... can a mod remove that last bit please? I actually lent against my keyboard to listen to the fan noise better LOL

My right GPU fan is sounding not quite right lately.

It's hard to describe the sound, it's like a loose rattle noise coming from the back right of the laptop so I'm sure it's the fan.

The thing is though, I only hear the noise when the fan is in a mid-spin mode. When I game, it goes away and when the laptop is idle and the fans switch off the noise is gone there too.


I've never seen the underside of the fan and don't know much about its construction, but I'm wondering if the spin is causing a rattle due to something loose like a screw? is that possible?


At this stage I'm trying to avoid sending it back or getting a tech to replace the fan as I have a gut feeling I'll end up with a refurbished replacement or an even more broken machine...

 

Have you tried cleaning it a little? Like blowing the air through with an air can or some other compressed air?

 

Unfortunately yes This week i cleaned the 3 main fans with compressed air in an attempt to fix the noise and for general maintenance but still no luck. Thanks for the advice though


The next thing I could do is take the fan out to have a look, but last time I removed the graphics cards to clean dust the system stopped recognizing the cards. I had to get a tech support person at work to look at it, he tweaked the BIOS a bit but I'm not actually sure what he did, whatever it was it worked though lol... I think it was some scan to check hardware components. If anyone has ANY info on what you're supposed to do after replacing/resetting cards it would be most appreciated...

 

From my IT experience once a fan starts to make that sound the only way to solve the problem is to replace it because it's too used to be brought back to light again. You can try to refresh it, take it out, clean the blades, clean the heatsink and maybe (depending on the type of fan) put some oil (special type) in the bearing chamber of the fan. Sometimes (depends on how used is the fan) these tricks might work but it will not last very much...

 

Is it easy to request a free GPU fan set from Dell while still under warranty?

 

Basically it sounds like the fan is starting to go out.
The rattle you hear is the fan spinning slightly off center (off balance) which is why the noise goes away when it is faster (centrifugal force pulls it back into balance enough to quiet it).

As time goes on, it will just get worse until you hear the noise no matter what speed the fan is at.

Just have dell come and replace the fans (if under warranty).

Good luck

D.

 

Exact same thing happened to mine within the first week i got it. Called Dell, they sent a part and a repair guy. They would not send me the part to change it myself.

 

That sucks, I probably know how to open the thing better than they do...

Well, I'll open it up again and try your suggestions, edit. If I have no luck with that I'll call Dell out.

Hopefully they won't refuse to replace the fan if I already open it and take out the old one to limit any damage they could do opening it. I don't know what other regulations they have like that...

Thanks all for the help

 

had the exact same issue and fan replacement is the only solution..
just contact AW and if you don't want a tech you can request a "parts only" dispatch. They'll overnight the fan to you and you will replace it.
Replacement is quite easy BTW - you can use this manual : Alienware: Online Documentation