Rattling vent - main gpu

So about 2 weeks ago, while gaming, I noticed this hurdling sound comming from the left side of the laptop and it didn't take too long to notice that the main gpu vent was doing it. Everytime I turn on the laptop it's like it's trying to break through the case.

So, to get to the point, I called Dell Offices here in Romania, for a phone diagnostic, as they call it. After I explain to the very nice lady on the phone what the problem is, I even turn off/on the laptop so she can hear the lapppie she says a tech will come over tomorrow to fix the problem. All she asked was the service tag, ph nr, name and address.

Is that what normal? I mean tomorrow when the techie will come is he bringing just a fan with him? What if it's not that and it's something else?

It's not like I pinpointed the exact problem.

And second issue. I manually changed the wifi card in my M17x R1 to an Intel 6300. Should I switch back to the stock Failcom board tomorrow before that dude comes or there's nothing to worry about?

Thank you guys!

LE: The lady on the phone assured me that the tech worked on AW systems before (both desktop and laptop). I should print the service manual just in case, shouldn't I?

 

Nothing to worry bout. Its all good.
No need to worry about your wifi card. Unless your having problems with that particular item of hardware then they won't even care or check it. The techies main focus will be to swap out your fan and thats it. Unless you tell them to check on anything else while they are there.

It really depends sometimes who you get on the phone. Others will try and push you others will just sought out a quick hardware swap for you. After the techie comes and swaps out the new fan for you. Just double check it does fix your problem before they leave and then if not get them to investigate for you and then they can also call them themselves to proceed with further part replacements or however else they feel the next step should be.
But yeh if its just the fan that's causing the problem then it should be all very smooth fan swap out.

ehhaahah service manual LOL. Nah that should be fine. Changing the fan is super easy. You could even do it yourself if you had the part on hand. Cheers.

 

But what about the wifi cards? Will he noticed that it's not the stock card, does he do any software thing to look for changed hardware?

 

Nah he won't notice. He won't care either if he did know that you swapped it out for a new or different one. The Techies are sub contractors of Dell who work on very low wage. So their main concern is time. They will want to be in and out as soon as possible. After trying to do a good job of course. You get to monitor that 1st hand.
Normally If anything happens and you are worried about a particular part or upgrade you put in yourself you can by all means take it out and put in back the original. ie. for more serious cases when dell arranges a CAR service to take away your notebook for repair. In that case like for example if you upgraded the ram from 4gb to 8gb or something Dell will advise you to take out your 8gb and put back in the 4gb. I've done this a few times because when and if they order new ram to swap out, well there goes your 8gbs lol. They will be using the specs at the time of purchase which will only be 4gbs so they will replace it with 4gbs and send away your faulty 8gb sticks. Just for an example case scenario.

As long as the part that you upgraded or put in yourself isn't causing the problems or is the problem then you will be fine. In this case its your fan so thats all good.

For you case tomorrow it will all be quite a simple and fast process. In and out pretty much. The tech guy will just be there to change your fan and thats it. Just tell him which fan it is. Left or right GPU. Or perhaps you can test it in front of them.

Also you get to sit and watch them work on your notebook the whole time, so thats also good.

 

Í'm hoping it's that vent and nothing else along with it so he can fix it fast. I need the laptop for this project I'm working at at the moment. Not that I would mind that after several fixes I get a new R2 in return (as was the case with some R1 systems during the DPC "era" .

 

Yeh good luck I hope its a simple fix for you as well.
Just reading your post again.

You said it was the Vent causing the problem? Not GPU fan? Is the back vent where the air comes out damaged or something?

If it is the back vent that is flapping about, loose or something then the entire bottom base will need to be swapped.

 

I mean fan. I'm used to saying vent from ventilator, even though the term used for it is fan.

 

Oh okay ehehe thats cool. No worries then. Should be all good then. The fan is probably damaged or faulty. I've had a few fan changes myself over the past couple of years. Cheers.

 

I don't believe getting to the gpu fans is as easy as getting to the cpu fan. With the cpu fan, you just take off the bottom cover and there it is. The gpu fans require taking a lot of the laptop apart to get to them.

 

Yeh thats true. The access to the CPU fan is very very easy.

Access to the GPU fans isn't too hard. All you need to do is Unscrew 2 screws on the underside of the battery compartment and then take off the power strip, keyboard and then either GPU. It sounds longer than it is though. Once you do it, it takes like less than 5 mins. I used to think it was hard to access them until I saw pictures on this site. Gave it a go and walla its great. Gave the fans a clean and tried the thermal pad and paste cooling improvement method.

I guess if its your 1st time opening up the notebook then it can be quite daunting. The pictures and help on this site is great though. Videos even guide you through step by step instructions on how to dis assemble the notebook.
Cheers.

 

So the guy came, he noticed the changed wifi card and didnt say anything about it (we laughed about it). He noticed that the laptop had been dropped and said he won't say anything about it and about the fan... The wrong fan was sent. I needed the left fan and they sent me the right one. He replaced that one and he said the left should come the following days. He seems ok (as a person) and also professional. He knew his way around the laptop. Gonna see if I ca talk to him what I can do to be able to get a refund for the laptop or upgrade to an R2.

He cleaned all the vents/fans and temps dropped about 15 degrees in idle, which is wow.

 

Oh thats good to know. Too bad about the wrong fan being sent LOL. Hopefully you get him again next time. Most of the time though you will just get who ever is available at the time. So any random technician can be sent out. You can speak to him about things but he really isn't part of dell he is only a sub contracted technician. If your system is fixed and working fine after the fan is changed the next time it would be pretty hard to convince dell to upgrade you to the newer R2 model unfortunately. eheheheheh but it would be a nice try eheheheh.

 

So the guy came today, with the correct fan (F603N - for the left gpu) and changed in about 15 mins. Everything went as smooth as can go. Unfortunatelly one of the retainer clips on the back of the touch strip broke. He said to wait about a week and call to have it replaced.

 

Hows the new fan? So has the original problem; rattling fan noise been fixed? Cheers.

 

Did he break it or did you break it? If he broke it then he needs to get another one right away and replace it.

 

Well he broke it , but the deal is I had previously dropped my laptop on the floor and it's "kinda" bent and the screen is a "bit" broken in one corner and he was like "you call and tell them I broke your touch strip and I tell them you broke it when you dropped the laptop". So we decided it's in our mutual interest to wait a week and call about issues with the power strip and have them send me a new one. Fine by me, as I plan to keep in touch with this guy. He is pretty good at what he does and he might help me get an R2 replacement.