P7811-FX GPU fan broken?

Hi all, I've had my P7811-FX for a couple years now, and I've lost the ability to play games on it because my GPU fan won't run. Play anything that uses any graphics card capability and my GPU temp runs from 49 idle to 80 in 2 minutes, 90 in 3, and it keeps going up. Anywhere from 90 to 105 or so my whole computer will shut itself off (or the screen will go dead and the keyboard/mouse become unresponsive while the sound continues and the laptop stays on). This is with the laptop on a raised cooling pad with 3 fans.

The fan won't turn on during any of that. I've updated my BIOS, turned in-game video settings to their absolute minimum, but no good. It seems like something is blocking the fan, because using compressed air from the exterior I can't get the fan to turn, either.

I saw the Gateway 17" disassembly guide. It looks like you have to go through the whole thing to get to the GPU fan, but I could be reading it wrong.

Any suggestions? Is there an easy way to get to the fan? Once I do, can I actually replace the fan if it's broken? What would I need?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

 

I dont know for sure, but if its using the revision 1 setup, its 2 pieces, the fan, and the heatsink...

Either way, is going to require a bit of work to get to, but if its rev1 then all you need to do is get to the part where you remove the top of the shell, then unscrew the fan, then try using canned air...

I got mine from a friend for free (he upgraded to a new desktop), the GPU and CPU fan/shroud where filthy... and couldnt be cleaned externally, it was literally compacted in and only came lose when I removed the fan... it was NAZTY (hes a cat/dog person... go figure)


ANYWHO, if your fan is indeed a dud, they got for like $5-10 on ebay... just look for the model # thats on the sticker thats on your potentially broken GPU fan...

 

Thanks! Good to know there's some hope I like what this laptop has been for me, but I'd like to play my games again. Witcher 2 and Diablo 3 are both sitting and waiting...

Since I'm going to open it up that far, would it make sense to put some thermal paste stuff on? I've never done it before, any guides as to what type to buy and how much and where to put it on?

 

may i ask what bios version you using?

 

If your on BIOS revision .23 (which fixes many issues for me, Win7 related), the GPU fan doesnt kick in until it hits 172F, however, you talk of it going higher, so Im inclined to agree with you on your fan being bad...


On that note, and to answer your question, If you feel comfortable and have done it before, I highly recommend redoing the thermal paste! However, if you havent done it before, theres the great possibility you can totally kill you laptop (same as with opening it at all).

Alot of people here on the forums use ICD for both the no gap, and as a replacement for thermal pads (the Northbridge chip and GPU VRAM modules are not making contact and would otherwise require thermal pads), I myself bought some 17k thermal pads and some HeGrease and get extremely good temp's (even with .23 bios)! I also modified the hand rest portion of the laptop so that the VRAM modules on the top make contact with the large top of the laptop's shell... works wonders!

Overall my costs where $60~, but I have spare ThermalPaste and Thermal pads, and the idea of making this laptop last as long as possible, was EXTREMELY (to me) worth it.



If you lived in San Antonio, Texas (where I live), id offer to do it for you for materials cost