Going without Inspiron 1420 fan for 1-2 weeks--good idea?

A Dell technician came today to fix an audio problem on my 1 month-old Inspiron 1420. He couldn't fix it, so I'll be getting a new 1420 in 5-10 business days to replace it; I'll just mail in my current one back to Dell once I get the replacement. But in the process of disassembling and reassembling my laptop, the technician somehow caused the fan to make achingly loud, grating sound every time it comes on. It sound like metal scraping against metal, and it's LOUD. It comes on every few minutes, stays on for a few minutes, shuts off, and repeats.

Anyways, I took the laptop apart and unplugged the fan. Should the machine be okay for one or two weeks if I'm conservative about what programs I run (mostly Firefox, Word, and iTunes)? I don't want to damage the hard drive (I'll need to swap it out), and I also don't want to cause any substantial damage that I may be charged for by Dell when I send it in. Also, are there any overt warning signs of overheating to look out for? Thanks for any help.

 

That is a really bad idea, the processor in your laptop will melt in less than half of an hour. You should just go find what is scraping against the fan and then move whatever it is, reconnect the fan and put your system back together.
Please listen, if you do not you will be without a system.
A processor is a very expensive piece of equipment in a laptop, and I highly recommend keeping the fan plugged in, or else you are going to destroy your laptop.

K-TRON

 

Agreed, terrible idea.

 

Even in a cool room? A half hour? Jeez.

I don't know much about computer hardware, so thanks for saving me from making a big mistake (I only had it on for 5 minutes before I read your message, K-tron!).

 

I'd try to find out why it's doing it. Presuming you can get to the fan ok (to disconnect it) surely you can troubleshoot the problem?

 

For the sake of the CPU and motherboard's components, you should leave the fan ON.
Q: How did you get Dell to come and try to fix you laptop instead at your house or place of work, instead of them asking you to mail it to their repair center?

 

I've taken it apart again and have separated the fan from everything. It looks as if the plastic fan is rubbing up against part of it metal enclosure. I tried bending one small metal part away from the fan slightly, but the noise only seemed to be worse. It looks like I may have to put up with this noise until the replacement arrives.

On a related note, won't this rubbing slow down the fan significantly and reduce its effectiveness? It didn't sound or feel before as if it was going at full speed--more of a medium sped (but that could be because I wasn't doing anything particularly taxing). All that noise might be coming with just a slight reduction in temperature from a crippled fan.

 

Naton, this seems to be the standard for their warranty. I've had their machine for a month, and already a Dell tech has come to my house twice free of charge and I am now bound to get a free replacement. Ideally I wouldn't have any problems with the hardware (although admittedly it all started from a mistake on my part), but at least Dell is going through a lot of effort to reconcile things.

 

It may run OK for a while, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. My Latitude D420 still uses the fan every so often, even though it's running an ultra-low voltage CPU. An Inspiron is unlikely to be as efficient, so I doubt it would run for two weeks without it.

It is part of the warranty: Though I'm not sure if next-business day is default for Inspirons, it is certainly standard on Latitudes. it is one of the biggest plus points in buying a Dell.

Possibly, yes, I would avoid putting too much stress on the machine until the replacement arrives.