CF-48's Broken Fan (?)

I cleverly dropped my CF-48 (more than once). The thing is still working well, however, the fan at the back seems to have stopped turning. Is this an easy fix? I am *not* someone who familiar with the inner workings of laptops... Thank you in advance for any suggestions, information, etc!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-CF-48...ItemQQimsxZ20090212?IMSfp=TL090212128009r7609

Seems like a deal to me. We have all the schematics and manuals you may need to do this yourself. If you can't open the laptop up... You may not be able to fix this.

Also... There are several "freeware" apps available that can program your fan to run when YOU want it to. You may try to install one of these to test your fan and see what it shows/does.

 

Thank you, Toughbook. You have given me courses of action to take as well as hope.

Even though the CF-48 is a wee bit heavy, it's a fine machine...

 

And working on it will make it perfect!

 

Toughbook,

Thank you again for your advice. I downloaded the freeware program SpeedFan, set it to "automatic" and have not had problems since. The fan does seem to work. I must admit to not being used to laptops where the fan comes on only as needed (a good feature). I do take the precaution of having the fan cooler base that's powered by the USB drive when using the computer for any length of time.

Thank you again!

 

I have another problem with my CF-48 and was wondering whether you could help me.

Quite suddenly, the USB ports, both of them, no longer work. They recognize the USB jack for Antec cool fan, but nothing else, such as my iPod (the horror, the horror), flash drives, you name it. Could this just be a software problem or something more?

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again for your assistance with the fan!

 

sounds software related given the fact that the Antec cool fan works. That leads me to believe the USB ports are getting power. I suppose in the DROP though that you could have some loose connections. How many USB ports do you have total, and are ALL exhibiting the same problem, and are they ALL located in the same side of the laptop???

 

MWS -

One of two things is possible; either your USB port is going into shutdown because of a current overload, or perhaps your USB driver stack is corrupt. Disconnect all usb devices (even hubs), close out all programs, then look in Device Manager; if you see any yellow error signs or red Xes in the USB controllers area you have a problem; usually I wind up having to disable the USB root hub, uninstall all the dependent USB host connections, then uninstall the USB root hub (It won't let you until all the dependent connections are uninstalled). Once that's done, reboot the machine immediately & let Windows reinstall the entire USB driver stack once it comes back up. Give it a while; I've seen it take 5 minutes to complete all the dependent connection driver installs. Now try something simple - like a USB thumb drive - once it finishes installing the default drivers for your drive, it should pop up a dialog asking what to do with the contents of folder. (Unless you have AutoPlay turned off for security). If so, you should have a successful reinstall of your USB driver stack.

Good luck,

mnem
Corrupted stacks! Invalid filenames! Parsing errors! Oh MY!

 

Doobi, the USBs are located at the back of the machine. There are two of them, located next to the power supply outlet and the round keyboard port (or whatever it's called). In answer to your question, both USB ports are acting the same way which is, except for the Antec cool fan, not at all. Golly, I hope the drop(s) did not affect the USBs for they did work for a while afterward. But, as you said, there's a possibility something might be loose.

mnem, your answer is very complete and I'll have to go through the steps you recommend. I think I got partway through the process you described, but as I was doing it rather blindly (not a computer person) I don't think I covered all the steps you detailed. I'll try implimenting them tonight.

Thank you all. I'll let you know what happens....

mwsgilbert

PS. Sorry for not changing the heading of my earlier post. Obviously, this is no longer a fan problem. New at this forum stuff...

 

No problem there. We have become adept at following the thread changes! hehe. I would definitely try the Dragons suggestions, he is one of the veterans here, as it also is the simplest solution. If you don't get it, you can PM him and he will break it down for you step by step. He is very good at that, and because dragons are soo old, he is very patient