Bad fan sound. need help!

I just fired up my np5793 this morning, and after running for maybe two minutes, I started getting a bad noise out of the vent/fan intake (so labeled in this picture: http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7577/wooferqp5.png)

It sounds like the fan isn't spinning smoothly, or it's rubbing up against something perhaps. It doesn't sound horribly destroyed, but something is definitely wrong.

I've never opened this laptop up, but it seems I'm going to have to to get a look at what's going on. Can I please get some instructions or a link to some instructions on how I would go about accessing that fan?

 

...You circled the subwoofer-- perhaps that's what's making noise and not the fan?

 

Ignore that. That pic was just on my HDD from forever ago when I was getting the laptop and showing my friend that it had a woofer. The noise is coming from the fan vent.

 

you can re-seat and re-secure the heatsink/fan that is making the noise.

it might have gotten slightly loose and vibrating.

 

Alright. Do you have any specific instructions on how to go about doing that? To access the fan, do I remove the back panel that's secured by *counts* 11 screws?

 

Oooh ok.
Well, grab a screwdriver and start taking out the plate screws (note which sized ones go where) and then look for anything that would make noise. Be sure to ground yourself before touching any of the components inside (wintertime = low humidity = lots of static), and then try blowing anything out of the fans. Secure the plate back in maybe with one or two screws (just so it isn't falling off) and then see if the fans still make noises.
If they don't, you can put all the screws back in obviously.
If they do make noise, then you go to plan B, which is a work in progress at this point.

 

Ok status update. I got the back panel off, and it was quite dusty inside. I cleaned it out the best I could. (Unfortunately, I don't have a compressed air canister or anything.) But I got it looking more or less spotless to the naked eye. I secured the panel with two screws and started it up again. Well...the fan sounds better...but the noise isn't completely gone. So now I've got the panel off again and I'm trying to be even more meticulous about it..

But at this point, I don't think it can be dust that it sucked up. It looks pretty clean. The fan and fansink seem to be well secured.

Something I just noticed. The copper colored heat sink behind the fan in question (which is the smaller of the two) has some play in it. It's not shaking around or going anywhere unless it's moved by human hands, but it can be slightly lifted out of its seat..maybe an eight..maybe a quarter of an inch. Is that normal, or should it be tightly secured to the chassis? (I doubt this is responsible for the sound.)

 

Definitely should make contact with whatever it's taking heat away from. Tighten it down if possible...

 

I can not for the life of me figure out the source of this sound. Everything seems...totally fine on the inside. Would it be very ill advised to have the computer running with the panel off so I could try to see it spinning?

EDIT: well...I did that without waiting for a response. There's nothing visibly vibrating or obstructing the fan blades...so I'm afraid that the problem may be with the motor. Is it possible that since this fan seems to be spinning more or less constantly (especially with the new nvidia drivers), that it could be burning out after ive only owned the laptop for about 7 months?

 

run the fans on Medium Speed (Fn+3) while it is not gaming.

if the fans are becoming faulty... then you can contact your vendor.

the will send you a new fan/heasink.. so you wont have to send in your system and have down time.

 

I ordered from Sager's official site. They were very helpful the last time I had a problem. (my 93 was having the keyboard response issue that was mostly associated with the 96's, and they wrote a BIOS revision for me based on my complaints.) Would they send me the parts I need, or could I only expect that from one of the resellers?

 

Just don't put any metal in it while you do it, and don't touch anything other than the fan. I've touched the heatsinks while a computer was just starting up but I wouldn't recommend it (especially after it's been on for awhile).

 

yes they will send you parts if they determine that its hardware related.

 

Well, I'm going to have my dad take a look at it when he comes home. (Very mechanical kind of guy.) But I'm fearing its going to need some hardware replacement.

In any case, thanks very much to both of you for your help. You each get some +rep.

 

these high-end Clevo notebooks are quite simple to replace minor parts like heatsink/fans... its pretty much a straight swap.

I would not worry about it, just contact Sager and tell them what the issue is, they should cross-ship you a new part if needed .... without you having to send in your notebook at all.

 

Haha thanks. Best of luck with everything, let us know how it goes

 

update: my dad came home, and he happened to have a compressed air canister. Much to my dismay, he was almost completely unable to hear the noise! It was much better than it was when I first started up the computer this morning, but I was still surprised that he couldn't hear it. Anyway, I used the compressed air and cleaned out what dust was still there. I restarted the machine, and still heard the noise. It was still better than first thing this morning, but definitely still worse than last night.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I removed the little silver cover over the fan to see if I could get a better view of any potential problems. It looked like there was nothing there. I re-secured the cover, figured there was nothing else I could do for the matter, and put the back panel back on with all the screws. I rebooted the machine and presto! sound is gone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't return, but it seems like by just reseating that cover, I may have fixed the problem. I'll keep you guys posted on any future developments.

 

Awesome bit of luck you had there, hope it keeps up.

 

I used to take out the whole heatsink / fan assembly every 2 months on my ex M570RU , for general cleanup, and it kept the system cool and running without a glitch.

It`s what I loved about it, it was so easy to clean and maintain...