Laptop fan issue

Hey guys

Recently one of the fans in my laptop has begun to make a grinding sound, as if the fan is repeatedly hitting something.

I've unscrewed the fan, there is nothing iside it, there is nothing underneath it, the fans are clean. Why its making this noise is beyond me! The noise wont be persistent, sometimes it will endlessly make this noise, other times it will start and stop, as if something is catching the fan, moving away, coming back. Sorry thats the best I can describe this noise.

I unscrewed the case and switched the laptop on, the noise would vary depending on how i held the laptop up, i noticed that if i put my finger in the centre of the fan and pushed down a little the noise would stop, almost like the reduced fan speed was stopping the grinding noise.

Another thing to note is that only 1 fan is spinning, the other fan seems to stop, i dont know if this is normal.

Any help would be appreciated! Cheers

One last thing to note, this started to happen after I cleaned my fans, for some reason one of the screws had a harder time screwing down, and bam, this started to happen

 

If you had trouble screwing it down, it might not be held tightly, causing the fan housing to vibrate against the chassis. Seems the most obvious explanation off hand. You had better check if both fans are working by running something a little more demanding, and keeping an eye on the temps. You don't want to be burning anything out.

 

its not that i had trouble screwing it down, 2 of the 3 screws go down with no effort at all, whereas one will have a little resistance, but will screw in eventually. I've tried screwing it in several times, using different screws, still the same.

Regarding the heat, with Firefox & skype running the GPU is at 64 degrees, cpu @ 47 and 52 degrees. Why would only 1 fan be working though? do I need to use a program to change that?

EDIT - To add as well, even after I screw in the fan, i can move it around slightly with my finger, so yeah it probably is vibration, although its technically attached to the chasis.

 

Yeah, if it's moving, it's probably vibrating against the chassis. With the fans, the one on the right is the gpu, the other is the cpu. By demanding, I mean a decent game or something like that. You should be able to tell if they're running if you put your hand on the vents. The fans will only run if the extra cooling is required. So my gpu fan is running now, but cpu isn't. They will both kick in and ramp up when needed.

 

I'll run Diablo or something but with that running the GPU tends to get to around high 70's degrees, everything else much cooler.

Regarding the chasis though im a bit concerned, it seems like replacing something like this wouldnt be easy, really sucks that Kobalt went under, its p much left me in the sh*t if anything happens to this laptop

 

That temp sounds fine. What about the cpu, and does the other fan kick in?
You can get parts if you need. I assume you have a p150hm or p170hm. Check out the European resellers thread or if you're in the UK PWN are on this forum and could probably help.

EDIT: I'm a Kobalt orphan as well. Bit annoying loosing the warranty, but there are other ways to get parts.

 

the other fan appears to be on, there is heat coming from the vent at the back, but its not half as hot as the other side! gpu temp is 77, cpu is 63 and 57.

my laptop is a G870 i believe, my main concern is removing everything and putting things back I've swapped out ram/hdd's/fans but not a chassis haha

 

The noise has appeared to stop now, its been fine for a few minutes, so no idea what that means in relation to our theory of the chassis causing the fan to rattle

EDIT - its back, but somewhat quieter now, it appears to go from loud to quiet at will

 

At least your fans work. I can't see any issue with those temps. Changing the chassis for what is a small problem is a little extreme. Have a closer look at why the fan is not secure.

 

I believe I've looked at everything i humanly can without unscrewing more 'core' parts of the laptop, such as the gpu/cpu and eventually chassis. I guess I could give that a shot, i dont trust myself unplugging these small delicate looking wires though lol.

The last time this happened i just unscrewed the fan and re screwed it in, last time it stopped the noise for a few weeks. so its no doubt the screws, but i dont know what i could use to secure the fan in better.

 

Just a thought, but you could 'assist' the screws holding down the fan with some double sided tape (proper 3M tape not stationary shop rubbish), or rubber washers. That should absorb the vibration.

 

Yeah I was considering that option, when I lifted up the laptop though no matter what I pushed on the noise didnt stop, i tried pushing down on the case surrounding the fan, the plastic that it was screwed into, nothing changed. The only thing that killed off the noise was when i pushed down lightly on the centre of the fan itself, slightly slowing the blades down.

Combine that with the noise coming and going and changing in levels and I'm completely stumped with what to do!

I'll have another look tommorow anyway, going to put on my headphones and watch UFC tonight

I'll keep you posted, thanks so much for all the help so far!

 

I've tried putting additional pressure on every part of the fan and the noise still persists, it only stops when I physically slow down the fan slightly by placing my finger on it.

what makes this entire situation even more strange is how the noise can stop at any moment and come back 5 minutes later.

 

Try swapping the fans over. Maybe its the bearings.

 

The fans wont fit if i were to switch them, I cant seem to find a picture of my case but both of the fans look the same but curve outwards left and right. and they have wires that go into deeper parts of the laptop that I cannot get at.

The noise is really starting to get to me now lol, its so infuriating, cant concentrate at all with it in the background

 

That's really annoying. Its much easier with the current models. Its possible the connectors are under the keyboard. Hard to know without the service manual.

 

even if I could unplug the fans they wouldnt fit in opposite sides, and I guess even if I did manage to switch them over, as soon as I start to run demanding programs i'd get this noise


I guess I have to find a place that sells Clevo fans :/

 

I didn't explain that, sorry. If you switched the fans, you could work out if I was a faulty fan or just the mounting.
If you need the part, try pm to pwn, otherwise I think clevoweb might have them.

 

hi, i am experiencing the same problem.... mine happens on the cpu fan, i m thinking to add lubricant on the bearing....

 

Yeah I'm going to look into doing that myself, I only just found out that fans had bearings in them! No idea how to lubricate the bearings or how to even get to them though!

 

Sounds like the dried-out bearing of a fan sourced from the lowest bidder...

These fans have sleve bearings and the impeller is retained magnetically. Given the the manufacturing tolerances and quality control of these components, it is questionable how they find their way in these "premium" machines... When the bearing dries out (i.e. probably a week after you unbox your machine), there is a good chance there is a lot of play between the pin of the impleller and the brass sleve. The impeller is most likely imbalanced anyway so it doesn't need much to start doing nasty things like wobble and precess. With the help of gravity, the impeller starts to thrash around and will try to "screw" its way out of the bearing assembly. There can be enough play to allow the ends of the blades to hit the top metal fan cover. Changing the angle of the laptop can randomly cause the wobble to stop momentarily. It's a random process, so it can start and stop anytime. Go away for while. Then come back with a vengence and seeze the impeller (just randomly... and maybe not permanently, maybe it happened and you didn't notice). Fans in these machines are like dead-man-switches, if you don't hear it, be worried... very worried.

Luckily, these high-end sophisticated top-notch creme-of-the-crop engineering marvels have contigencies built-in for when the signature bottom-of-the-barrel fans fails to spin-up. If the laptop doesn't detect the fan spinning at the commanded RPM, it kills the power and blacks-out instantly. Perhaps the fact that a few seconds typing a one liner in software works wonders on a profit margin, vs. spending a few minutes addressing the root cause of a potentially catastrophic reliablity issue and engineering a proper solution, explains a bit of the situation.

The bandaid fix is to stuff a bit of graphite powder in the bearing to lower the tolerance betwen the fan's bearing sleve and the pin of the impeller. The graphite powder fills-in rough defects that causes wobble and excessive grinding. Then a bit of liquid lubricant like 3-in-1 oil can be added to reduce friction between the pin and sleeve. It can take a bit of time to strike the right balance between those two ingredients but trial and error should eventually yield acceptable results.

So, roll-up "your" sleeves and have fun! That what you paid for isn't it? The trick is to pull the impeller straight out to avoid causing scratches on the sleve and pin surfaces and first working the graphite little into the sleve by applying a little within the sleve, replacing the impeller and then turning the impeler by by hand a few times *dead-center about the axis with no lateral force* and until is rotates relatively freely. Also the pin should be able to contact the bottom the sleeve, so make sure there is not a compacted layer of graphite accumulating in the bottom the hole.

There might be a bit of grinding the first few times the fan spins-up, but eventually the loose graphite will settle into the right spots and you shouldn't hear the bearing. You shouldn't "feel" the fan spinning either when you touch the assembly (within reason for these ones...).

Unfortunately you'll probably hear the fan whine loud and clear, but that's not a bearing issue, that's a whole other chapter in fluid dynamics.

 

thanks for taking the time to reply! Although I have to say what you said regarding the sleeve i didnt understand, I guess once I get the fan open i'll see what you meant. I just hope that my fan is laid out similarly to how you told me to apply this powder!

Cann I pick up graphite powder from any PC store? Or is it an online purchase? Cheers

 

You should be able to get graphite powder in many different places (except PC stores): hardware stores, autoparts, hobby shops...

Here's an example of what to look for:
Revell Graphite Powder

It's very light and black powder, it can make a hell of a mess and stain just about anything, use with care. Pour some out of the container on a peice of paper and then use some kind of very fine art paint brush or tooth pick to apply it where needed. I would clean out the bearing first too. It's likely full of residues that cause the problem in the first place.

To clarify a little:

You would use the small paint brush to apply powder on the pin of the impeller, which is accessible.

The sleeve bushing however, is part of the fan assembly and nothing can really fit conveniently inside the hole to coat the inside wall of the cylinder. So you kind of have to tilt the fan on its side so you can drop a bit of powder at the opening of the hole. With the fan on its side, the powder won't fall to the bottom of the hole. You can then use the toothpick to sort of spread the powder along the inside wall of the sleeve. It doesn't have to be evenly spread or anything, the goal is just to get enough on the bearing working surfaces. When you put the impeller back in and give it a few turns, the powder will settle where it should. The oil will also help. You can also flip the fan up side down and giggle the toothpick in the hole take some out if it seems to be too stuffed (e.g. if the fan doesn't spin freely or if it doesn't bottom out).

 

Hi, did you try and did it work ? those noise are getting more serious for my notebook ... please keep me updated , thank you