'Fan Error'

[AnaKhouri]

Hello friends! I am looking for advice. My poor old laptop (it's at least 6-7 years, a hand-me-down from the husband) had been making this grinding noise for some time. He told me the hard drive was going to fail, but just make sure everything was backed up and when it went he could replace it himself (I know absolutely nothing about computers).

So it appears he was wrong. This morning I go to start it, but it makes the grinding sound, beeps twice, flashes 'fan error' and shuts down. I guess it was the fan all along.

Can this be fixed? Will it be too expensive to be worth fixing? Do I need to start saving for another one?

[Chromatix]

It's usually possible to replace the fan in a laptop, but not always easy. You'll have to get the right one, to start with. See if you can find a trustworthy tech to help.

[Sleepwalker]

What do you use the laptop for? I'd have serious reservations about sinking money into a 7 year old laptop. Exact price depends on which fan, and what the exact model of laptop is.

[AnaKhouri]

That's my thinking too. I use it to do two things: write, and surf the Net. I have Linux and don't play games or anything.

I guess I'll start looking apound for something cheap. Thanks guys!

[Sleepwalker]

NP. Might still be worth it to see if you can narrow down the source of the problem, so you can better make a financial decision. 10$ part might be the issue. Hesitant to say too much because I am more used to self built desktops, not prebuilt laptops, so I'm unsure how the fans are usually set up in a laptop. In desktops, sometimes a loose part will block a fan, though I'd think there'd be almost nothing capable of coming loose in a laptop. It could be that the fan is just blocked with dustcrud or sitting incorrectly, which could be solved by opening the case and letting rip with some compressed air/eyeballing the fan to see if it running correctly during startup. The laptop will detect a blocked fan and force shutdown during boot to protect the CPU from overheating.

[RichS]

That depends on the laptop. Having opened up a lot of them, some you can just pop up the keyboard, and there's the fan. Others are diabolical in their construction, and you have to disassemble nearly the whole laptop to get to the fan.

Then, some fans are part of the cooling system (heatsink), and some are not, then there's cost, both part (if you can find it) and labor...probably not worth putting into a 6-7 year old laptop.

[EricKei]

Part of the issue with laptops is that they often have woefully inadequate cooling x.x They are also often designed to be difficult or impossible to upgrade, for most components aside from optical drives, hard drives, and RAM. Need a better one? Why, just toss it like a Happy Meal box and buy another!

You mentioned the grinding noise -- it could very well be that the fan AND the hard drive had issues, with the former likely contributing to the latter.

[Arcus]

Without knowing what laptop you have, it will be hard to say what is needed. A laptop fan can be a pain to replace. Finding replacement fans is not hard for the major brands. Anyone that is willing to to take their time can do it. It's a little scary because often the shell snaps together as well as having screws. hearing the snaps and pops while you carefully pull it apart is unnerving.

Replacing a fan is the most common thing I do anytime I work on a laptop. I figure that I may as well if I already have it apart.

[sms001]

Give us a make and model AnaKhouri. I'm sure we can figure out how hard/how much it would be. (Unless, of course, you're wanting a new lappy. )

[dalesys]

Your laptop isn't getting enough "Like"'s on FB.

[AnaKhouri]

Um, the case says "IBM" "Lenovo" and "ThinkPad". Is that what it is? I seriously know nothing here.

The husband watched a Youtube video about how to replace the fan. He thinks he can do it (though I was intimidated by the 4000 tiny, tiny screws holding everything together). I'm sure he can do it (he can do anything after watching an instructional video, pretty much).

I would prefer to fix it if it will be cheaper because we are on a tight budget.

[Sleepwalker]

Should be a series of numbers/letters to indicate the exact model somewhere, possibly on the underside of it.

[emax4]

If you don't mind tinkering with things, it can be a good experience to get your feet wet. I recommend downloading the shop manual (they're out there for free, usually from the manufacturer's website) on a different computer (or smartphone), and checking out the diagrams. The fan should be an uber-cheap part, so it's not like you're losing a lot if it still doesn't fix it.

[Chromatix]

I would hope that a ThinkPad should be relatively easy to fix.

The older (IBM era) models also had their model number printed somewhere fairly prominent. The A20p I liberated from the office scrap pile a while ago has it near the top left of the keyboard.

[AnaKhouri]

The husband is very bright about doing things like this, so I think he can replace the fan (hopefully that's all it is). The thing is him finding time to do it...I hope it's soon because his computer is nice but I hate using it because it's different from mine and his wallpaper is a picture of Juggernaut. I miss my Sara from Witchblade.

Thanks everyone, you've eased my mind a little about the possibility of fixing the old mare!