A fan is an integral part of a laptop or desktop computer. The function of the fan is to keep the Central Processor Unit (CPU) cool during use. Noisy fans can be very irritating as they roar like a small jet turbine. This can lead to over heating and excessive wear to the CPU or other elements of the computer motherboard and lead to eventual crashing of the computer.
The causes of a faulty or noisy fan can be several, possibly worn out due to age or use or possibly an electronic component failure. As a result of this the fan may start to vibrate when in use thus causing excessive noise and possibly heat build up.
Sometimes the fans can be easily cured with a drop of machine oil whilst others just can’t be brought to operational state and need to be replaced. Either of these fixes generally means dis-assembly of the laptop. This article will now describe the process of dis-assembly and replacement of the fan unit.
Usually the fan is located in the corner of the laptop on the back side. On older models the laptop fan is accessed by opening one of the plastic covers on the bottom of the case. On modern laptops there is only one way to access it and that is to disassemble the laptop
This article will now describe and illustrate how to replace laptop fan on a Toshiba laptop. to do it we need to remove all the screws on the underside of the case (note, there may be many and not always obvious so please look very carefully). In order to keep things in the right order it is adviseable to have a number of of small containers into which you can place the screws as you remove them. Ideally one container for the bottom, inside, top and sides noting on each container where the screws came from i.e Toshiba xx “top screws” etc. When separating the case to gain access to the computer take care to use plastic tools and carefully slide them around the case to separate the two halves. If at any point the case will not flip apart then check carefully for any further hidden screws and remove them before continuing.
In most cases the fan is attached to the heatsink with tape or it is screwed to it. Depending on the model the heatsink is normally made from two or more parts to cool the CPU, the North Bridge and the graphics processor. After disassembling the case and separating the top and bottom it is normally possible to see these parts In most cases the first part removed will be the heatsink and then the fan is accessible.
Every laptop model has his own type of fan. Of course in general they are the same but the difference is the connection and the screw places on the fan plastic.
Laptop fans should come with enough grease or oil inside but usually this is not the case. To lower the noise simply drop a few drops of the machine oil on the axis and then reassemble computer. If this does not help it means that the axis and bearings are worn out or the electronics inside the fan do not work. In these cases the best alternative is to replace the fan unit with a new one.