Fan Problems?

[Bruce]

I strongly doubt there will be enough connections still in place to allow the mobo to even power up, you are about to remove almost everything just to get the mobo out to get to the fan.

if you have already done this, why are we doing it again for?
an answer may be because you didn't check the fan last time, like not only removing any dust but also checking the fan mounts, the blades and the bearing. to be such a noticable vibration, I'm guessing either a blade has busted off or the bearing has collapsed or the fan has come lose.

 

[Sonan]

Oh, I cleaned every fan blade. It all seemed in good condition, just dusty. In fact, I decided to just try running the laptop again to see how it would go-
Somehow, the laptop is running wonderfully smoothly. I started with placing it on a flat desk for a change, and then laying in my bed with it on top of me as I usually have it. I even tried rotating it and gently shaking it, which would usually most likely trigger the loud noise and vibrations, but it still ran smoothy.
The bottom of the fan base/holder (I'm not sure what it is, but you put a few screws in to keep it secured in place) only seemed to have one screw at the bottom left, which I assume would be very loose. However when I looked at the manual it said that there were three corners where I had to take out screws, but I only happened to find one. It seemed odd to me, though this model has less screws in many places (Only three screws holding the motherboard in place, rather than 6 which the manual said. I tried all the holes with a screw, also. It would only fit in three of them, matching the total amount of screws that were screwed into it.).

Though last time I recall, the laptop was running smoothy until I launched a game or was watching a video. The problem came back.. I'm going to test it now to see if everything will still run smoothly while having a moderate amount of cpu usage.

However I have run into another problem, that you don't have to worry about. My battery was sitting at 0% when I first turned on the laptop tonight. 30 minutes later after some testing, it changed to 6% when I turned the laptop on. Another 30 minutes of testing later and it's sat at 22% for about an hour, to right now. It says plugged in, not charging, though the battery percentage doesn't reduce. Every once in a while I will see that it charges for a few seconds and then stops again..
HP Support Assistant reported an unknown error after I let it check the battery for me, and it told me to replace it. I looked up a couple of solutions online and they told me to uninstall all battery drivers and shut down the computer, then taking out the battery and charger. I didn't get any fix from trying that. It also happens to be that this issue came along after I did a windows update after many months.

 

[Sonan]

So.. It was running fine for a couple of hours. But after playing a game for about 30 minutes the noise/vibration issue came back for almost 5 minutes. It just stopped for a minute and then it came back, but at a more calm level. after a couple of minutes it suddenly got loud and intense again.. I'm so upset.. I thought I wouldn't have to worry about this issue constantly bothering and stressing me out anymore..

And as for the battery, it says it's plugged in and charging now, though it's very slow for some reason. The battery diagnostics told me that the status was weak instead of unknown this time.

 

[Bruce]

I think it's time for fork out some money and take it into a professional workshop.
how old is the laptop, in other words, is it worth it?

 

[Sonan]

It's preowned, and I've used it for a couple of years, usually all day every day. Should I take photos inside the laptop? Should I take a recording of the noise?

 

[Bruce]

why not, take some shots of the motherboard fan and a video of the noise.
it can't hurt.
from what you describe, it not being there, then starts, gets louder and goes away, all sounds like the fan trying to cool down the CPU or the exhaust fan for the laptop. it sounds like your inspection of it shows nothing obvious which leaves the fan assembly itself.

once you pull it apart you can search for the same make/model fan and see if it's available and worth fixing.

 

[Sonan]

Spoiler: Photos

As you can see, there is only one screw holding the fan in place. A lot of the parts seem quite loose and wobbly, as I will show later below.
And yes, I was wrong this entire time- I'm really sorry about that, but I suppose the consequence is having to wait longer to fix this problem that's constantly bothering me.

Fan Tests:

20190906_222748 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

20190906_224027 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

20190906_224116 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

I stuck a soft bristled brush inside the fan while the laptop was running, and the noise stopped completely. I couldn't see anything blocking the fan to cause the awful noise. The blades seem great. And about these videos, it seems like the noise is a lot harsher when it is screwed in to the motherboard. And there is no noise if I spin the fan from the side instead of the top. I don't understand.. Could it be a result from something pushing against the top or the center? Could the fan have something in the center that is disturbing it? Have you seen any case like this before?


Loose Parts:

20190906_225557 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

20190906_225613 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

20190906_225704 (1).mp4

drive.google.com

While the fan only has one screw holding it in, the part next to it seems loose as well. Is it supposed to be this way? Could it have something to do with the fan playing up?


The Laptop in Use:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ITnJ4F_VO2kp7VS1OBBmQgijIEJ72kUE - In the past the noise used to go away after 2-3 resets. It's a lot trickier to get it to stop now. I have tried up to 7 times and it wouldn't get any better. But now it will just make it get worse or stay the same.

Feel free to skim through these next videos. Skip through around 5 seconds at a time a few times a second or so.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z52rzn7dy3wYelD9A8nP51fwUtN97TUW -This is how it normally goes by when I leave it running. The volume will lower and rise, or stay at a constant rate. Though from my experimenting it seems more likely for the fan to stop messing up if I give it a reset with sleep and let it run for a while.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bPxg0rBWiH2if_4pJBQP3JU4aWlGcKkS -I tried it the next morning and it was still a problem. I gave it a single reset and it only took 30 seconds for it to stop. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_E0Hi5s-NiGxkWfr-Fy8IR0ACjTwezPF
I'm currently using the laptop and it has lasted quite well. I won't be using any games that use up 5% cpu this time. I will only do things that don't constantly use any cpu at all. I have played a game that uses around 20-30% cpu usage and it took 30 minutes for the fan to malfunction, after a couple of hours not using any cpu. Next time I had the laptop working, I tried a game that uses a quarter as much usage and it lasted just as long as last time; a few hours.

I found a fan that I can get for 20USD. A new battery would be around $30.

Just as I finished typing this, the noise comes back at a much quieter sound, no vibrations either, but still a shaky sound (As it usually does before it gets loud, like last time). Maybe it isn't based on cpu usage, as each time I have had the laptop working fine, it always lasts around 3 hours. I gave it a couple of resets and the issue went away again. I'll try and see if the malfunction and fix is consistent.

 

[gus]

Do you have a system backup, if not now is the time to start.

 

[Sonan]

Why is that? How can I backup?

 

[Bruce]

well, from all that evidence, it does seem like its that CPU fan on the mobo to blame.
as to why, I do not know, as it looks fine and spins OK when you manually do it.
yes, it could be the laptop underside or keyboard side pushing down on it but if so, you'd expect the noise to always be there, not come and go as you seem to be able to make it.

I would suggest replacing the fan, as to whether that fixes it, only time will tell.

 

[Sonan]

It spins fine? But it made that exact noise when I spun it from the top, especially when it's screwed in..
Sure I can buy a new one, but I would really like to find out what caused the problem in the first place. After months of anxiety from encountering this, and a whole week of stress from having it stop me from using my laptop all together, I almost need to find the answer to the question I've had since the fan started doing this months ago.
I can only assume that the answer lies in the center of the fan. Perhaps it's lost it's oil, or it is rusty.

 

[Bruce]

I thought the noise I was hearing was due to you spinning the fan and maybe applying too much pressure.
once your finger was off the blades and they were still spinning, I didn't hear a noise.

either way - doesn't matter, if you say there was, that's good, it still points to that fan being the culprit.
as to why I can only guess and the obvious one is the bearing has collapsed. the next guess is the blades are being forced onto the underlying metal by something.

no need for the anxiety or even to stop using the laptop - hasn't that noise been there for weeks?
even without the noise (and potential imminent death - just kidding) you should be doing backups anyway.

unless others have something else to shed, I see your only way forward is replacing that fan and hoping for the best.
it should be a cheap part, you've done all the labour, the only question is will it fixit?
even though all evidence points to it being the problem, there's no gaurantee with these sort of things.

 

[Sonan]

I don't quite understand. How would the bearing collapse to affect the fan in such a way? It all looked fine to me.

I have had this issue for many months now.. But it changed and recently started occuring while I was using the device, rather than only starting it up usually once a day. A day or two before I signed up to post here. I never opened up my laptop before then, either, so it was pretty dusty, and I had no idea what was going on inside the laptop. I couldn't be certain if something was being damaged.

I have some good news. I have been using the laptop for much longer than 3 hours this time. Though yesterday when the fan made that awful noise, I managed to get it to stop in the same session that it came along without turning my laptop off for hours. However when I do that, the noise normally comes back every few minutes, or every 10-20 minutes. I'll have to test that a bit more.
Just now, I took a little break and turned it back on from sleep and the noise came back after over a few hours of using the laptop with no awkward noise. I let the fan do it's thing for a couple of minutes before putting it on sleep again and waking it up. This time doing that actually fixed the fan this time. I think my fan may be recovering from before. Though it does sound like something is pressing down on it. It couldn't be the base enclosure though, as I did test the fan with the bristled brush while the keyboard and everything above the fan was lifted.

 

[Bruce]

as stated previously, it doesn't really matter how we got here - we are as certain as we can be that the fan is the issue.
as to where to from here - only you can decide that.
replaced the fan, don't replace the fan, I'll let you decide on the best course of action from here.

 

[phillpower2]

Any update Sonan?

 

[phillpower2]

Thread closed due to lack of feedback from the OP.