Cooling fan
A CPU cooling fan is a dedicated fan which cools down the heatsink and eventually the CPU (Processor). Usually the CPU cooling fan comes as a part of the heatsink assembly – a metal part drawing heat from the CPU chip. In addition to the CPU cooling fan, some laptops have a dedicated GPU (graphics processing unit) fan which cools down the GPU chip.
The CPU and GPU cooling fans connect directly to the motherboard via a cable running from the fan. When CPU and GPU chips get hotter, the cooling fan spins faster.
COOLING FAN LOCATION IN A LAPTOP.
On some laptops the cooling fan can be easily accessed through a door on the bottom, as on the following Gateway laptop.
If you cannot find it on the bottom, then it’s buried inside the case, as on the following Dell laptop.
COOLING FAN RELATED PROBLEMS.
If your laptop feels very hot and shuts down without any warning, it’s possible that you have a faulty fan. Listen for the fan. Is it working? Sometimes you can see the fan through the fan grill on the bottom of the laptop. Can you see the fan spinning?
If the fan never starts, probably it is bad and has to be replaced.
When the fan bearing goes bad, the fan starts making grinding noise. In this case you’ll have to replace the fan.
If your CPU fan works hard all the time, most likely it happens because the heatsink is dirty and is clogged with dust and lint. You can clean the heatsink using compressed air.
Laptop parts | Repair Man | 
December 26, 2008 3:05 pm
March 11th, 2009 at 7:53 am
kid,
There is no easy access to the cooling fan in an Inspiron 1526 laptop. The fan is mounted under the motherboard.
In order to access and replace the cooling fan, you’ll have to remove the motherboard as it explained in this service manual.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:02 am
i have an inspiron 1526 and it started making a grinding noise not too long ago. my laptop is still working but it makes the noise alot and then it stops, it seems to be the fan but how do i get to it?
February 27th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Also, it’s a good idea to block the fan so it doesn’t spin while you are cleaning it with compressed air.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Cleaning the fan/heatsink assembly is a good idea to prevent overheating but make sure you use compressed air. I used a vac and it has caused the fan to now make a noise – probably messed up the bearings or the fan is out of alignment. Guess I’ll have to replace it to get it silent again.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am
qian,
It’s hard to tell what’s going on with the laptop from your description. Could be bad CPU, motherboard, connection related issue, etc…
Did you check the memory module? Try reconnecting RAM modules. Do you have two RAM modules installed? Try removing them one by one. Not sure if it’s going to help, bu you can try.
Did you test the laptop with another AC adapter? Could be bad adapter.
This description:
Sounds like there could be a problem with the motherboard.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Hi there,
My Dell laptop is dead. before it is dead, i suffered to reboot it, sometimes i have to tune power on a few times to get it booted, but once it is on, it worked ok. But finally, it can not be booted:
when the power is on, LED lights on: sometimes all 3 on for a few second then off completely; sometimes only the light labled A is on for a few seconds then off. every time, the fan doesnt spin, but I noticed it worked before only when CPU is HOT.
What is the problem!?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Rifan,
I think so. Also, listen for the hard drive. Sometimes a faulty hard drive could make very similar noises.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
When laptop stars it’s quiet but after about 5 minutes something starts making rattling noise and than it goes off. After some time stars again. Do you think its bad fan?
January 5th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I used my Shop-Vac to suck up all the dust. Works like new now and quite.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Sure. That’s a very common problem. Many laptops (different brands and models) suffer from overheating because of clogged heatsink.
Keep it clean now.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
It worked! I found a thick layer of dust inside the fan, fortunately it was on the bottom. I cleaned the fan with air compressor.
Working fine now. Has been running for 3 hours already.
Thanks for the advise.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Thanks man,
I had bad fan. Already ordered a new one from ebay.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Charly,
Remove the hard drive and start the laptop without it. If you still can hear the same grinding noise, apparently it’s coming from the fan.
January 1st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
When I power up my notebook the fan starts too and I can hear grinding noise. I’m listening very closely but I cannot tell where the noise coming from. The fan is very close to the hard drive. I don’t know if I have a bad hard drive or fan. How can you tell?
December 30th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Anton,
Try cleaning the heatsink. I think your laptop shuts down because it overheats. Make sure the heatsink is clean and there is no dust inside.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Hi there, I hope you can help.
My laptop shuts down after running for about 30 minutes. It just turns off by itself like loosing power. If I restart the laptop, it works for a while and shuts down again.
I can hear the fan working. What is wrong?