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
October 5th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
James,
What is not running now? The fan doesn’t spin or the laptop doesn’t turn on?
September 24th, 2010 at 6:08 am
I have a Gateway NV52 it as started powering off. when you turn it on it would power off in about 10 seconds the local computer repair man applied some thermal paste and told me to buy a chill pad. He didnt think the fan was bad because it would spin once and stop. Its not running now. Do you think i should buy a new fan and heatsink?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
a-k,
Most likely it’s either bad memory or motherboard failure.
Try removing memory modules one by one. Test the laptop with each module in either slot. If the problem doesn’t go away, most likely this is motherboard failure.
Pavilion dv9000 has a known problem with the motherboard – video chip failure.
You’ll find more info here: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/free-repair-hp-pavilion-compaq-presario-laptops-out-of-warranty/
June 29th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
i have hp dv9000 some thing went wrong with this when i press the power button i can see the only power light and 1 light from motherboard for less then sec or 1 sec and turn off .
any one can help plz i added the thermal past cleaned heatsink fan but sill same problem .
is any one knows whats going on with my laptop
will ve very thankfull
June 27th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Aakash Jain,
If the fooling fan works and heatsink is clean, it’s possible you need to replace thermal grease between the heatsink and CPU.
Maybe thermal grease dried out and not working properly.
Maybe use the cooling pad?
June 26th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Hi, I have an Acer 4937G. I have massive overheating problems, which escalate after playing games. I am unable to get good framerates on games due to the heat. The fan is working fine, it’s unclogged, but the ram, HDD, gpu and cpu are all too hot to touch. I have no idea how to take the laptop apart and what to do…Please help…
June 21st, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Alisa,
Maybe overheating? Have you tried cleaning the cooling fan and heatsink? Can you hear the cooling fan working before the laptop shuts off?
June 16th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
My Asus F6V laptop can boot but after logging, it turn off automatically. I try to turn on it but the second times i turn on , it turns off right away. I wonder my problem is. Can you help me?
June 13th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
It would be really handy if someone published a list of which laptops have easy access to the CPU heatsink for dust removal by removing a small cover, verus which laptop models require removal of the keyboard. Then we could buy accordingly.
May 7th, 2010 at 2:43 am
I own MSI laptop with intel duo processor. Every 9-10 monthes I face the same problem- CPU fan stops spinning. So every few months I take my laptop to MSI representative and pay them to fix it, they finish the procedure in less than 10 minutes. The procedure consists of opening the case of the laptop, and removing the dust from the heat sink (this is how they explained it to me). Yesterday the same thing happened again. I decided to fix it myself. I opened the case removed the dust from everything I could, but the fan continued to be still. I brought it immediately to MSI representatives and they fixed problem once again. The reprsentative told me that he just put a thermal grease between processor and heat sink. He also admitted there was no dust inside the case. But then they had put the grease there 10 months ago! I suspect that they are not informing me completely about what exactly they are doing to fix my laptop, they know that it’s simple enough that I could do it myself instead of paying them money every few months to do it. For example they could be entering the BIOS setup and changing something (BIOS is responsible for initial fan spinning), I would be so greatful if anyone could tell me any related information to my problem.
April 12th, 2010 at 7:55 am
Laura Taylor,
Yes, it’s possible you have another problem but I cannot tell what’s going on without looking at the laptop.
In order to start your laptop with video, you need only three main components: motherboard (with video card), processor and memory. If you cannot start the laptop with a known good AC adapter, there is a chance that one of the above mentioned main components is bad.
Try reconnecting memory modules. Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each one separately.
April 11th, 2010 at 10:52 am
My Dell latitude D600. My laptop overheated and shut down. Tried to turn it back on and it wouldnt come on. Found your site and opened it up omg no wonder it over heated. The question is, since it wouldnt come back on, is there more going on? Meaning did it fry like the motherboard or something else? I have cleaned the fan and heatsink. And I have no issue replacing the parts that need to be replaced. I just dont want to replace them and still not have it work because something else was damaged. So, is there a way of testing the system to see if it will come back on?
March 29th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
smriti,
Why wouldn’t you send your laptop back to Dell if the problem still exists?
That’s true. In most laptops the cooling fan turn on only when the laptop is getting hot. But if your laptop shuts down by itself when hot, something is wrong.
Usually it shuts down because of overheating, when the heat sink is clogged with dust OR the cooling fan doesn’t work.
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/01/04/toshiba-laptop-overheating/
March 29th, 2010 at 11:16 am
saurav,
Does your laptop shut down by itself when hot?
The cooling fan will not start at all or it works intermittently?
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:13 am
i m hving hp busines series. its fan doesnt work all the time. not even after it been too hot..
March 15th, 2010 at 4:49 am
hi i have a prob with dell inspiron 1440. the fan is making a noise. i called dell center to fix it. they said they change the motherboard and the fan. but still the fan is making noise and after 1 or 2 hours the laptop shuts down automatically. when i took my laptop to my computer maintainance lab in university they said the fan is not working. then again i called the dell center they said the fan will only work when the computer is overheated and it will not work if the laptop is overheated. is this the case? if so why do my laptop shuts down after 1-2 hours and why do the fan still make noise. plz help. so that i can contact dell center and tell them the problem again.
February 10th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Divyesh,
Most likely the laptop shuts down because of overheating. It happens because there is dust stuck inside the heat sink and cooling fan.
In most cases you can clean the heat sink assembly with compressed air.
Buy a can of compressed air or find an air compressor and spray air into the intake on the button until all dust is gone. Test your laptop now.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
hi,
i have a compaq presario c700 laptop.
with intel celeron + 2gb ram + 250 Harddisk.
My laptop is autometic shut down after 2 to 3 hours.
i always put my laptop on table then also it’s shutdown autometic.
after 3 hours it’s heated more.
Please email me your replay as soon as possible.
Thank you.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
brainsnake,
Here’s a guide for taking apart a Compaq Presario F700. Not sure if it’s similar to your laptop but it might help to access and replace the cooling fan.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemble-compaq-presario-f700-notebook/
Is it similar to Presario C700?
January 17th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I have HP COMPAQ Presario c700. I know that My CPU fan is not working properly, I want to replace it. So, please tell me how can i find part nomber for my fan and how to replace it in home. I mean it can get messy if i just try to figure out way to open it. Please help me.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Hi,
I have IBM think pad T60: 6371-CTO:
Laptop fan is making noise Can you please let me know which is the correct part Number.
Thermal device and fan (Integrated) : 41W6408
(OR)
Thermal device and fan (Discrete) : 41W6409
Thank you,
Prashanth A..
December 13th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
What if the cooling fan doesnt work will that keep the laptop from turning on?
October 1st, 2009 at 1:13 pm
EDWARD MICHNIEWICZ,
I think it’s possible but you have to have some soldering skills. Also, you have to know how to use a multimeter.
I think you can remove the motherboard and using a multimeter find where you can solder the fan directly. It’s will be on as soon as you turn on the laptop.
Where to solder the fan? I don’t know. All motherboards are different.
October 1st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Sacey Shull,
I believe you cannot use PCG-3C2L number for finding spare parts. There should be another number somewhere on the keyboard cover or screen bezel. It also could be PCG-XXX or VGN-XXX number. Can you see it on your laptop?
September 29th, 2009 at 8:09 am
My Sony Vaio has barely enough time to login into the OS before it shuts down. I can’t hear the fan so It much be that, where do I get a new one for the PCG-3C2L?