Serious problem with fan

Question

I have an Inspiron 600m and I am having a serious problem with my fan. Almost every time it goes on, it makes a very loud grinding noise, and I have to shut off the laptop every time it does that. I believe the reason this happens is because of something I used to do, which was probably pretty stupid. At night when I went to bed, I flipped the laptop upside down and put a jug of water on it to keep it cooler overnight, because I like to keep it on all the time and when I did use the jug, the laptop wasn't sluggish in the morning because it was cooler. However, I believe flipping the laptop over like that unbalanced the fan or something, and it has really had problems going without making that loud grinding noise every time it starts up. That said, I have tried removing dust from the fan by basically blowing on it really hard when it's off, because as suggested in another post, this could unbalance it as well. In short, the fan wouldn't even start up as a result. I have a temperature reading utility that tells me how hot the processor is, and I notice whenever it goes above 120 degrees fahrenheit, it always kicks in. But when I started it up just recently, the temperature was up to 180 with no fan going at all. Does anybody have any suggestions or should I just see if I can get a replacement fan?

chaistt · Answer

U should get it checked out by tech support and have it replaced under warranty. U should also stop using you laptop long periods of time when the temp could rise. You could end up with more than a broken fan, for example you processor could fry without enough cooling provided!

puzzlepants · Answer

Thanks for the quick response. I'm now planning on emailing tech support as soon as I can.

Also, the only reason my processor didn't fry is because I shut the laptop off right when the temperature started to reach 180+ degrees fahrenheit.

Good thing I'm still under warranty...

HMKrieps · Answer

It's not a good idea to blow with compressed air directly on the fan because the fans spins too high, which damages the bearings in most cases. If you want to clean dust out of the heatsink, it is a good idea to hold the fan with a screwdriver or similar object so it can not turn when you blow air through the vents.

puzzlepants · Answer

Too bad nobody told me that before I blew on my fan... Any quick fixes you can anybody can think of? I would be willing to open up the case obviously.

HMKrieps · Answer

If your fan was already damaged, then it has to be replaced.
If you are within warranty, call Dell immediately and ask for a repair.
If not, you'll have to order a spare fan at Dell and install it (look on the Dell support page under Documantation for the Service Manual for the 600m, it describes how to replace the fan), or send your Notebook to Dell (often very expensive).

puzzlepants · Answer

Thanks again for the quick response. I'm contacting Dell right now regarding this issue, and I will have a replacement fan as soon as they can get it to me. Finally, thanks for your help

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