Over the last days, my laptop's fan is making a constant grinding noise all the time, as soon as it starts to spin, except maybe for the first minute or two after turning my laptop on. It's a constant, loud noise and can be heard in this video:
Initially, I had suspected it was a dust issue, so I disassembled my laptop to clean the fan and found it in the following state:
Nevertheless, the noise did not go away after that, as it's evident from the video.
I am very confident in replacing laptop hardware parts, but I have zero experience with fans. Is this grinding noise indicating my fan needs replacement? Would you recommend any hardware/software checks beforehand? (Debian Testing user, if that matters)
If my fan does need replacement, which is the correct process of doing so? For the RAM I would find a similar type and frequency, for example; what would I look for, in this case? Do I also have to disassemble the whole heat sinker that the fan is connected to? (see picture below)
2 Answers
That fan ought to just lift away from the heat exchange assembly; two screws.
Some variants you can unclip the top for better access [picture isn't clear enough.]
Behind it will be a 14-tog duvet of fluff.
Don't attempt to remove the fan-blade moulding itself from the assembly, you'll just break the motor bearings.
Replacements are approx $£€10-12 on eBay from China - search by the serial on the sticker.
It sounds like either :- there is something small touching the blades inside, OR the bearing has failed.
I would remove the fan from the machine, and disassemble it as much as possible to check for something in the path of the blade. If you can't find anything, I would definitely recommend getting a new one.
