[oksa8]

Hi.

I've been using vacuum cleaner to every now and then to clean my laptop from the dust inside, which drops the heat and allows me to play with it for hours without overheating it. Few hours ago, I just did the same trick, but I forgot to shut down the laptop, and after that, the fan keeps really high frequent sound, like it would be spinning really fast or something would be mislocated and causing the sound. I have no idea what the sound is, other than that it comes from the fan spinning right on top of the air intake. It's still spinning and blowing the air out, and the temperatures are pretty much under control. Should I be worried?

Specs just in-case:
Acer Aspire 5551G
AMD Athlon II P320 2,1GHz Dual-core
4GB DDR3 RAM, 1333MHz (Un-sure)
640GB HDD, 5400rpm
Ati Mobility Radeon HD5470, 512/2301 MB

[Cursed]

The vacuum could have caused the fan to spin faster than it should damaging the bearing. The only thing you can really do is disassemble it and replace the fan.

[oksa8]

QUOTE (Cursed @ Saturday, Feb 18 2012, 17:36)

The vacuum could have caused the fan to spin faster than it should damaging the bearing. The only thing you can really do is disassemble it and replace the fan.

Oh cr*p... I've once tried to open the laptop, but it was somehow attached from the middle and I couldn't get the cover from the bottom off. So I have to take it to service or let my buddy do it for me...

But, is there any other reason why it might cause the noise? And if the too fast spinning is the cause, then how much does new fans cost? ~10€?

[Cursed]

Damaged bearings usually cause the fan to whine. I suppose you could try greasing the middle of the fan (Usually behind the sticker in the centre) but I've never had any luck doing that. On all the Acer's I've worked on you just have to undo all the screws on the bottom cover and pop the clips out (Can take quite a bit of force). eBay is a good place to look for a replacement fan, you're looking at between 10 and 25 euros I'd say.

[oksa8]

QUOTE (Cursed @ Saturday, Feb 18 2012, 18:25)

Damaged bearings usually cause the fan to whine. I suppose you could try greasing the middle of the fan (Usually behind the sticker in the centre) but I've never had any luck doing that. On all the Acer's I've worked on you just have to undo all the screws on the bottom cover and pop the clips out (Can take quite a bit of force). eBay is a good place to look for a replacement fan, you're looking at between 10 and 25 euros I'd say.

I'll try the greasing first, depending how I manage to get the bottom off. Last time I did take all the screws off, and I tried to squeeze it off but I only managed to broke one of those clips from the corner and also break one of the screw-holders. There shouldn't be more screws than the ones I detached, but maybe I should try taking hard-drive off and see if I can take the bottom off that way? The hard-drive is basically separated from the bottom, and it seems to be attached with just a few screws.

And one more question, how long the damaged bearing could last? Should I do the greasing as soon as possible, or can I wait some days and get my friend help me with opening it up? As I got no other computer than this laptop, and I'm using it a lot and can't afford new one, it's pretty important question. Of course, if the fan breaks up, I'm still able to use it but it'll overheat way faster.

[Wolf68k]

Grease? No. Unless there is/was grease on the bearings to start with then fine, just be sure to use the exact same type of grease used. Other wise I would suggest using graphite, and no I don't mean to shave a pencil. Go to a hardware store and ask for powered graphite lube. It'll be a small tube and a little goes a long way.
Get the fan out, use the graphite just a little, spin the fan to get the graphite distributed around, tab out the extra graphite, spin the fan again just to be safe, put the fan back in and test it out.

[oksa8]

Ok, I'll try the graphite lube if I happen to find it, I'm getting back at my house in Sunday, and I can go through few shops on Monday and if I'm lucky and find it, I'll post the results.

Thanks for all the help.

[Wolf68k]

Take the fan out first and look. Some how though, unless where the bearings are it's sealed, I doubt they would use grease because of how easy computers collect dust.

[oksa8]

Well, I TRIED to open up my computer, but like last time, I couldn't get the bottom completely off. So I just tried to look at the fan through the little gap with help of flashlight, but I didn't notice anything else than some dust. Blowed in there which cleaned the fan a bit, and put the screws back on and other stuff, booted up and got the same sound like last time at start up, but after Windows had loaded everything, the fan sound went back to normal. And as I'm typing this post, it still sounds normal. It was all because of dust in the fan, which got there because of the vacuum cleaner?

I'll try to do something to warm up the laptop and see if it still sounds normal. Thanks for all your help, I wouldn't have really done this without having opinion from someone else.

[Fozzy Fozborne]

Google is your friend

Disassembly starts on page 54/210.

Once you get it apart (patience is your friend with laptops), remove the fan and check it against this fan which is only $20 and should be an easy, direct replacement.

[Slamman]

You know I own an Aspire, an Intel version, but the heatsinks are readily available on eBay, more then anything, as far as finding memory and CPUs, the 'Bay has adapters, batteries, heatsinks and fans! Plenty of those smaller accessories, dude!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-AS5551-2805-1...d#ht_744wt_1192
Yours? ^^
Looks like for your model, not nearly as many listings as mine!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISup...em=270873612328

Expensive mobo, I'm looking to spend less then $50 USD for replacing mine, which to fix my palmrest, seems the only route in my case... As far as troubleshooting, the palmrest is still hard to find, compared to mobos a plenty! haha

If you missed a screw, the bottom panel won't come off, but you should watch my YouTube tech tips for Acer users, all my findings I make public.

There are several tabs on the covers that just interlock with the casing for the bottom, in a laptop's design, the palmrest covers the complete top aside from keyboard and trim panel (the entry to most all laptops ever made) between the keyboard and LCD screen
to remove the keyboard on my Acer, the palmrest has sliding tabs, four situated across the top, use your fingernail to push them up and lift gently on the keyboard at one end (I chose the left side), the keyboard on mine has no rear mounted screws, since it uses this screwless attachment method, you should see the tabs I'm referring to if yours has them as well!

Here's one that beats that same Fozzy listing!
Free shipping is your friend on eBay!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laptop-CPU-Cooling...b#ht_1880wt_942


This post has been edited by Slamman on Saturday, Feb 18 2012, 22:26

[oksa8]

Well, it seems that the problem was just some dust in the fan or it's bearings, as the fan keeps spinning like it normally did without any wierd noises after blowing from the gap. And I think I know why I couldn't get it open, there was two screws under the HD-bay which I didn't notice.

And, as this problem is solved (not really even a problem... ) I can manage with this laptop for the rest of the year and buy new one when I'm getting some cash.

Thanks for all of your help everyone.

E:

@Slamman

Thanks for the help, those tips might come handy when I'm cleaning it again.

[Slamman]

Might want to check it's integrity, pick something up if you DO use eBay as I do, score a deal and keep a spare around!

[GTA 360]

laptops don't need vacuum cleaners to keep them cool anyway, that's why they have fans in the first place. And you're not supposed to use them on tech because of the static, so the best bet from now on would be not to block the vents and leave it alone. I've had mine now for a few years from new and have been using it every day for about 5 hours and on the school holidays it's been used more, never vacuumed it and it's never given me any problems.

[Slamman]

avoid a vacuum cleaner, or "dust buster", if you know it feels like it's running hot, and if it ever shuts down mid-operation, play it safe and get a laptop cooling pad, there are plenty of models around, not that expensive, and though unwieldy, they will save you from a new mobo purchase, that scenario happened with my Sony Vaio K23/25, It shut down several times, and was dead after that, I had to buy a new motherboard, luckily it was only about $25, and that's why I love eBay!!