I think my laptop is dying slowly.

"YSI-what can brown do for you" (ysi-what-can-brown-do-for-you) 07/23/2014 at 12:32 • Filed to: None

0

41

It has been a good 4 years. To add to the 40 other problems the cooling fan has stopped moving. I even blew air into the intake, and it is still a no go(I know I tried so hard). Should I give up hope and buy a new one, or can if open it up and fix it myself? Now you should know, I have 0 computer experience.

Nibby > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:33

0

what model is it

Mattbob > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:35

1

Well it sounds like you have nothing to lose by opening it up. You may as well give it a try. Pro tip, if you are good with small bits, and the fan is just gunked up, you can pop it off clean it out and put it back on the spindle it is on. If you google it, you can probably find disassembly instructions.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Nibby 07/23/2014 at 12:35

0

Toshiba A665. . . I think.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:36

0

I say get a new one. You'll spend too much time and frustration chasing all the problems, when you could just get a new one and be done with it. At 4 years old, you've gotten good use out of it.

Not to mention, laptops are leaa forgiving to work on, especially for novices.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Nibby 07/23/2014 at 12:36

1

Even with no experience, there is a plethora of knowledge online, and taking apart laptops, all are different of course but they all have the same general layout. I'm disassembled a few. What are all the problems you are having? Maybe I can help, for the record I'm an IT guy by day

YSI-what can brown do for you > Mattbob 07/23/2014 at 12:36

0

It isn't too hard to disassemble. I dropped some water onto the keyboard about 2 years ago. Got a new keyboard and replaced it in 10 minutes.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:37

1

Crack it open, find the dead fan, buy another fan of the same size, replace fan. If it works it's a cheap fix, if it does not work you've only lost a few bucks.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:38

0

Pretty much anything can be dissembled pretty easy from YouTube videos. Just make sure you take lots of pictures and label all the screws. Only way you will get better is to try.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 07/23/2014 at 12:38

0

Fans are like 25 to 50 bucks right?

YSI-what can brown do for you > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 07/23/2014 at 12:39

0

All the screws are the same on the outside, which is great. Never gone to far into the laptop though.

GhostZ > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:39

0

Was the cooling fan always running at high speed before? Because if so, then your processor was being way overworked. All of my laptops (which were small, high-powered ones, so they would be easily prone to overheating) only had the cooling fan run when playing a processor-intensive game or photoshop.

Also, do you own a cat? Because that would totally ruin the cooling fan if you aren't regularly opening it up and cleaning it out. Cat hair is the bane of computers.

Are the fans on the bottom of the case? If so, laying it flat on a surface could wear the fans out early because they can't cool effectively (forcing them to always be running at full speed to move just a little air). I blame manufacturers for this one, it's just lazy design to put fans on the bottom of a laptop and just assume everyone is going to elevate it or put a pad on the bottom, but it does keep the laptop from being too wide.

Lastly, you might be able to get away using a USB cooling fan that will force air through the bottom of the laptop and just setting it on that.

Mattbob > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:39

1

Then your experiences is significantly greater than 0. Full steam ahead!

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:40

0

Uhm, I usually pay perhaps 10-15 bucks for a 120mm fan.. a fan in a laptop would be about 40mm, can't imagine that would cost more than 3 bucks or something.

YSI-what can brown do for you > GhostZ 07/23/2014 at 12:41

0

I own no small animals in my house! Although I do wish I had a dog.

It didn't always run at high speeds, but once in a while it would start up and it was pretty noisy.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 07/23/2014 at 12:42

0

Oh sweet! That's even better. Might as well give it a shot.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 07/23/2014 at 12:43

0

But new ones are 'spensive!

GhostZ > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:43

0

How many programs do you run at startup? Unless you're forcing it to load tons of stuff on startup by default, most computers should start up quietly and only kick the fans on when you're doing something intensive. This includes background programs, which you should be able to change in the registry.

Anyway, I know a lot of prevention tips but not much for fixing. You basically are like that guy who got to 100,000 miles without an oil change and are now going "my engine is making weird noises!". There's not much else you can do.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:44

0

If the cooling fan's dead, replacement usually is the only option. Just like turbos, they can be damaged by overspeed which is what happens if you blow really hard on it or use compressed air. The bearing was probably done before that anyway.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 12:44

0

I think you meant for that to be a reply to me right?

Either way, the only problems that I have no idea how to fix are the fan, and why the laptop is so slow. I don't really run many applications, even in the background.

YSI-what can brown do for you > GhostZ 07/23/2014 at 12:47

0

Hehehe, I totally am that guy. I was not so nice to this laptop, always moving it around and working on things on the bed, instead of a desk.

As for programs, I think there are a few. I know Utorrent and Steam both start up, as well as something my friend made me download to get free memory storage. Other than that, nothing else that I know of.

StoneCold > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:47

0

Could be a jammed fan, a failed fan, or something up with the fan controller. You can try downloading a fan speed control program, or find a new fan.

On my Lenovo, I had a bios update that messed with the fan controller. I downloaded RealTemp for temperatures and SpeedFan for control, and it worked from there, but there are other programs too.

YSI-what can brown do for you > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 07/23/2014 at 12:48

0

So basically what you are saying is, is that me trying to get the gunk out was a dumb idea. Well crap.

jariten1781 > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:48

2

My philosophy is to always try to fix everything ever. The worst thing that can happen is to be out a couple bucks but have learned something new.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:49

0

Whoops, yeah I wasn't paying attention and replied to Nibby.

But yeah, I can help you out. The fan is most likely hooked up to a portion of your heat sink, the part that helps cool the CPU. Over time sometimes these things have a tenancy to die, you rocking a sony/dell/acer?

And for it running slow, it's probably just an accumulation of spyware and stuff of over 4 years of running it. If you like, I would recommend getting ccleaner, you can get it off of piriform.com. What that does is help clean up your hard drive, because when you delete something, it isn't really gone, you need some sort of wiping program, and ccleaner is that program.

For a spyware/virus scanner, I would recommend malwarebytes anti-malware, you can get it here https://www.malwarebytes.org/

And as for replacing the fan, if you want to keep your laptop running, I can help you find the proper parts and help you with info on how to replace it, if you just want to get a new computer, I can help you with that too. Just because it is old, doesn't really mean anything, I have a computer that is running on 6 years old now, granted I replaced half of the components in it.

StoneCold > jariten1781 07/23/2014 at 12:51

0

My philosophy for life and cars.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:54

0

Just saying it was dead before you tried, but now it's even more so. Just like turbos — once the bearing's gone, either a rebuild or replacement is needed.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:57

0

The case screws typically hold a lot of the internal parts in place, once those are out a lot of what's left is just wire connectors. My old HP laptop only had about 5 screws inside the case once all the outside screws were removed.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 12:59

0

They are usually around that price, but when you replace laptop fans, it isn't just a fan, it's usually an integrated fan/heat sink thing going on, and when you do that, you also need to get some heat sink glue, like this http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm that is what I used when I took apart my Asus. Heat sink glue helps transfer heat from the CPU to the heat sink so the heat can be expelled. Over time, usually within the 4-5 year time frame, computers start to drastically overheat, and that is because the heat sink glue has dried up. Which means you need to apply new glue, but when you do, you put it directly in the center of the CPU, about the size of 1 single grain of rice, too much and you'll get glue over the CPU, trapping heat inside of it.

For reference to what I was talking about, I replaced the fan in my Dell Studio 1535, this is what I had to replace it with http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?acti…

All Motor Is Best Motor > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:00

0

Malwarebytes isn't a typical virus scanner. It really only searches for the kinds of Malware that typical antivirus suites don't bother to protect against. That being said, I absolutely recommend it along side something like Avast, Avira, AVG, BitDefender, etc. CCleaner is definitely a good recommendation, with the caveat that it doesn't really perma delete anything unless you use the drive wiper utility. It simply regularly deletes old files from various bits in the operating system and web browsers to free up space and clutter. The Registry cleaner portion is the real bit that does the speeding up. It will make the computer log in and turn off quicker, and run a bit smoother.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > All Motor Is Best Motor 07/23/2014 at 13:05

0

Yeah, I just recommend it because it will find anything that others miss, plus if you get the trial version of their pro, run it a few times, you're good. That one is a full fledged virus scanner. I run Avast pro on mine, I love that thing, awesome interface, picks up everything. I'm mainly worried about drive by downloads, because I do a lot of web searching,.

I wouldn't recommend the drive wiper to someone who isn't savvy though, you can do some serious damage with it if you do something wrong, but if hes got 4 years of build up delete/overwrite on his hard drive, a cleaning with definitely free up a few gigs.

And yeah, mentioning the registry cleaner, 4 years of use without a registry cleaning, god, I can't imagine how many errors there would be. I guessing maybe, at least 10,000? Depending on use? I run mine once a week and get a couple dozen usually.

Oh, I did forget to mention defragging, that would definitely help as well.

All Motor Is Best Motor > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:05

0

I want to add that there's another, better method for applying thermal paste. It's called the "x method" where you draw an x in thermal paste across the CPU. You can see how effective it is compared to all the other methods including the rice method here: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/…

It gives the best coverage while minimizing air bubbles, and is plenty simple enough to understand.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > All Motor Is Best Motor 07/23/2014 at 13:07

0

Hmm, that's pretty interesting. I never gave any thought past the rice method. I think I'll take apart my Asus and reapply some paste according to the x method and see if I have any decreases in temperature. Thanks man!

All Motor Is Best Motor > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:11

0

Avast is a great antivirus, I was thinking of switching to that, but the free Norton I get through Comcast has done me well so far. It works great against those driveby downloads you mentioned.

Indeed, the Drive Wiper is only for people who have a specific need to truly permanently delete data off of a hard drive for security purposes. Besides, it takes forever.

If he's on Vista or a newer windows OS he shouldn't have much of any fragmentation, as Windows now passively defrags on its own. That being said, a utility like " MyDefrag " (formerly JKDefrag) has HDD optimiziation function that will defrag and arrange the HDD to be optimized for accessing files in the most efficient manner possible. Despite being relatively easy to use, for someone who doesn't know a whole lot about computers isn't isn't very necessary.

GhostZ > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 13:18

0

something my friend made me download to get free memory storage.

I pray to god you are joking. Also, using the laptop on a bed (or against any fabric) is bad. It makes your fan work really hard trying to take in air through a restrictive fabric. This, again, is why side-port/exit fans are always preferable to fans that are on the bottom.

Anyway, there's a great program out there called C Cleaner, which lets you clean out the registry, defrag the hard drive, and all sorts of basic maintenance very easily. I highly recommend running it (the first time may take a while, the next few are quick) to check for unused background programs.

Next, reduce the max processor speed in the power settings. This will help keep the laptop cool, like having a low RPM limiter when your radiator isn't working.

To check to see when your processor is going nuts, open up the task manager, and look for "resource monitor" there you can check processor speeds and ram usage in real time. Do it at startup and watch the processor, if, at any time, it is maxing at 100% when you aren't actively doing anything (like opening a new program or running a very, very intensive program)

After that you can go into the BIOS and check fan speeds in the settings. Your fan may not be broken, but just disabled by some program. It might need to be re-enabled there. You can also affect the laptop processor shut-down temperature there too, which I recommend setting it at 80 degrees C.

Also, if you want to try and tune the machine to run stabily, aim for ~35-40 degrees C at idle and under 80 degrees (some people go higher, 80 is safe for an older laptop) at full power. Grab yourself a temperature monitoring program (not sure what to recommend, but they are out there).

If you whip it into shape now and treat it right, you can probably get a few years of use out of it even without a fan, by doing all this plus having a USB cooling pad. I've seen it happen with even intense gaming laptops that run much hotter and cost far more, so you should be able to get this one manageable no problem.

All Motor Is Best Motor > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:20

0

No problem! I came across this method once through a video posted on LifeHacker, then I found this web article trying the same thing. It freaks me out now when I see tubes of thermal paste that come with a little plastic spreader. That's just air bubbles galore. Also, believe it or not the heat producing zone on most CPU's is a rectangle right in the center, about 1/3 the whole width of the CPU. You can see see it here in these photos of some high end Intel CPU's with their lids removed:

They come with thermal paste on the inside, and pro overclockers have actually replaced that stuff with better quality paste to get a few more MHz out of their overclocks. It's completely unnecessary and dangerous for 99.9% of the population though.

Despite the narrow area that produces the heat, we still want the whole CPU lid covered properly with the thermal paste because that entire lid does act as it's own thermal conductor, obviously.

PS: Yes, I'm a nerd, but a nerd of many things. I'm a nerd of cars, computers, guns, basketball, bicycles, and science-y stuff :P I just really like talking about this stuff, I'm not trying to force stupid information down anyone's throats or e-peen posture :)

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > All Motor Is Best Motor 07/23/2014 at 13:28

0

Oh nice, kind of makes sense that the heat originates from the direct center but I didn't know it was mainly just the direct center, I thought it was the whole thing.

Yeah, I discovered that when my Asus started overheating. At the time it was 3 years old, took it apart and discovered the thermal paste was completely dried up. This was a damn ROG Asus computer too by the way, you'd think they would put better quality paste on it. Anyways I put some Arctic on it and boom, temperature consistently cooler.

I've had to do a couple complete teardowns, and I actually have to do another, my HP DV-7 (yes old, I know, but 17 inch screen!), the fan stopped working, so I gotta rip it apart, I'll probably update some components on it while I'm at it, might add an SSD drive, I saw newegg was offering a 1 tb SSD for 480, less then a buck a gig.

And it's perfectly fine man, I'm a pretty big nerd too, video games, computers and cars are my strong suit, but I'm slowly discovering a love for science/math and engineering.

Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:31

0

Ahh, Norton. I used to have that a long time ago, it isn't bad really, but I just prefer others.

Yeah, when I first started truly messing around with stuff a few years ago, I was backing up my operating system on my 3 tb external, and stopped it midway through. So as a result I'm missing a good 200 gigs or so from that hard drive, can't wipe it and get it right though since I have 2 tb of crap on that drive, and don't have another to transfer.

Hmm, I didn't know that one, doesn't surprise me though, Asus consistently stays under 20% fragmentation, I still would love an SSD in it though. Or even a hybrid drive, I was looking at getting one a while back but they were still fairly new, so they didn't last very long.

Looks like you've shown me another thing to check out haha. We need to exchange nerd notes.

Saracen > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 13:35

0

Getting a new fan will not be as easy as getting a replacement fan for a desktop. Laptop components are typically more proprietary...they are not designed to be modular. This goes for the motherboard, the graphics card, heat sink, and even the fans will likely have a custom, proprietary design. One size will not fit all. It can be very expensive.

Edit: of course once I say that, I find one on Amazon for 20 bucks. http://www.amazon.com/Eathtek-Toshib…

All Motor Is Best Motor > Jeremy H formerly Kalakaboooom 07/23/2014 at 13:50

0

If you're looking for a good SSD, look here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-re…

Tom's Hardware and Anandtech are both great websites for PC parts reviews. Anandtech goes extremely in depth, and they both come up with "Best of" lists periodically. Right now the best SSD's for the money are Crucial MX100's and M550's for being cheap and still good, and the Samsung 840 EVO for being some of the fastest SATA SSD's and still being affordable. You can get a 1 TB 840 EVO for 445 bucks from Amazon, or a bit cheaper through one of their other sellers: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi…

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

YSI-what can brown do for you > GhostZ 07/23/2014 at 14:13

0

Haha I wasn't joking but I didn't mean that you downloaded more memory. It is like a online file storage place, and if you recommended a friend you got a few more gigabytes of storage for free. I only did it because he kept complaining about how I wouldn't do anything he says...

I will get that cooling pad, and the cleaning program as soon as I can. I don't really feel like spending a couple hundred on a new laptop. If I can get 2 more years out of this, I will be happy.

Frosted > YSI-what can brown do for you 07/23/2014 at 20:17

0

I had an HP laptop where the cooling fan died after a year. Just said fuck it and bought a new one. Not worth opening up, especially with no experience.