Can fault with fan have significant effect on performance?

Around a week ago, my laptop started making a horrible sound-a bit like an angry wasp was stuck inside. Subsequently, an error message appeared (a dump of physical memory started), and it crashed.

When I restarted, the noise had died down but not disappeared. All files had disappeared. I attempted a system restore but it didn’t work. I then used the Windows CD to repair any errors.

The performance has been extremely patchy since-and the noise comes and goes.

A colleague believes the problem is caused by a fault Heat Sink fan-this could certainly explain the noise-but would this have such a drastic effect on the laptop performance, i.e. if the processor is not adequately cooled, does it stop fuinctioning correctly?

The motherboard was replaced under warranty 2 years ago-the laptop is around 3 years old. FWIW, it is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo L6825. If I could fix the problem by simply replacing the fan, that would be great.

BTW, there have been no new hardware/software installations.

Yes, if the fan is dying then it will not be pushing enough air out, this will cause the cpu to trottle back [performace and in worse case it will fall over and hang due to the heat.

I'd agree with the previous comments. However if your CPU heated up to the point of crashing the machine then I don't see how that would lead to files being lost.

Also - if you are replacing a fan that is directly attached to a chip then you may need to use suitable heat dissipation paste or tape.

Thanks to both of you.

The fan is attached to a copper element by a red and black cable-we removed the fan to clean it last night and there was no tape or paste that I could see.

It looks like I might get what I am looking for in Maplin or Peats at around €15-€20-if that solves the problem-happy days.

The issue of lost files is a bit of a mystery-all bookmarks and browser (IE and Mozilla) settings disappeared as well. No programmes were affected.

Might also be worth checking if there is any fan/temperature monitoring utility for your laptop/motherboard so you can keep an eye on things after the repairs? I can't really recommend anything specific but start with the laptop/motherboard manufacturers' sites and then maybe check out SpeedFan, CPUCool, HMonitor etc. As I say I can't vouch for any of these but this is the sort of thing that I mean.

ClubMan said:

I'd agree with the previous comments. However if your CPU heated up to the point of crashing the machine then I don't see how that would lead to files being lost.

Click to expand...

Are you sure?

I had an old pc once that i changed the processing chip on to try. however the new chip had no heat-sync on it and after about 30 mins the computer just shut down. well it really just cut off. Surely if this was to be the case every 30 mins files would get corrupted?

Files may well get corrupted but it would seem odd to me for multiple files to disappear as described earlier.

This isn't looking good-Peats, Maplin, PC World and e-bay don't seem to have what I'm looking for-a 70mmx70mmx10mm 5v fan with a 2 pin connection.

Has anyone any advice on how I might get this fixed-I don't really want to replace the laptop when the fault may be caused by a 10euro part.

Have you tried online including eBay for the part?

Update: for example I think [broken link removed] is the part that you want? You can probably find more sources of the same on eBay if not also elsewhere. eBay also often carries broken laptops for spare parts in case that helps.

Amazing-a few hours of searching and I couldn't find anything-thanks very much ClubMan.

It looks like it is a used part ("tested and working") but it's worth a go-replacing the heatsink itself probably won't do any harm

I just did a search of titles and contents with your laptop make and model and it came up with a few spare parts including the heatsink & fan. There's another ad for a case with fan in case that's of any use.

No joy then assuming that this is a reference to the same laptop? Did the replacement heatsink/fan not work out or something?

I was going to update-it now looks like the hard drive may be the problem (I replaced the heatsink and fan), which makes more sense given the disappearance of documents etc. The laptop has stopped recognising the hard drive.

I am in the process sourcing a new hard drive (not a problem) and we'll see if that works.

Thanks for your assistance-I will update further if there are signs of life....

CCOVICH said:

I was going to update-it now looks like the hard drive may be the problem (I replaced the heatsink and fan), which makes more sense given the disappearance of documents etc. The laptop has stopped recognising the hard drive.

Click to expand...

Take the drive out and check the manufacturer's website to see if it is under warranty. You may be able to get a replacement drive even if you lose your data. I am in the process of doing exactly this with a Samsung 120GB 2.5" drive which is starting to fail but is within its 39 month warranty period. I always assumed that hard drive warranties were all talk but I was pleasantly surprised to find that (at least with Samsung but probably with others too) they are for real! In this case I just have to send it back to www.rexo.co.uk who deal with Samsung RMAs and they will send me back a replacement. If you have a replacement drive of the same or bigger capacity then you might want to first try cloning the failing drive (using an external USB housing/connector) using one of the cloning tools on UBCD for example before you send it back or dump it. In the past I have managed to clone extremely dodgy drives using some of the tools here. In particular I have used ddrescue (via the PartedMagic GNU/Linux live/bootable CD) , [broken link removed] and - most recently - gfu. There are also commercial tools (e.g. Acronis TrueImage, [broken link removed] etc.) that do the same sort of thing but the free tools have always sufficed for me. If you need any more info or assistance let me know since I have been doing something very similar in the last few days! My failing 2.5" drive cloned OK to another drive bar some sectors which could not be read using ddrescue. In this case retrying the cloning from the failed sector or just after eventually succeeded. As luck would have it, the missing sectors were not critical as they seemed to be on a blank part of an unused partition. Obviously such failures could lead to data loss but it's possible that if you can clone most of the drive then you will have a system that will still work and can be further repaired/recovered.

Thanks again.

The laptop (and the HD) are 3 years old at this stage, and from what I've seen, the typical manufactuer's warranty on a HD is 3 years, so I'd say that I could be just out of luck. No harm in checking-I think the RAM is made by Samsung, but the HD could be made by Toshiba or Hitachi.

Just to clarify - I was talking about RMA and not RAM above! No harm in checking if the HD is still within warranty. As I say Samsung do 39 months so maybe others do too? Either way if you want to try recovering/cloning the HD to a new one and need any assistance then let me know since I've been through this particular mill a few times. Another thing to try is running the HD manufacturer's diagnostic/drive fitness test utility - UBCD includes most manufacturers' utilities. Usuallly you will be required to do this and record the results before doing an RMA of a faulty drive.

ClubMan said:

Just to clarify - I was talking about RMA and not RAM above!

Click to expand...

Oh I know, I was just saying that I know that some internal component is made by Samsung and it would be good if it was the HD (given that you have been through the warranty process), but I fear that isn't the case....


One problem is that I don't know if I still have the proof of purchase-the laptop was purchased from the now defunct Compustore.

Anyway, no harm in investigating when I get home.

CCOVICH said:

One problem is that I don't know if I still have the proof of purchase-the laptop was purchased from the now defunct Compustore.

Click to expand...

I have no proof of purchase of my Samsung HD (which I bought on eBay with a wired payent rather than PayPal) either but for Samsung's RMA process it doesn't matter - they just do an online check of the serial number and if it's within warranty then you send it in for replacement. They don't require any further info.

Excellent. I'll have to give it a try then.