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HELP! Fan Stopped Working

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Aldakoopa

KING OF PROCRASTINATION Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2012
Location
North Carolina
My laptop started overheating and shutting off so I figured it was time for a good cleaning. It's an Asus K55N and about a year and a half old. It has been in a body shop and construction environment so lots of dust, fiberglass, etc. I opened it up and sure enough it's full of dust! Couldn't even see any light through the cute little thing they call a heatsink. So I took it down to the shop to use the air compressor for a good cleaning.

Now, I know what you're going to say first, so let me clarify:

1) I held the fan still so it didn't spin while blowing it.

And

2) The air hose I used was in the paint booth It goes through 7 air dryers including a large desiccant dryer so there is no water or oil that it could have blown into the electronics.

Also, the fan still sounds freely so no balls of dust have jammed it up.

It worked fine before cleaning, just the fins of the heatsink were clogged with dust. I'll have to borrow a multimeter tomorrow to test the voltage of the fan header. What happens if I'm not getting any fan voltage... :eek:

Other than that, is there anything else I should look for?

Also, where's the best place to look for replacement screws? I somehow lost a few even though I was using a magnetic bowl to hold them. I need a couple M2x5L, a couple M2x3L, and a M3x5L (I think...) :chair:
 
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Testing the voltage should tell all. I halfway wonder if you didn't accidentally knock a resistor off the board, maybe by bumping into it with the compressor nozzle.

As for the screws, I just re-assemble the laptop without the missing ones. It's always worked to date :D
 
It is possible. I accidentally knocked it pretty hard. :bang head If that is the case then that makes two things I've ruined by knocking resistors off... RIP 300ZX digital gauge power supply... But maybe I can salvage this one. No... I NEED to salvage this one. I will check later when I get a meter. If so I hope that's all I knocked off. :bang head the chipset and CPU are both in very close proximity as well.

For what it's worth though, the comp did start.I didn't let it get past the splash screen though because I turned it off as soon as I noticed the fan wasn't working.

I wasn't worried about the screws when I was just missing one. Now I'm missing a few more after the second deconstruction.
 
I couldn't get a multimeter today. I might have to go buy one.

What PSI is that air hose? I've seen traces lifted from a motherbord from using an air hose at 125PSI + to blow out dust and dirt.......... Just sayin'...
 
I don't recall what it was set at. I just grabbed it and went with it. It usually hangs around 60-80 psi max minimum of about 40 psi. I see no physical damage but I really need a magnifying glass, those traces are so small and the resistors look like little specks of dirt. I don't know what I'm even looking at. I might make a trip to radio shack or a hardware store to get a magnifying glass, a fine tipped soldering iron, and a digital multimeter.
 
I haven't forgotten about my laptop. I kinda need it... it's just not an absolute necessity with a smart-phone and a desktop.

I did go looking for a multimeter and whatnot but everything is so expensive in the stores around here that I just came back home and ordered from Amazon. I got a soldering iron combo'd with a helping hands/LED lit magnifying glass/soldering station, and a decent brand of DMM for just as much as only a basic DMM would have cost me at a brick-and-mortar store here. One of the bad things about living practically in nowhere...

Anyway, I got the solder station combo a couple days ago and looked over the PCB with the magnifying glass so I could actually see the tiny little resistors and everything, but I didn't see any damage or knocked-off resistors, but I'm not sure if some of the areas are just missing resistors on purpose or if they have been knocked off. I didn't see anything that looked like one may have been knocked off forcefully. I'm still waiting on the DMM. It's in the next town over but I gotta wait until tomorrow afternoon before I get it delivered. :bang head
 
I may have just toasted the fan if it was any good. Didn't look at the voltage. It's a 5V fan and I hooked it up to 12V to test it and see if it was working. There was a little puff of smoke and a burnt electronic smell. That's what I get for jumping in without looking first. :bang head
 
Maybe next time put a drop of oil in the bearings eh?
Fans do need some lube after a while.
 
Probably. I still don't know if the mobo is supplying power though. I'm afraid to let it run long enough for me to find out. That's why I was trying to hot-wire the fan to a PSU if it would work, but I didn't look to see what voltage the fan was and fried it with 12V. :rain:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...aptop_cpu_fan_asus-_-9SIA3JF2012302-_-Product

That looks EXACTLY like the original fan, even the sticker on the back, except they censored the brand name, but the model number matches. So, I can definitely get a replacement fan. I'm gonna get it set up with a temporary CPU fan connected to an external power supply so I can test the header on the mobo without worrying about frying my CPU.

That header is so tiny though, and I have big clumsy fingers... obviously. Hopefully I don't short it on the center pin (I'm assuming either PWM function or sensor... don't know what it is.) Maybe I can (and probably should) cover it with something.
 
Ahem.... :chair:

*~1 year later* I finally tried putting the fan in my laptop. I am THE KING OF PROCRASTINATION! :rofl: (Can I get that as a custom title on under my screen name? :p)

So, anyway... nope. Not going to work. Even tried another fan from a working laptop. The circuit is dead, I can't see any physical damage after looking over it with a good magnifying glass, and I hate to get rid of the laptop but I guess it's not really worth fixing now. I guess I'll be parting it out in the classifieds... that's the only thing I know to do with it. :shrug:

:(
 
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If you don't care about the quality of the repair, you could tap into any 6-12v line within the laptop. Not the ideal solution, but it would work.
 
I was thinking about something like that, since it's a 5V fan (I did toast the old fan with 12V trying to test it) I was considering tapping into a USB port, but I don't trust myself enough with a soldering iron to do that... Even if I did, I guess that makes the fan run 100% all the time, right? And would I be able to use that USB port anymore?
 
I am THE KING OF PROCRASTINATION! :rofl: (Can I get that as a custom title on under my screen name? :p)
*Looks left* Hehehe :thup:

I was thinking about something like that, since it's a 5V fan (I did toast the old fan with 12V trying to test it) I was considering tapping into a USB port, but I don't trust myself enough with a soldering iron to do that... Even if I did, I guess that makes the fan run 100% all the time, right? And would I be able to use that USB port anymore?

I don't see why not. I've modded a fan to run off a USB port.

USB ports can deliver up to 500mA... .5 x 5 = 2.5 watts. A tiny fan + usb stick won't be near that. Maybe close, but that's what powered hubs are for ;)
 
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