I have HP laptop and it keeps crashing for no apparent reason. The fan always get going loud and fast then it crashes just siting on a desk. I figure it has to do with over heating but it doesn’t seem to be hot on the bottom. it will not restart without letting it sit for a while.

Your description does sound like a heat related problem. Most likely the laptop crashes because the heat sink is clogged with dust and the CPU overheats.

Most likely you can fix the problem if you clean the heat sink. On some HP laptops you can access the heat sink though a door on the bottom. On other models you have to remove the keyboard.

Find a way to access the heat sink and clean it with canned air or air compressor. I think cleaning the laptop will cure your problem.

I saw your website on how to pull apart my Toshiba Tecra S2 it was perfect as I knew what to expect as I was pulling it apart… The reason I pulled it apart was because my fan would not stop running and the laptop was running extremely hot… I could only hold my hand on the bottom for a little while before it burnt. I discovered a thick (about 3mm) blanket of dust covering the heatsink where the fan blows out the air. The main reason I was emailing you is because now I think my fan is reaching the end of it’s life. It is making some real weird noises and some rattling noises when I first start up the computer. I was wondering if you knew anywhere I could purchase a new fan for it. I have searched on Ebay just a Toshiba laptop CPU fan but I’m not sure of an exact model and who would sell it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can find a new replacement fan for your Tecra S2 if you google for this part number: K000023650.

I have an HP dv8000 and I am having a lot of problems with the fan making noise and the laptop shutting down while playing games. I know its a bad bearing in the fan and I don’t want to send it in to HP or even have them come to me. Is there a guide to disassembling this model so I can change the fan myself?

Yes, you can change the fan yourself. You’ll have to download maintenance and service guide from the HP website. This service guide has illustrated laptop disassembly instructions. The HP website is kind of complicated and not a lot of people know where to find these instructions. Here’s how you can find the service guide.

Click on this link and select your product: Notebook PC or Tablet PC. After that navigate to your model, in your case it will be HP Pavilion dv8000 Notebook PC series. Find your product, you can use dv8000 CTO notebook. Click on it and then go to manuals. Now download the maintenance and service guide and find removal and replacement procedures chapter. You’ll find all disassembly instructions and part numbers in there.

I have a dell inspiron 9200 and about a month ago, when I turned my PC on, the fan (not hard drive) started making this huge noise and the whole computer slowed down. After taking the whole thing apart (I was so proud cos I’d never done that before…I did desktops but never my precious one and only laptop!)….and having cleaned the fans completely, the noise still persisted. I tried doing everything from windows too but nothing helped.

I found an online forum like this and it was such a simple stupid solution…….You can make your fan go at a higher speed if u find ur laptop over heating by pressing Fn+z (Keep Fn pressed and then hit z). Do the same to slow it down.

This solution is for a Dell /any machine which has a Fn key. So try it out. If you are lucky like me, it was a error on my part. I play PC games so Fn is right next to control (shoot) and next to Z (lie-down/crouch) for my FPS! So I must have hit that combination in terror when a monster jumped out at me or something.

My laptop makes a loud grinding noise, it’s HP Compaq nx5000.
This laptop is about three years old. It’s been in for repairs multiple times, for everything from a dead LCD backlight to a destroyed keyboard (which, by the way, was my father’s fault; HE’S the one that sprayed it down with water). In fact, it just recently got back because of the keyboard.
So anyway, about a week ago, I was sitting on my laptop browsing the internet when I noticed it started making this loud grinding noise. Then the computer froze up. So, I popped out the battery, let it sit for a minute, and then put the battery back in and turned it on again. It started up without problems. Then, later on while I was using it that same night, it flashed this blue screen of death at me. I saw something about the kernel and memory dump, and then it turned off. When I went to turn it on again, the grinding noise was back and it wouldn’t start up, it would just say “Non-system disk or disk error.”
I let it sit for about three days over the weekend, and then come Monday I turned it on without problems. Then after a while it made the grinding noise again, so I had to pull the battery out again.
So now, it periodically makes the grinding noise when I’m using it, and it will freeze up. When I turn the laptop on and it’s not making the grinding noise right away, the fan IS spinning and I can hear it running and everything is normal. Usually the fan is spinning when I pull the battery out because of the grinding noise, too. I notice that everytime it makes the grinding noise, the laptop is hot when I turn it off. Sometimes letting the laptop cool off will fix it, and sometimes it won’t. Usually, if it persists in making the grinding noise, letting it sit overnight will fix it.
So I’m not sure if it’s the fan or not. I’ve noticed that tiliting the laptop will sometimes stop the grinding noise, but then it will come back and won’t stop no matter which way I move the laptop. When I listen it sounds like it’s NOT coming from the fan, but I could be wrong.
Any ideas about why my laptop sounds like it’s trying to eat its hard drive?

Here are some important moments you mentioned in the post above:
1. laptop started making this loud grinding noise
2. computer freezes up
3. laptop flashed this blue screen of death at me
4. “Non-system disk or disk error” on startup

I’m 99% positive that you have a failing hard drive. Back it up as soon as possible while you can access it, because the hard drive might fail any time now. Data recovery is very expensive, transfer data yourself while you can. After that replace the hard drive and reimage the drive using a set of recovery CDs or DVD you got from HP.

I have a Toshiba Satellite A60 laptop and the fan is pretty much dead. The computer shuts off after 15 minutes of use. Can you tell me the model number for this fan and is there a guide to replacing it?

First of all, make sure that the laptop shuts down because of a dead fan and it’s necessary to replace it. When you turn on the laptop, does the fan start spinning? Can you here it at all? It’s very likely that the laptop shuts down because the cooling module is clogged and it needs just a good cleaning. Laptop overheating is a very common issue. I just replace a motherboard on Toshiba Satellite A65 and believe me, the heat sink was 100% clogged with lint and dust. So, I would check the heat sink and the fan first. Here’s a disassembly guide I made for Toshiba Satellite A65 laptop, it would be the same for Satellite A60. If you want to find a heat sink cooling fan for this model, look up on the Internet by the part number: V000042110.
If you want to clean up the fan and the heat sink, it would be enough to remove just the keyboard. You’ll get a good access to the cooling module so you can clean it up with compressed air. To replace the fan, you’ll have to remove to top cover and fortunately, you don’t have to remove the system board.

UPDATE: Here’s another thread dedicated to Toshiba Satellite A60 and A65 problems.

I own a Toshiba A15 Satellite laptop, and I have owned it for about two years. For the past couple of months every time the laptop is on the fan becomes annoyingly loud like it is loose or something, I was curious on how do I tighten the fan; I use this computer everyday, and it is painstakingly annoying. Any help would be appreciated.

If the cooling fan starts making a grinding sound, then it’s time to replace it. You cannot fix it just by tightening the fan. With Toshiba Satellite A15 it’s very easy to replace the fan yourself. You can replace it in 5 minutes. You can easily access and replace the CPU fan from the bottom of your laptop, here are some pictures. You can find a new fan of ebay for $40-$45. Search for “Toshiba Satellite A15 fan”.