Inspiron 1545 CPU fan not spinning 3

[guitarzan]

Have a Dell Inspiron 1545... The CPU fan spins (somewhat loudly) at powerup, then slows and stops spinning within a few seconds. I removed the heat sink, and blew out what dust there was near the fan (not much), but the behavior is the same. Fan only spins briefly at powerup.... If I restart, fan remains off.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

two things

1) the BIOS has set the FAN to stop until there is a requirement to draw heat from the HS

2) there is dust in the bearings and it has bound it up.

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[guitarzan]

Thanks for the reply... Interesting point about the fan only kicking in if it's required... So maybe this is normal, and the only odd part is the loud noise the fan makes when it spins.

I will see if I can access the fan itself, but it seems difficult to get to, other than the part of the fan exposed after removing the heat sink.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

during post, the sensors will run the fan full speed as part of its start up routine.

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[guitarzan]

Makes sense.. ok, i finally got the fan to turn on besides at powerup... (had to run a virus scan for 20 minutes before it turned on... i wasn't giving it long enough earlier). So the fan works, but is just really loud, like something is stuck. Probably needs to be cleaned, or a new fan... if only it didnt require major surgery to get to

 

[DrB0b]

Im more throwing this out there for others with a similar problem of the fan not spinning up when it does overheat due to a sensor malfunction:

http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/

This fan control works for most Inspiron/Latitudes as long as it isnt a physical fan issue like what is sounding above. Just note that this will allow you to MANUALLY control the fan and if you set it up incorrectly, it can allow your system to overheat.

Sounds like your bearings are shot in that fan or near the end of their life. Since you are going to clean it out, if you dont find any hair or debris, try lightly spinning the fan with your finger and see if there is any resistance. If so, bad fan.

Here is a somewhat detailed tear down, once you get the touchpad off, you will see the fan.

http://blog.parts-people.com/2011/0...-palm-rest-touchpad-removal-and-installation/

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[BadBigBen]

I would agree, it is time for a new fan...

and the tear down instructions are nice to have as a reference... good find DrBob...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[guitarzan]

I agree, great link DrB0b. Thanks for the replies

 

[mscallisto]

I too agree, nice post DrBob.

I've always had good luck and good fan prices here:

http://www.thermalfx.com/merchant2/

sam

 

[NSVTECH]

Many of the Dell laptop models include diagnostics you can access by pressing F12 while the Dell Logo is displayed. As well, if you have a Dell Diagnostic CD for that or similar model you can boot off it. Both methods will display a Fan Test if your model Dell has that feature.