Vaio CS laptop - fan "creaking" when starting and stopping?

Sounds like a bad bearing, an unbalanced fan, or just a mutilated casing around it that hits the fan at certain angles. Only way to find out is to pop it open, take a look at the fan, spin it with your fingers and feel for a spot that has more resistance. Consider blowing some compressed air at the base of the fan, or filing down a part that may be too low. Also make sure that the fan forms a perfect circle when it's spinning, and doesn't jostle.

I put my ear right on it just now and, once it's spinning fully, it sounds perfectly smooth. It doesn't sound like a bad bearing, at least to me, as I've heard fans with bad bearings and they sound rattly at all speeds.

Could it be a wire hitting the blades? Given that it sounds fine once spinning, could that still indicate a bad bearing? Thanks.

It could be lots of things...really, just go ahead and get a look inside it. Only way to tell. (I'm no master on fan diagnosis..)

Hello I have the same problem, and I went ahead and pop it open, and the problem is that the fan is a two piece sytem which is assemble via a magnet, so the problem is that there is to much play between this two components, so when the fan stops there is a vabrating action which causes the two magnets to hit each other. in other worths that part is poorly made which by the way is a Toshiba branded coolong fan. the fix is simple, the fan needs to be replace by an upgrade which has not come out yet, will just hava to wait and see.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

THe replacement is out. if ur notebook is in warranty, get the cooling unit replaced for free. if its not in warranty... open the back/base assy, open the cooling unit. within the cooling unit, u should be remove the fan portion from the axle. apply some amount of WD-40 or thin grease. that should fix for nxt. 6 months. but will void the warranty if its under warranty. the problem in prevalent in CS1 annd CS2 series....HanShan

Am having the same problem as was described here and my computer (VGN-CS290) is still within the warranty period, but I bought it in NY and am living in Belgium now... When I called the customer support # they wanted me to ship it to San Diego, which I won't do of course. I will call the Belgian Sony support number, but am not holding my breadth for this. Any hints / tips on this?

Worse come to worse, I think I will follow your advice and grease it up. Would it not be better to replace the fan? I'm sure if go to a local repair shop they could order this for me.
-geoff

mmmm, same issue here, by the way, i ask directly to a friend that works in customer support at sony, he tells me that there's a problem with the fan, but it's nothin' to be worry of, the crackling noise is due to the 'freefly' (something that sounds pretty odd in a laptop; don't you think it????) of the fan itself

ok, let me explain something... when you put a smal metal (like a needle), over a big magnet, if it reaches the 'equilibrium point' between the positive and negative sides, 'it will 'freefly' or correctly it 'levitate' due the magnetic equlibred fields

the same goes to the fan of the sony vgn- cs series, but the fail here is the space between the metal ring and the electromagnet, is miscalculated, and when you make a suddenly move, or when the laptop is turned on/off, the fan loses balance and it makes that 'noise'

well, that's the tech explain, it doesn't convince me at all, so i check by myself, and i found that the fan doesnt have any 'bearing' at all, so it works by magnetic fields (the rest explained is above)

actually i'm letting it 'as is' but seems that i'll never buy a cs again (while it still have that problem), because a suddenly move could break any of the fan's 'reels' and it would be worse at the end, so i'm using the laptop as a desktop pc, AND FORGET THE MOBILITY FOREVER

p.d: i'm a technician with 7 years of experience, that's why i can tell safely those lines above....

Hi,

DO you know where I can get the replacement from? I need an online store that ships internationally because I am not currently in the states. Or give me the part number?

Thanks a lot in advance,

T

an update up here...
actually, i check on ebay, and found a fan thats fits perfectly so i bought it... after 2 weeks waitin' i got it, and before start the disassembling of the cs i check if the new fan had the same problem..., for some weirdness of fate the new one is perfectly balanced and amazingly stable, so i change it and test the laptop...

that crackling noise is gone!!!!!!! so, i recommend the change without hesitation... unless you want to keep that "cracks" till the end of the warranty

Hello there,
Could you the model of the fan so I can try ti reach it out?

I have a vaio vgn-cs170

Thanks

ok, i could tell you this: i was really pissed off with that 'crackling' noise, so i disasemble entirely (the hell with the warranties!) my laptop, and check the part numbre of the fan @ ebay, my vaio wasn't a vgn-cs170, so the model and part number doesn't match with yours..  
if you feel with the required courage you can dissasemble your own laptop and check by yourself, or sent it to an authorized techinican for a check an ask if they can do the change of the part....

hello world (-:
damn you sony vaio laptops
I had the same problem , I have a vgn-cs33g brand new laptop ,, everything went in the right way , it is a really cool laptop to be honest ,, but one day I turned it on ,, and it was a bad surprise ,, the fan ,, it was making an aweful sound , and then it was not turning again ,, so I saw this link after a long research in the sony websites
http://www.sony-mea.com/support/announcement/340543

I hate sony ,, I hate it ,, all my pojects fell down,, all my applications ,, they just ruined my life ,, don't you ever buy a SONY VAIO laptop again,, ever !!!!!

Found the VGN-CS fan on ebay but which one did you buy?
Is it the Panasonic, or the one with the red label?
Can you just post any info on the fan you bought?

Thanks

Thanks for all your postings, they've been very helpfull. I will open mine too and if the problem doesn't go away, then I'll order the part from ebay. I've also seen'em there.

There are some problems with the Cpu fans, you can come here to find the right fans for you and solve the noise:
http://www.mini-laptop-accessories.com/dq5d566ce01mcfc2...
here s Sony DQ5D566CE01,MCF-C29BM05,26GD2CAN010 A-1563-411-A A1563411A A-1563-411-A and so on.you can come here to see the details.
and we also have many other models of computer fans.

My wife 's laptop had a same problem .And I 've just found an announcement about the extension of warranty for VAIO VGN and BZ series .Here 's the link :
http://www.sony-asia.com/support/announcement/340243/pr...
I hope this helps !!!