Tom's Hardware > Forum > Laptops & Notebooks > General Laptops & Notebooks > Vaio CS laptop - fan "creaking" when starting and stopping?

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

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - Vaio CS laptop - fan "creaking" when starting and stopping?

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I have a brand new CS series vaio. It's perfect except for an odd fan problem that seems to be common among pretty much every forum I've read. Instead of exchanging it and risk getting one with the same problem, I'm hoping to fix it myself. I also got a sweet deal on it so I'm not returning it. The noise is faint and can only be heard in a quiet room, but still bugs me sometimes.

It sounds like the blades are hitting something in the enclosure when it begins to spin up and once again when it spins down. When I turn the laptop on its side, the sound goes away. Once it's up spinning, it sounds completely normal and no clicking.

Has anyone disassembled a CS or CR series Vaio before? Could this sound just be a characteristic of a fan spinning up and down? Could it be a bad bearing?

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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.

Reply to frozenlead

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.

Reply to rpeters83

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..)

Reply to frozenlead

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.

Reply to Anonymous

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

Reply to 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

Reply to jbeckeg

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....

Reply to diras2010

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

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - Vaio CS laptop - fan "creaking" when starting and stopping?