HP DV5 rattling fan fix
I did this a few days ago but didn't get around to posting it. Mom dropped her HP DV5 about half an year ago, and while the LCD remained intact, both the LCD frame and the top cover got cracked on the right side.
Recently, the fan had started making an awful rattling noise as well. So my plan was to replace the frame, top cover and fan all in one go. I asked a local shop if they had all three items in stock, and they said yes. I went to pick them up, and they only found the frame and the top cover, no fan.
I installed the LCD frame, put the rest together without screws, just enough to fit it in the laptop bag, and went back home to deal with the fan myself. I took this opportunity to also clean the heatsinks properly and apply new thermal paste.
The fan was fairly easy to take apart, the rotor came out just by pulling on it after the fan was removed from the heatsink assembly. This fan is mounted with the rotor pointing towards the hub btw, most laptop fans i've seen are mounted "upside down" instead, which i believe reduces wear.
I tried grease first, but to no avail. No amount of grease could stop the rattling. Then, when i looked carefully at the shaft on the rotor, i noticed it's two different thicknesses. It's thicker near the rotor, then thinner on the lower side. So i thought that maybe the thicker bit ate into the bushing on the hub or something... I thought i'd try putting a washer on the shaft, so the rotor sits slightly taller. I used a ~3mm thick one, that i removed from another fan. And... bingo. The fan runs almost like new.
There is still a slight whirring noise, but it's nowhere near the irritating rattle it was before.
Considering that the fans in those things aren't exactly cheap, this is a fix worth trying if you're dealing with the same issue.
Recently, the fan had started making an awful rattling noise as well. So my plan was to replace the frame, top cover and fan all in one go. I asked a local shop if they had all three items in stock, and they said yes. I went to pick them up, and they only found the frame and the top cover, no fan.
I installed the LCD frame, put the rest together without screws, just enough to fit it in the laptop bag, and went back home to deal with the fan myself. I took this opportunity to also clean the heatsinks properly and apply new thermal paste.
The fan was fairly easy to take apart, the rotor came out just by pulling on it after the fan was removed from the heatsink assembly. This fan is mounted with the rotor pointing towards the hub btw, most laptop fans i've seen are mounted "upside down" instead, which i believe reduces wear.
I tried grease first, but to no avail. No amount of grease could stop the rattling. Then, when i looked carefully at the shaft on the rotor, i noticed it's two different thicknesses. It's thicker near the rotor, then thinner on the lower side. So i thought that maybe the thicker bit ate into the bushing on the hub or something... I thought i'd try putting a washer on the shaft, so the rotor sits slightly taller. I used a ~3mm thick one, that i removed from another fan. And... bingo. The fan runs almost like new.
There is still a slight whirring noise, but it's nowhere near the irritating rattle it was before.Considering that the fans in those things aren't exactly cheap, this is a fix worth trying if you're dealing with the same issue.
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