Fan Noise, Is It the Wind Only?

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CoolDragon · #1 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:53 am

We all know the infamous fan noise on T43/p, but I just noticed on my laptop that not only the wind caused by the fan is kind of noisy, but also there is a strange "zi zi zi ...." noise if you put your ear near the keyboard above the fan.

Can anybody confirm this "zi zi zi ...." noise too? What can it be? The motor? If I remember correctly, there was no such "zi zi zi .... " noise before, it only caused my notice recently because I fell the fan is louder under the same situation. Could be some resonance?

Or maybe the fan is dusty and something is clogged? How do you clean the fan?

fullauto · #2 Post by **fullauto** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:35 am

CoolDragon, both my T43s had this noise. It turns out no knowledge/experience confined to a 4D space-time continuum can explain it.

Ever see the movie MIB? Yeah, now consider "actvity" only partially in the range human perception.

Why the attraction to Thinkpads from Lenovo is anyone's guess. Maybe the extra heat...

keleko · #3 Post by **keleko** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:26 am

Hello Dragon...does it sound like this?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... light=ants

brainpicker · #4 Post by **brainpicker** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:33 am

CoolDragon wrote:How do you clean the fan?

Remove the screws from the bottom of the laptop that correspond to the keyboard then carefully remove the keyboard and unplug it. The fan then becomes visable. I use a can of compressed air to clean the fan. Sometimes that's all it takes to quiet things down to what you "remember" the noise level being a time ago. While you are in there see if anything else could use a spritz of air. You'll be suprised at what can accumulate inside a laptop in even the cleanest of enviroments. I've found things like the neighbor's cat, my old turntable , and the rusted muffler from my '97 Civic.

-Yak

CoolDragon · #5 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:20 pm

keleko wrote:Hello Dragon...does it sound like this?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... light=ants

Well, I really don't know if it is mehcanic or electronic noise.

Put your ear on the left "Ctrl" key, you can hear the amplified noise.

It sounds more like a fan with its axis a little bit off and kind of shaking. So I took the fan out, however, the structure of the fan axis doesn't seem to be easily off.

The other thing is that at low fan speed, you can hear the buzz pulse periodically, about every 5 seconds. At higher fan speed, the buzz becomes constant.

One thing I really don't understand is that: why IBM/Lenovo insist on using a higher fan speed while a lower fan speed do the same thing? This can be verified by using the fan control tool, 4000RPM will not reduce the temperature more than 3000RPM, and 3000RPM will keep the temperature at the same level under normal system use.

DIGITALgimpus · #6 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:26 pm

I recommend cleaning any computer at least 2x a year with compressed air.

Doing that, I have computers that are several years old and run 24x7. Cooler computers have less problems. No question about it.

CoolDragon · #7 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:01 am

Well, it seems that I found the cause for this extra noise from the fan.

I don't know if I installed the fan correctly or not after taking it off and cleaning. But the strange thing is that: somehow, the noise is related to the position of the fan and the three screws that fix the fan.

I loosed the keyboard but leave the connection, so that I can access the fan with the machine turned.

If the screw is too tighten, the fan will make very loud "Zi Zi ..." noise, if you loose it to some extent, the noise is much lower.

If you press the fan, the noise will be louder or quieter, depending on where you press it.

If you press the palm rest near the fan, the noise will be quieter.

Almost seems that the fan is not installed correctly, maybe some distortion? I don't know, really tired today.

CoolDragon · #8 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:27 am

Well, after "investigating" this annoying problem for a whole Saturday evening, I finally know (hopefully) what is going on, and looks like I have to replace the fan with a new one.

As I said, I observed this with my keyboard off the bezel but still connected, so that I can start the machine and even use the fan control tool to control the fan.

On cool startup, such as power up, the fan is just normal, there is only the wind noise caused by the fan rotation. I actually can bear that without using the fan control tool.

But after about 30 minutes, I can hear clearly the "Da Da......." (This is more correct thatn the Zi Zi description) noise, this is where you sit normally before a laptop in normal position.

Then you put your ear near the keyboard and you can see that this noise is just all under the keyboard. The amplified version can be got from putting the ear right on the palm reset. It sounds just like a motor rotating.

Since I read from other forums that when you put back the fan, the screws for the fan should not be too tight, so I loose them a little bit, and I even tried moving the position of the fan a little bit. But all these tries had no effect when the system temperature is normal ( around 50C ) and the fan is finally at level 3 (4000RPM). Now the noise just picked up and will not go.

There is a pulse in this noise at the frequency about 5 seconds per pulse. Sounds like something tries to increase the fan and then only last for less than one second.

CURRENT CONCLUSION I really don't know what the hell is going on here, the most logical conclusion is that the fan is kind of malfunctioning. Maybe it absorbed something (an ant or spider .....) and damaged it. Or maybe it is just normal wear, which is not possible cuz my machine is just 8 months old.

I can feel the shaking of the fan when it makes that noise, so it still looks like the axis of the fan is not good. But I cannot find a way to open the fan and add some lubricant to it.[/b]

CoolDragon · #9 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:06 am

This is recorded by the Windows soundrecorder, you will understand why I am so irritated:

http://www2.et.byu.edu/~welson/SharedFi ... nNoise.wav

keleko · #10 Post by **keleko** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:13 am

Dragon, I would not recommend opening the fan unless you're sure your fan is already broken!!! The risk of totally damaging the fan and/or copper plate is huge. Anyway, it's possible if you're really careful: Check here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19499

CoolDragon · #11 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:29 pm

keleko wrote:Dragon, I would not recommend opening the fan unless you're sure your fan is already broken!!! The risk of totally damaging the fan and/or copper plate is huge. Anyway, it's possible if you're really careful: Check here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19499

Thanks for your remind. Acutally, from what I observed, the T43 fan cannot be opened. So I will just replace it with a new one.

CoolDragon · #12 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:31 pm

By the way, anybody know where I can buy the lubricant/grease that has a small pipe like tip? Like this: http://www.ocforums.com/attachment.php? ... 7783&stc=1

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:08 pm

most auto/motorcycle supply/parts stores carry spray cans of white lithium grease, can't remember any brand names but I use to have a can of it for my motorcycle chains. White lithium is a pretty thin lubricant. I also have some stuf called "break free" for lubricating and cleaning weapons, handguns, rifles, it has a pipe you connect to a squeeze bottle, it too is a thin lubricant.

CoolDragon · #14 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:19 pm

Thank you guys for all your replies.

I got the WD-40 lubricant from Lowes and applied to my fan. Looks like the noise is much better.

Now I can get the fan out and put it back in 5 minutes

.

#15 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:23 pm

Oh, I thought you wanted something other than WD-40.

#16 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:44 pm

Fan Noise. Is It The Wind Only?

Naw, it's just Hot Air.

CoolDragon · #17 Post by **CoolDragon** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:47 pm

Kyocera wrote:Oh, I thought you wanted something other than WD-40.

Looks like WD-40 is very popular, but not for me, I have no idea at the beginning. From that picture, I can only see "D-40", and then I Googled "D-40 lubricant", and then Googled around to search for any local shops that sell this, find OfficeDepot, went there, out of stock, and they suggested Lowe's, went there, wow, quite a lot!

Thanks guys and thanks Google

christopher_wolf · #18 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:51 pm

GomJabbar wrote:Fan Noise. Is It The Wind Only?

Naw, it's just Hot Air.

This is probably the best response I have seen about this particular topic thus far

Awesome GomJabber

ibmt40 · #19 Post by **ibmt40** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:21 pm

The zizizizzi sound can be reduced by disabling "alow the system to turn off this device to reduce power usage" for USB roots... At least sometimes I believe, try it

Change the fan to M10 longfan - its the only way ahead!

Fan Noise, Is It the Wind Only?

Fan Noise, Is It the Wind Only?

Re: Fan Noise, Is It the Wind Only?

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