Laptop fan not working

[Not Kuno]

Is there any way to fix a laptop fan without having to take it apart? Like some program that shows it's status or something? My laptop gets really really hot when I leave it idle anywhere, and the fan never seems to work. Additionally, sometimes when I restart my PC it'll get a Fan Error and not load up, but sometimes it loads up fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

[The Stig]

Ever tried to turn on your laptop and then use a can of air to blow into the vents? Maybe the "force" of the air will start the fan back up. It worked for my mini fridge fan (not strictly PC but I'm sure the principle applies) when it went down.

Otherwise, it's either replace the fan, invest in a laptop cooler (I hope you don't play FFXI on it) or purchase a new one. I use a laptop cooler (the one by Antec) and if I don't play FFXI on it, idle temperature is 40~ C (depending on room temp) with the fan, 65~C without (and the fans kick in on slow mode) and the fans never automatically kick on, but will come on if I do play FFXI.

[Sigi]

If the fan is stuck from dust, the compressed air trick should fix it. However, depending on the system model, you may be able to just replace the fan if it's the FAN failing and not the Fan controller. You could probably run a diagnostic test to see which is which/ contact the tech support for the system if it's still in warranty. Otherwise, you're pretty much locked with a dying laptop- use at your own risk.

[ertyu]

I use a laptop exclusively.

I live in Arizona, so I have a lot more dusty environment than I'm sure you do in New York. Every 6-8 months I'll get a message from notebook hardware control saying my computer is running at 70+ Celsius. Whenever this happens, I just take it apart and blow the inside of the laptop out with compressed air. The fans are always clogged as shit and the vents are too. Ater I put it back together and restart it, temperatures are always at below 50s when being used, less than 40 when idling.

I don't know what kind of notebook you have, but if you have a dell you're in luck. Go to the dell website and find your manual and then find the section that talks about getting to the fans, they have step by step instructions with pictures that any shmoe could figure out.

[Octavious]

Hm, my friend had a similar issue with his XPS laptop. I'll text him and see what he got to fix it, but he got something that made the fan actually work. Before, his fan was running at 10% or not at all due to some bogus bs that wouldn't run.

edit: I guess it's titled dell inspiron fan control v3.1, my friend doesn't have a inspiron desktop but this fixed his fans and got them actually running. It might be worth a shot, on a laptop your graphics card fan should be the secondary fan to the CPU.