Hp Envy X360 loud fan noise- revisited

[dawg4fr]

I offer a possible solution. My wife's Envy is less than a year old and the fan was making a terrible racket. I opened it up and the fan is not dirty, heatsink fins have minimal dust and the fan spins freely. Then I noticed something which might be a design flaw.

First, the wifi antenna wire was partly out of its retaining clip and may have been rubbed by the tip of the heatsink (1st, 2nd pic) that was easy to push under the retaining clip

Then I looked at the heatsink and saw that the free end had up and down play of maybe 3 mm. (3rd pic)

My theory is that at higher fan speeds the heatsink will vibrate up and down (like an airplane wing) and reach a resonance causing the noise. The thin strips of black foam across the heatsink are probably there to dampen movement and noise but are inadequate.

My solution was to cut small pieces of foam from a weatherstripping roll and stick on top and under the end of the heatsink. (4th pic) This appears to be thick enough to wedge the end of the heatsink when the case is back together and prevent movement.

My only concern was if these pieces would block airflow and impede cooling.

It's been a week and measured temperatures seem fine. I can hear the fan softly blowing but none of the harsh noise.

her use is moderate. No heavy business use or major gaming, but we were hearing the noise almost every day prior to this hack.

Maybe the HP folks could look at this and do a more scientific look at airflow etc. But this appears to be working fine for us.

arrow shows tip of copper heatsink and wifi antenna wireanother view of heatsink and wirethe heatsink has a 3mm up and down play, like an airplane wingplacement of small pieces of foam to dampen motion and vibration

[dawg4fr]

4 weeks since my hack. NO more fan noise. The laptop shows no signs of overheating so I doubt the pads I added are blocking any important airflow.