Laptop fan turns off, System overheats and shuts down

[Victor1704]

Having troubles with my laptop's cooling system. I noticed the fan completely stops working after a few minutes of running the system and then rhythmically tries to power up on its own after every 3-5 seconds yet it never really comes on, not until I restart the system entirely. This causes the system to perform an automatic shutdown due to overheating. I have some level of expertise with regards to disassembling the system and I have cleared out the possibility of dust causing the problem. Although I am unsure whether the cause is hardware or software related because the fan seems to work fine until it completely goes off on its own.

My System specs are as follows:
HP 630 Notebook
Windows 7 32-bit
Intel Core i3

(If it helps, the system is about 4 years old)

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

Victor1704

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

The older laptops only have very rudimentary hardware diagnostics, so there is most likely, no fan test that you can run to determine if the fan is failing -- but from what you have said, it sounds like it is.

Fan replacements are cheap ($25 USD or so) but you often have to competely disassemble the laptop just to get to the fan -- so I would not recommend your doing this unless you are experienced at it.

My suggestion is that you take the laptop to a HP Service Center to see if they will provide an estimate for running diagnostics and, if necessary, replacing the fan:  http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00372730?jumpid=reg_r1002_usen_c-001_title_r0004

Also, since this laptop is not covered under warranty anymore, you are free to take it to other laptop repair facilities.

Good Luck

[Victor1704]

Thanks. I was suspecting that I'd have to replace it, but I first wanted to make sure there was nothing else I could possibly do before resolving to replacing it.

I will do just that now.

Thanks again.