Laptop fan suddenly extremely loud

[Zoikeeper]

My laptop fan suddenly started malfunctioning last night, extremely lound, like a diesel engine! I've taken the laptop apart twice, nothing is loose or dirty that I can see, there is no way to separate the fan by itself that I can see.  I have updated the Bios, turned off the 'constant on' for the fan but it still runs constantly the minute I open a browser or program.  I installed the RealTemp GT app, it says it is operating within the range of safe temps.  

There have been times in the recent past where I felt the laptop got extremely hot, but got no error messages.  I tried to vent the bottom more and cool it down, and now suddenly this noise is happening but laptop is not getting extremly hot like it did.  

There are no diagnostic apps in my HP support program, so I have no idea how to diagnose or fix this problem, and what is going to need to be replaced.  Can someone help?  Thank you.

[WAWood]

Zoikeeper

My guess is that your laptop is running Windows Update, especially if you have made the mistake of setting it to automatically download and apply updates.  MS is closing out the free Win10 Upgrade the end of this month, and PCs are downloading the upgrade stuff now to force such an upgrade.

To see the Services, in the Start area, enter services.nsc and press Enter.  This will open the Services Panel.  Scroll down the panel until you see the Service Wuauserv.  Look to the right and see if it is Running.  If it is, then right-click that Service and click on Stop to stop it from running.

To disable automatic updating, open Control Panel --> Services --> System and Security ... and turn off automatic updating.

Good Luck

[Zoikeeper]

I didn't have it set to auto update, just download and let me choose when to update,  so that's the reason I had to do 27 updates yesterday before I shut down. GRR.  It's still running now, tried to kill it and it said "unable to stop service, access denied".    I just went into the settings and turned off that services and that stopped it, but my fan is still grinding away.

[Zoikeeper]

I just killed the browser in order to shut down, while I was answering email the fan stopped.  When I opened the browser again the fan started up grinding away. 

[WAWood]

I have the same issue -- and I think it's because so many of the website have flash videos embedded because they get paid by sponsors to do that, and it helps pay them to support the site.

You could disable flash, but I don't know any way to do that on a site-by-site basis.

Good Luck

[Zoikeeper]

I think I have a hardware problem, I just have no way to diagnose it because the HP Support software has no feature for laptops that will dx a hardware issue.  It now runs occasionally, but when it runs it sounds like a diesel truck and that's not normal (not to mention so irritating I want to throw it across the room).  I need a way to figure out why, is there any support program that will at least check the status?

I have installed RealTemp and so far there are no problems with overheating, so I don't know why the fan is suddenly so loud.  I also want to know what the fan is attached to and how/if I can just replace the fan if that's the problem. I couldn't see any way to separate it.  The noise is beyond tolerable when it runs and It seems to be something is not right if it just started yesterday.

[WAWood]

Zoikeeper

If you have one of the newer laptops, you can access HP diagnostics this way: Testing a Hard Disk from the BIOS | HP® Customer Support

There is also this thread about testing the hardware: HP Desktop PCs - Testing for Hardware Failures (Windows 7) | HP® Customer Support

And ... this one: HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Testing for Hardware Problems Using Hardware Diagnostic Tools (Windows 7...

Good Luck

[Zoikeeper]

Thanks, I'll try the first one, although I don't think it's the hard drive, the other two are for desktops and need troubleshooting software that's not on my laptop.  

RIght now it's running, but the fan is intermittently running, but very noisily.  I don't know why, I took it apart, spun the fan by hand and there was no sound, I don't know where the extra noise/vibration is coming from. I wonder if I insert a piece of foam or something when I screw it back together if it would cushion things and kill the noise.  Extremely frustrated, it's all I can do not to smash it with my shoe.  😞

[WAWood]

Zoikeeper

Don't know if you've noticed that incandescent light bulbs tend to get a lot brighter just before they die; I had a fan fail on an old laptop, and it behaved the same way -- became noisy as all hell ... then it died!

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a hardware diagnostic for checking the fan.  But, here are some troubleshooting steps: HP Notebook PCs - Fan is Noisy and Spins Constantly, PC is Warmer than Normal | HP® Customer Support

Replacing a fan can be a LOT of work -- depending on the laptop model.

Good Luck

[Zoikeeper]

Yes, that's my fear.....but there's no way to know what to do or how to fix it, it's out of warranty, and it doesn't appear to separate from the rest of the computer so you can just replace the fan.  Where can I get some tech support or repair help with it?  I wouldn't even know what part to order so I could do it myself, I need someone to tell me which components are bad so I can replace the right ones.

So far it's not over heating, the temp is in the range it should be, right now the fan is starting to spin and the temp is at the low end of the range.   I need to look at the part site to see if I can figure it out. Thanks for your help.