Fan noise on my new Optimus 15.6 - is it normal or just mine?

[Cymrodan]

Hi all, I recently purchased the 15.6 optimus, and I am generally pleased with the laptop. Took a little getting used to the way dedicated/internal graphics activate with Optimus, but think I'm getting used to it now.

The one thing that I am not pleased with however is the sound of the idle fan. I'm not sure if something is wrong or needs adjusting etc. I'm basically asking 1) is this normal? or 2) What do you suggest I can do to fix this?

This issue is the regular fan (that is constantly on, not the big one that kicks in for my 660M). So when idling, it constantly makes this little pulsing whurring noise, almost like the sound of a cricket you hear when you are out in the night during the summer. It almost sounds like a hard drive working, but I've put my ear to the back of my laptop where the fan is and I know the hard drive makes a different noise. I know it sounds a small issue, but when I'm sat working on my laptop, or even when I just have my laptop on in my room where I'm sitting - if you don't have a TV on or something, it's quite noticeable. I don't mind fan noise when I'm gaming etc, but for general idle fan noise, it's not too pleasing. It sounds almost as if something small (dust/wire) is very lightly rubbing against one side of the fan. As described, it's not a straight forward fan noise, it sounds like the clicking of a hard drive or similar to a cricket. The noise is persistent, whether in dGPU or iGPU mode.

I received this on Monday, and have been waiting for an hour in the PCSpecialist live chat without being connected to a representative. So thought I'd ask here.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

 

[Pagey]

The fan noise on mine even on idling is nearly silent, you could be right and the wires that enter the fan casing could be rubbing up against the fan. Now if you're not interested in going into the laptop then you'd better call PCS to see what they can do for you.

If you aren't scared entering inside your laptop then it could be easy enough to fix as the fan case is held on with tiny Phillips screws. You could at least see if anything is rubbing against the fan. Just remember: If you decide to go into your laptop, make sure it's off and the battery is removed.

If you're in ANY doubt, don't do anything that might brake your laptop.

 

[Cymrodan]

Thanks for the reply. I think I'd be able to look inside, I've build a PC before though limited experience with laptops. I'll contact PCS first to seek their council.

 

[Cymrodan]

For anyone else who has the same issue, support told me it could either be a wire touching against it, so I can open it and have a look. They have an open case policy so it won't void any warranty. If I can't see anything touching it, then it's likely one of the bearings is out, and so I can call them up and they'll send me a replacement fan since they're easy to fit. Will repost when I've had a look.

 

[Pagey]

Brilliant, thanks for the update.