Fan on HP laptop spinning fast, even when clean and with new thermal paste

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510
The fan on my 2 year old HP Dv7-6c10eo laptop has started to spin fast pretty much all the time that my computer is on, even when doing nothing, or when doing light work, like watching a movie in VLC, listening to music, or surfing forums. I've opened it up to clean it, but there was no dust that I could see, but I cleaned it anyway with pressurized air. I didn't open up the fan itself though, because I couldn't figure out how to open it. I cleaned of the old thermal paste on the APU/CPU and GPU, and applied new (about the size of a grain of rice of Braun thermal paste). None of these fixes worked.

What can I do next? Below is my system and the max temperatures of my system while having 4 tabs open in Crome and writing this message:

Windows 10 64-bit (came with W7, but the problem was the same before I got W10)
8GB RAM
AMD A8-3530MX APU with Radeon HD Graphics (77.5 °C)
AMD Radeon HD 6620G (77.0 °C)
AMD Radeon 6600M/6700M (52.5 °C)
1TB conventional harddrive (38.0 °C)
 

TbsToy

Estimable
Oct 19, 2015
45
0
4,610
Have had that happen in the past. The fan blades had a dust and crap build up on it and cleaning it cured the problem. Might work for ya. Something is probably causing overheating though.
Walt prill
 

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510


The fan blades where clean when I opened the laptop, but I blew some pressurized air into the fan anyway.
 


If you look into the exhaust vents on the side of the laptop, you should be able to see the silvery colored heat sink fins. Just on the other side of those fins is where the dust build-up accumulates, restricting airflow out the vents. Spraying compressed air into these vents (all over) from the outside may dislodge any build-up, unless it is too extreme. If you blew compressed air into the fan blades from the inside of the laptop, all you did was blow any build-up of dust further into the heat sink fins.

This may or may not be the problem, but it is the easiest place to start.

 

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510


I actually did both when I took the fan of the motherboard. I blew both from the inside, and from the outside. Basically as thoroughly as I could without opening the fan up. Is there anything else that could make the fan less effective, even if it was clean?
 


Unfortunately, the vast majority of HP laptops aren't exactly known for having great cooling systems.

The only thing I can think of that would make a properly operating and clean fan less effective (assuming the cpu repasting was done correctly) would be a bad heat sink pipe. But that is a very rare occurrence. Perhaps someone else will have additional ideas.

 

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510


The funny thing is, the laptop used to be very quiet, the fan was very rarely noticable, regardless or workload.
Perhaps that Braun thermal paste isn't very good? How to I check if one of the heat pipes went bad?
 


I just woke up, LOL. To the best of my knowledge, there is no such brand of thermal paste. Did it come in a syringe that said "Braun Injekt" on it, by any chance? If so, who did you get it from?

 

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510


That's the one! Got it from the local computer store/repair shop near me. Didn't get a box or anything, just the syringe.
 


Okay, here's the deal. Braun made the empty syringe. But no telling what the local computer store/repair shop loaded it with. Could be mayonnaise or toothpaste, or just some off-brand thermal paste. Could even be the best thermal paste on the planet, but I doubt it. Probably buys it in bulk then makes a couple bucks selling it by the syringe-full. I have no problem with that, but at the same time I'd like to know what brand of paste I'm being sold.

 

guitarnerdswe

Estimable
Nov 16, 2015
6
0
4,510


Ok! If I where to try another thermal paste, which one should I get? Also, I might have missed it, but how can one check if a heat sink is bad? :)
 


I haven't repasted a cpu or gpu in the last few years, but when I did, I used Arctic Silver 5, which was one of the best at the time. I'm sure better ones have come around since then, though. Check this link for more info. There's even a shootout between 17 different types if you look down the page a little:
https://www.google.com/search?q=best+computer+thermal+compound&oq=best+computer+ther&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j0l4.9473j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

As to the heat sink issue, I don't know a lot about it, other than it's relatively rare. Maybe this link will explain it:
https://forums.techguy.org/threads/symptoms-of-heatsink-failure-on-notebook-help.1082975/

EDIT: That link is useless. Google the problem. Probably your best bet.