Aspire E5-575-59ZR fan death?

Hi there, I'm not convinced my fan is working. Some of the symptoms:

Low or no fan noise and air movement
Can't find fan in SpeedFan, FanControl, or hWinfo
Having some BSODs recently that *could* be attributed to overheating - I am pursuing other possibilities also

The fan has always been quiet and apparently low-air-volume compared to the jet engines on my previous Acers. I'm about to run a game to see if this kicks it into life. However, broken or not I would like to upgrade the fan(s) to something fresh and powerful as I've upgraded both the hard drive and the RAM, both of which are kicking out some heat.

Please could someone give me some hints as to the best fan(s) I can get for this model, and how to install it (or them)?

I gather I will need thermal paste. I have a soldering iron already if needed.

Thanks in advance for any help! I suspect I can get all the info I need from YouTube but I'm asking here first in case there's something Acer/model-specific I need to know.

Accepted answers

JackE

>>> I'm certain it's blocked by dust. I've had this machine a while, so I'm going to open it up, clean the fan and heatsink, and replace the thermal paste.>>>

Don't recommend doing this surgery just yet based on your description. The machine doesn't seem to be overheating. As some others have found, collateral issues often arise with this kind of maintenance. A pandoras-box can-o-worms kinda thing. If you suspect dust/debris, simply alternately vacuuming the air intakes and blowing air into the exhaust ports a few times should adequately dislodge and chase out any dust bunnies that may be holed up inside. Jack E/NJ

All comments

JackE

Overheating symptoms are usually heralded by throttling behavior, not BSODs. You should be able to monitor CPU/GPU temps with hwinfo. Generally speaking, temperatures below about 90*C under load are normal for this model. Furthermore, the fanspeeds at maximum temps don't even approach the 5,000+ rpms and sound levels that are common for gaming laptops. I seriously doubt you have an overheating issue yet. Jack E/NJ

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/j7/htg6fgyqjaqx.jpg

kranklebuss

Awesome. Thank you for this. I'm seeing temps in the 60-85c range under heavy use, and 40-60c under normal use. That's fine. However, the nearly undetectable airflow (it is definitely there, but I can only feel it on my ears and not at all with my hand) has me a little concerned in the long run. I'm certain it's blocked by dust. I've had this machine a while, so I'm going to open it up, clean the fan and heatsink, and replace the thermal paste.

BSODs are related to kernel power and memory management. I've run a LOT of tests which all come back fine. But I've updated my BIOS (and all other drivers), increased the memory allocated to a game I was playing at the time of one BSOD, and removed Intel Rapid Storage technology, which also seemed to be a factor according to the event viewer (perhaps related to cloning my drive: maybe it or its settings preferred the old drive. I might reinstall a newer version). I've also switched the power source of my USB cooling pad from my laptop to a separate USB wall socket. Oh, and killed off all auto-sleep and idle drive settings. Basically I've taken every action that Google suggests and am hoping that's the end of it.

JackE

>>> I'm certain it's blocked by dust. I've had this machine a while, so I'm going to open it up, clean the fan and heatsink, and replace the thermal paste.>>>

Don't recommend doing this surgery just yet based on your description. The machine doesn't seem to be overheating. As some others have found, collateral issues often arise with this kind of maintenance. A pandoras-box can-o-worms kinda thing. If you suspect dust/debris, simply alternately vacuuming the air intakes and blowing air into the exhaust ports a few times should adequately dislodge and chase out any dust bunnies that may be holed up inside. Jack E/NJ