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My laptop has been making rattling noises. After opening it and testing, turns out it's a fan issue: when it speeds up something probably goes wrong with the bearings.

I would like to replace it given that fans seem to be pretty cheap (~$10), and I think I do find some compatible fans online.

However, as you can see in the photo…

Photo of fan and heatsink

…the fan is connected to the heatsink. I have tried separating but it doesn't seem to work. Is there any chance it cannot be separated? What's then the purpose of selling only fans online?

Also, a fan and heatsink combo goes for a much higher price, so I wouldn't be too happy with buying the whole thing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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That looks very similar to the fan and heat sink to an old Dell laptop I have. I had a similar issue where the fan would make noise at higher speeds. I could tell the blades of the fan were rubbing against it's housing, causing the noise. I was able to unscrew three tiny screws on the fan's silver shroud and remove it. I was then able to lift the fan out, as it was on a spindle/shaft. I used a needle with some mineral oil on it and lubed up the hole where the spindle/shaft is inserted. Upon removing the needle, I saw there was dirt in the shaft sticking to the oiled needle. I poked the sticky needle a few more times, but no more dirt came up. I reinserted the fan, screwed the shroud back on, and reassembled the laptop. It would appear that the dirt in the shaft was just enough to tilt the spindle/shaft off axis and rub against the housing. Its been several years and the fan is quiet and functioning perfectly.

As I mentioned, your assembly looks very similar. However, it doesnt appear your fan shroud has the three screws. Yours has three black... somethings. Its hard to tell from the picture. It looks like plastic. The screws might be under that plastic, or it might just be some sort of plastic-looking material instead of screws. You could try to remove them and do what I mentioned above. It might work. If there are no screws under there, you might have to glue the shroud back on. I cant guarantee it will work, but I definitely think it could. I dont think you have much to lose.

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  • It is true that I do not seem to have easy access to screws. I tried dripping some oil in the fan axis after taking it out and without opening it, something that's probably not advisable but so far it has somewhat calmed down the noise... I hope it stays like this.
    – Dionysos Da Vinci
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 0:30
  • @DionysosDaVinci I told you it would work. Vote up and accept! Also, its perfectly safe.
    – Keltari
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 0:40
  • I upvoted but I still would like to know about the original question, whether I can replace only the fan without the heatsink, in case someone knows.
    – Dionysos Da Vinci
    Commented Dec 5, 2018 at 1:02
  • @DionysosDaVinci You didnt upvote, I can see upvotes and there arent any. However the fan assembly is attached to the heatsink, I do not believe you can separate the two. I know& my answer will work for you. I gave a similar answer to a similar question and he said it worked. See superuser.com/questions/1380203/laptop-noisy-sound-fan-or-hdd/…
    – Keltari
    Commented Dec 5, 2018 at 1:30
  • just for the record, I did upvote but since it's a recent account with <15 rep my upvotes don't yet change the scores.
    – Dionysos Da Vinci
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 3:31

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