The fan blows hard continuously, even with no heavy app. Sometimes there's a rattle.
Fan noise is a diagnostic voice. Continuously loud = warm air can't get out. Rattling = a separate problem. Both signal something about hardware health.
Try this first
- 1Open a sensor tool: HWiNFO or OpenHardwareMonitor on Windows, iStat Menus or Macs Fan Control on Mac. Watch CPU package temp and GPU temp at idle. Idle should be under 50 C on a well-cooled laptop.
- 2Over 70 C at idle: dust in the fan or heatpipe. In a workplace with pets or lots of paper, that's the rule, not the exception. Open the bottom cover (post-warranty) and blow clean with compressed air. NEVER a vacuum cleaner (static).
- 3Over 90 C under light load: thermal paste dried out. On laptops in use for 3+ years that's normal. Replacing takes 30 minutes, paste costs a few euros. Often 15 C improvement.
- 4Rattle instead of steady blow: fan bearing failing. Can't be repaired, only replaced. Vendor fan modules often cost 30 to 60 euros. Googling model number plus 'fan replacement' gets you the disassembly video.
- 5No fan nearby and noise on scrolling: hard disk (HDD) or a loose cable. On an SSD laptop a rattle is always suspicious.
- 6For people unwilling to unscrew: 'pmset' on Mac or a laptop cooling pad. A decent cooling pad shaves 5 to 10 C with no intervention.
When to bring us in
If temperature stays high after cleaning and paste replacement, the heatpipe or fan itself is done. Replacement cost is often a third of a new laptop, so do the math honestly.
See also
- My laptop is suddenly slowThree main suspects: a runaway background process, near-full disk, or a Windows update in progress.
- One specific application is slow for everyoneIf an app is slow for one person: local. For everyone at once: server side or vendor side.
- Opening files from the file server takes minutesOften the server itself is fine and the issue is network routing or stalling DNS resolution.
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