HP laptop help please

[Ed]

Wifey has a HP Envy laptop. When I switch it on, it displays an error message saying that the BIOS has detected a possible fault with the cooling fan. I can't get it to boot so I can copy of the latest work, the onlu option is to shutdown.

Anyone know how to resolve this?

[Seggons]

Sounds like the CPU Fan has died, the connector has come loose or it could be just bunged up with dust and rubbish. Can you feel air blowing out the side? This would indicated if the fan is working or not.

[Ed]

nope, no fan:(

[fizzwheel]

Is the fan not spinning at all the Ed ?

Its a safety precaution to stop it from over heating and thats why it wont boot, so I think you are stuck until you can get it looked at.

What you might try if you can get a can of compressed air / air duster from Maplins or something and giving the fan port a good spray with that and see if cleaning out the dust gets the fan spinning again. Whether it'll work or not I dont know, if the fan motors gone I think you'll not get it going again and it'll be a take it apart and replace job or send it back to HP.

Is there a little local computer shop you can take it to near you, that would be my best bet rather than PC world...

[Ed]

No, no fan at all. Can't bypass the error message so I'll take it to a fix shop tomorrow.

[christopher]

Unlikely but it might not be getting enough power to the fan for some reason. Disconnect from the AC adaptor and take the battery out. Now hold the power button on for about 20-30 seconds. This'll drain any excess power in the system which could be causing any issues. Now put the battery/AC adaptor back in and try booting up.

If not I'd try Fizz's suggestion of clearing any dust out. A quick search reveals you're not alone with this and there are suggestions of blowing on the fan to get it moving (http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/HP-Envy-15-cooling-fan-issue/td-p/252943/page/2#M47590).

[yorkie_chris]

We have a couple of laptops here and they get clarted up with dust over time, have had some success removing the cover and vacuuming any dust out, or take heat sink off entirely to blow it out.

[Ed]

Thanks peeps. I don't have a small enough screwdriver to take the back off, so off it goes to the fix shop tomoz.

[Seggons]

If the fan isn't working I would stress not to try and bypass the error. That error message is the difference between a CPU and a fried CPU. :)

[Ed]

OK boss:D I will leave it to the experts:D

[454697819]

Stick a hoover near the fan outlet, and blow into the fan vent on the underside... you may just be able to get the fan to spin and spit out what is choking it

don't do what I did and blow the air duster from the vent back to the fan and lodged a load of cat fluff and shizzle into the cooling fan.. had to strip it down to its shell to clean it out..

wife = not happy bunny

[Seggons]

Stick a hoover near the fan outlet

Potentially a very bad idea. You should never use a hoover near any part of a computers hardware. The hoover sucks air at speed which statically charges it. Some parts on the motherboard are very sensitive and the static could damage those parts.

[Ed]

Brought the lappy to HCS Computers in Shrewsbury. The fan is knackered and needs a new one, but they have extracted the data and put it onto my PC, not as easy as it sounds as the HP needs a strip down to remove the drive. It's thrown into sharp focus that the device isn't up to such heavy use so we are reviewing a better solution.

Thanks for wise advice people:D

[SoulKiss]

There is no such thing as light or heavy use Ed.

However there is such a thing as proper use, and backups...

If there was any important info on that drive that could have been lost and would have caused you a problem, well you just identified data that you need to backup.

Use the Laptop as just that - a portable machine for when you need one out of the house/office, and buy a Desktop system to do the day to day stuff on.

As always, if you want to chat about this some more, PM or Phone :)

[454697819]

Potentially a very bad idea. You should never use a hoover near any part of a computers hardware. The hoover sucks air at speed which statically charges it. Some parts on the motherboard are very sensitive and the static could damage those parts.

Granted..

never fecked anything yet :-)