Laptop Fan Replacement

[Chris]

Success! So far...

I have a 2017 Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-571-77QK. They're notorious for developing noisy fans. Poor design.

This was my third time going in. First time I cleaned out a lot of dust--took a couple hours. Second time, found where I could remove more dust--took 30 minutes. Third time, they were getting noisy again, so I ordered two new fans and replaced them--15 minutes.

A lot of work: Remove a bunch of tiny screws from the bottom. Remove the hard drive. Separate the bottom portion from the keyboard section. Disconnect the power.



The black part is the heat sink and cooling assembly with CPU and GPU fans.

Remove a bunch of even tinier screws. Disconnect the fans. Pull off the assembly from the motherboard. Remove some even tinier screws. Remove the fans.

Reverse the process. Replace thermal paste and pads as needed along the way.

Power up and cross your fingers! I think the fan plugs fit just one way, I hope....fires up. Quiet as a mouse.


P.S. Don't tell anyone I know how to do this or people will be bringing me their computers!

[RMNIXON]

I will grant you an honorary Duct Tape Award for effort and execution of these repairs!

[invictus]

Success! So far...

I have a 2017 Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-571-77QK. They're notorious for developing noisy fans. Poor design.

This was my third time going in. First time I cleaned out a lot of dust--took a couple hours. Second time, found where I could remove more dust--took 30 minutes. Third time, they were getting noisy again, so I ordered two new fans and replaced them--15 minutes.

A lot of work: Remove a bunch of tiny screws from the bottom. Remove the hard drive. Separate the bottom portion from the keyboard section. Disconnect the power.



The black part is the heat sink and cooling assembly with CPU and GPU fans.

Remove a bunch of even tinier screws. Disconnect the fans. Pull off the assembly from the motherboard. Remove some even tinier screws. Remove the fans.

Reverse the process. Replace thermal paste and pads as needed along the way.

Power up and cross your fingers! I think the fan plugs fit just one way, I hope....fires up. Quiet as a mouse.


P.S. Don't tell anyone I know how to do this or people will be bringing me their computers!

Lol, yeah, that could be time consuming... Now a days, I just say I'm busy but in my late teens and early 20s, I was fixing a couple of dozen computers a month.. My whole family, friends and their families... It gets to ridiculous proportions...

[Chris]

Damn, may not have been such a success. An accessory displayed fan activity and showed only the CPU fan working. So I reopened and flipped what I thought was the GPU plug. Booted and neither fan now works. Afraid I may have fried something putting fan plugs into the motherboard wrong. Need to research. Meanwhile, my oldest laptop running Linux Mint Cinnamon becomes my main computer.

[Red Lily]

I'm about to replace the battery in my old laptop. It looks easy enough on YouTube but I know laptops can be quite temperamental so I've been procrastinating. Fingers crossed.

[Chris]

I'm about to replace the battery in my old laptop. It looks easy enough on YouTube but I know laptops can be quite temperamental so I've been procrastinating. Fingers crossed.

Best of luck. Mine's still down.

[Peter1469]

I have never tried to open up a laptop to do anything.

Desktops, no problem. I want to add RAM to mine newest. Easy.

I have never used a laptop as my primary computer. Except when overseas.

[Chris]

All I have now are laptops. Needed portability for work.

[Peter1469]

All I have now are laptops. Needed portability for work.

My work computer is a laptop.

My personal computers are: a desktop as primary. An HP Spector (laptop/tablet) for travel. A Cromebook for Zoom, etc.

[DGUtley]

I have both. A tower and a road warrior. Drives my IT guy nuts I won’t commit to laptop 100%