A bit flaky

Paget, Bermuda

Not me, my laptop. Again. Only I think I know why. Recently we have had a couple of nice days during which I assume that my place is getting pretty warm. Since my laptop is usually running, it stands to reason that it too is getting quite warm. Normally not an issue since it sits idle most of the day. Yesterday however, I had it downloading some stuff, and then in the evening it was still quite warm in here when I was programming and then watching a video.

Normally this shouldn’t be a big deal. Only yesterday evening my computer started making a horrible noise. Not good. I knew it was not my hard drive, because that is in the front, this was coming from the back… where the fans are. I was concerned. My right fan had been pretty noisy for a while now, but this was extreme. So I remembered a tool that I had used before to help my father diagnose a defective track pad sensor, called Temperature Monitor. I also knew that this program had a big brother called Hardware Monitor. I download it and saw that it would be able to read my fan RPMs, if I paid for it. It was only $11, so I thought it would be a wise investment. Now having loaded it up, I can tell that my right fan was running at over 2500 RPMs. Not only that, but the left one isn’t running at all. Now I understand why my right one has been so noisy, it is working alone to cool my computer in a hot, humid climate. So I think the noise of last night was an over stress on the fan, and I think I might be taking my laptop apart again to investigate the dead fan. I might just be stuck or dirty and need some help, or it could be a loose connection. Or it my just be dead, and I have to take care not to let my computer get too hot.

Written by Colin Bate