hey all,
i have a presario c552us laptop and it recently started making weird noises around the fan underneath. i took a look and it seems to be coming from the fan. it sounds like some1 stuck something in there and its hitting the fan blades. doesn't happen all the time either. when the fan is spinning, sometimes its great(like right now) and other times it sounds horrible.

i took apart the whole laptop and cleaned out all the dust, especially in the heatsinks and fan assembly. it seems to spin fine when i use canned air on the fan blades. it has the normal high pitch fan spin without the grinding noise and what not.

not sure what the deal with that is, but maybe the fan has issues gripping or spinning itself. seems to spin fine with my help.

so it sounds like i pretty much need to replace the fan and the motor.

can i replace just the motor and fan? or do i have to buy the whole assembly with the weird shaped heatsink?

do you guys have any reputable sites that u guys purchase laptop parts from?

The fan assembly should include the motor. Blades and motor one unit. The heatsink should detach. Open up and look for part number.

And yes I tend to agree replacement is in your future. I think you might of only bought yourself some time. I would order now so not down when fan does fail. And if it stops working correctly could overheat damaging other parts.

yeah i'm pretty sure i have to replace it.

do you have any recommendations on where i should purchase the part(s)? should i go through compaq/hp to order it?

Plug "presario c552us heatsink fan" in the search engine and let your fingers fly. There are plenty of on-line parts resellers that can be much cheaper than HP/Compaq. Good lucks.

cheers ...