The laptop in question, is a Toshiba model P205-s6337. The cooling fan is located on the left hand side of the laptop. The problem as stated above, is that the fan made an unacceptable amount of noise and vibration when it spun up to cool the laptop. The simple solution, blow out any dust and lubricate any moving parts in the fan housing assembly. Or buy another housing assembly/fan. .
Googling for a fan assembly was somewhere on the magnitude of around $50.00 to $120.00. This was not in my immediate budget. But $12.00 for some silicone based lube that comes in a tube with a needle tip applicator was. Your local electronics store should have some available. Ido not suggest 3N1 oil or WD-40 this I believe will deteriorate or gum up the motor and or any other electronic component inside the laptop housing.
So lets get on with it shall we?
First of all the parts list:
you are going to need
A can of compressed air
A mini screwdriver set
Masking tape
A small magnet
Ziploc bags (6) should be fine
A Permanent marker
Alcohol (rubbing or denatured, grain does not count
)Cotton swabs
A bit of patience
When you are ready to proceed. Turn off the laptop, remove the battery and unplug it. Now with a small flat head screwdriver gently pry up the gray bar at the top of the keyboard. This is easiest to do by starting at the “F1” key then the “F4” and “F5” key separators and work your way down till the thin gray bar is detached from the keyboard area. OK now for the fun part ( read as the first headache)
Flip the laptop over so that the removed battery side is up and facing you. You will need a Phillips head screwdriver. By each of the holes you will see a number, this corresponds with the size screw and its position on the laptop. With your ziploc bag and marker, you will need to label the bag as “ outside screws and add the Hole name set” eg. J4 . Then commence unscrewing all the holes that have the “J4” designation accept for the memory upgrade panel. Which is unnecessary. NOTE: on the back side of the laptop, near the LCD hinge, there are two (2) screw holes. DO NOT unscrew those at this time.
Next, there is a set of “J8” holes. Unscrew those and place them in the appropriately labeled bag . NOTE: the “F8” hole that is on the label of the underside, releases the dvd drive. Please keep this in mind when turning the laptop over, also when the drive is removed, you will have access to the last two “F4” screws.
Now open the laptop clamshell like you would ordinarily do on the keyboard should be 4 (four) exposed screw heads also you will notice a ribbon wire near the “F7” key carefully begin to pry the speaker grill plate away from the laptop with a flat head screwdriver you will feel and hear the tabs give way as you pry each one away, fully open the clamshell beyond the 90 degree angle to access the back side of the grill plate.
Next step is to remove the keyboard plate. The (4) four screws are all thats holding the keyboard onto the laptop. Set those screws aside in the labeled baggy. NOTE: at the end of the ribbon, attached to the main board, are (2) two tabs. Gently slide those back on each side, the ribbon will come out easily.
At a corner of the laptop where a thin flat head screwdriver can find purchase, gently pry apart the top section of the bottom half of the clamshell. The picture below will show you where I started from.
- screwdriver prying lower clamshell apart
After you have pried the majority of the bottom half away, there should only be a few screws still attached to the main board Label this baggie as the keyboard screws with the appropriate size designator. Once the bottom half is removed, you will see a few more ribbon connectors, remove those at the main board side. Also carefully not that there are a few screws with a different number on them, one of which will have an extremely long screw in it. REMEMBER that screw hole.
now, there are (2) two screws attaching the hinge to the lower clamshell. you may need that magnet now. Grasp the top side of the LCD near the release clasp to steady the upper portion of the laptop while unscrewing the two screws after that is done, gently lay the top LCD portion down on the worktable. There is a square plate that the wires lead to just right of center on the main board, on that plate, are (2) very small screws be careful wen you remove these and place those screws in a baggie gently remove the wires from the routing channels to fully separate the LCD from the clamshell IMPORTANT: that card is your internal wireless adapter the wires lead to the antennae
- be carefull when removing the Wireless card on the right
- LCD Screw location
- LCD screw location, and screw for mainboard
Apply masking tape to the open fan port blue painter's tape has worked best or a yellow stick note.
- LCD and wireless card detached from main board
You should now begin to look for the screws attaching the main board to the bottom half of the clamshell. These are designated by a small triangle next to the screws. Place those in the baggie and have those labeled as main board screws and their screw hole designation. Please also be aware that you do not release the heat pipe or the CPU plate bracket, as this will waste valuable time that you do not need to do while re-attaching it.
- main board assembly without keyboard and upper fascia
Now that you have successfully removed and labeled the screws, there are (3) three screws attaching the fan housing to the main board. Remove those screws and gently remove the fan housing.
- Fan assembly removed
Now is a good time to blow out any dust or other curiosities lurking in your laptop .with the fan assembly removed, remove any dust or debris inside the housing to do this, there are (4) very very,small screws you only need to remove (3) three of them, and loosen the last. Keep very close tabs on the other three, especially if you have dark areas on your workspace ( magnet is helpful if they accidentally roll away before you can bag them.)
The reason we went through all this trouble in the first place:
Blow out any dust and debris located inside the housing, then removing the fan blades by simply lifting it out of the housing. With a little dab of alcohol on a cotton tipped applicator ( cotton swab) remove any excess dust from the blades. With the the needle tip applicator apply a small amount of oil along the shaft of the spindle. A quick jet of air in the motor assembly to remove any unfortunate dust inside re-insert the fan blades back into the fan assembly housing and give it a quick spin. This should give you a noticeably better rotation. Remove the blades once more, and apply a half drop inside the motor assembly. Reinsert the fan blade and give it another spin.
- fan blade and motor separated
Viola you should now have a quieter fan. Now to put it all back together. Remember the baggie labels Also, re apply the masking tape to the fan assembly so as not to lose a screw down that hole
