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Lenovo IdeaPad S10: Fan Blade Interference with Housing and Thermal Issues Solved

Originally posted at http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&thread.id=2846

The fan on my IdeaPad S10 netbook has been unusually / annoyingly loud with grinding noises. It's much louder than the typically loud fan on laptops.

Thanks, Mark_Lenovo at the posts

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&message.id=2148#M2148

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&message.id=2482#M2482

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&message.id=2490#M2490

and berenpx at http://www.s10lenovo.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1397#p10964, for insisting that Fan Blade Interference with the Housing can really be an issue.

Too bad receiving in-warranty services from the contracted / outsourced local Lenovo service center is too complicated, ineffective, and consumes too much of my time. So I finally chose the DIY approach instead. I just cannot tolerate the annoyance from the fan anymore. Local service center said they don't have a replacement fan in stock. I would have to wait for a "few weeks" for them to order from abroad (perhaps, Singapore) and would need to call back and check if they have ones in stock or have used up already. I can also queue up by leaving my only computer (yes, this S10) with them during this wait period.

I opened the S10 last night with the help of the Hardware Maintenance Manual and did the following:

Fan Upgrade

- Disassembled the fan,
- Cleaned it with WD40-like oil,
- Fully filled it with white lithium grease,
- Fixed the blade interference issue by "heightening" the housing with 3 pieces of 0.5-mm thick plastic sheets (I used the "leftover" part of a cellphone SIM card), and
- Sealed the space introduced by the plastice sheet with UHU Plastic Repair Adhesive.I really saw traces of the fan interference: there are a lot of scratches at the inner surface of the fan housing.

Thermal Grease Upgrade

Replaced the cheap "insulation" pads between the (1) Intel 945 northbridge chipset + (2) ATOM CPU and the heat sink with Arctic MX2 thermal grease.

Soft and Quiet Mouse Click Mod

By adding a layer of electrical tape onto the micro swtiches for the two mouse buttons, which are located under the palmrest, as suggested in http://www.s10lenovo.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=577&start=10#p11188

P.S. The technician at the local service center did the fan and thermal grease things for me once last time, as posted earlier; but when I looked at what he did this time, it was not thorough, effective, and neat. I don't think he understood what he was doing.

Thanks much everyone who provided me with all the required information!

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Comments

jason said…
hi thiti, thanks to your advice/ ideas i've fixed my noisy fan too!

if ur interested, i've also put up some pics and explanation at: http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook&thread.id=3061&page=8

cheers,
jason
8:01 PM
Anonymous said…
I bought a used S10 off Craigslist, and never noticed any fan noise what-so-ever. Come to find out, that's because the previous owner looks like they shoved a screwdriver in the fan vent and destroyed the fan. I took it apart, and sure enough the fan is totally missing, which means not only did they destroy the fan, but they themselves took the unit apart to remove it before selling. What an a-hole. So now I'm stuck trying to find a replacement ADDA fan. Lenovo is no help. Online, only place I could find it was some used shop called PCHub, and after 2 weeks of waiting on the part they CANCEL my order, stating they tested the one they had and it wasn't good before shipping it to me. Why is it so insanely difficult to get a replacement fan for these things? This is ludicrous. I'm to the point now where I may just part-out this idea pad to try to re-coup my money, and go buy an eeePC like I should have done in the first place.
9:09 PM
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