Comments on: Replacing a MacBook Pro Fan

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:26:32 +0000

It opens up top, where your time is shown. Not as a standard app.

By: Qaifi

Qaifi — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:08:04 +0000

Crazy as I am, I boldly went and did this on my macbook pro. Some tense moments, as I raided town (São Paulo, Brazil) in search of a #7 torque wrench, and then almost fainted as my computer failed to turn on the first time I reassembled it. When I reopened it, my wife noticed the big flat keyboard cable was disconnected. Then everything was fine and quiet! Thanks bro

By: Gary Rosenzweig

Gary Rosenzweig — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:05:57 +0000

You might need to have Leopard for it to work. Check the Web site for the application for details and help.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:03:19 +0000

Hi!

I really, REALLY would love to use the app; however, I downloaded the zip file (version 2.2.2), extracted it, launched the app, it asked me for my admin password, then…nothing. I even trashed the original folder and downloaded it again, but it has yet to open (I double-click on the app icon and it appears to open, but never launches). Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated, as my fan noise is driving me crazy and I’d love to tweak it with smcfancontrol before taking it to the Apple Store (which I hopefully won’t have to do if smcfancontrol works as it should). I’m running OSX 10.4.11 on a MacBook Pro 15″ machine.

Thanks!

By: me

me — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:05:17 +0000

I’ve been living with the “God awful fan noise” from my left fan for almost a year. I think it’s about time I replaced it but I’ve been afraid until this week. I had to open my MBP to upgrade the 80GB HD to a 200GB. I went ahead while it was open and investigated the fan noise. Nothing I can do will help it. SMC fan control helped initially but has long since been no help at all. I’ll keep it just to keep my MBP cool when running demanding apps but it’s no help for the fan noise at this point. I’m so cheap that $50 is too much so off to ebay I go…. fingers crossed.

By: links for 2009-06-28 | philipoakley.org

links for 2009-06-28 | philipoakley.org — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:06:16 +0000

[...] MacMost – Replacing a MacBook Pro Fan (tags: mac fan macbook repair apple macbookpro diy) [...]

By: Allan

Allan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:12:42 +0000

Wow, I too was experiencing fan noise, and followed the SMC Fan Utility advice.. Running it around 5500 for about 15 seconds. I don’t know how, or if it will last, but THE NOISE STOPPED!!

By: Steve Joseph

Steve Joseph — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:39:49 +0000

Gotta say thank you for posting this vid! My Fan was slowly dying and then about 1 week ago would just be loud from startup. Watched your video, (love the part with the paper and screws)ordered the fan and put it in last night.

For the first time in a long time istat and smcfancontrol showed my fans both working normally and obviously that horrid sound is gone. Thanks again!

By: David Funk

David Funk — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:14:07 +0000

Thanks for the video and fan source. My left fan started making a God-awful noise a week ago. At first I feared it was my hard disk, but once I determined the location I realized it was the fan, I did a search that took me to this site and the video. The noise was only bad when the rpm ramped up, so I put off dealing with it for several days until I finally ordered a new one from Powerbook Medic. This is a great resource, and the new one went in without a hitch. However, after finishing the job I read the comment above from No Film School and checked out the link. Looks like a reasonable alternative to a $50 replacement (I bet the factory in China got no more than a buck or two for this fan!). After putting the new on in, I took my old one apart and applied a minuscule amount of 3-in-1 oil to the shaft. I will save it and try it out if the new fan starts acting up. I bet it will work fine! I wish I had read the The No Film School comment before ordering a new fan, but I am back in business either way. One word of advice, though. Don’t substitute WD40 for a real lubricant the way No Film School did. WD40 is NOT a lubricant, but rather a water displacer.

By: martin

martin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:57:48 +0000

Thanks for the information. My right fan started to make a lot of noise when running programs that made the fan speed go over 3k rpm. The fan also ran slower than the left one at higher temps. I was able to do the replacement on my mbp core 2 duo 2.16 ghz with a fan from powerbookmedic. =D

By: How to fix a noisy MacBook Pro fan at No Film School

How to fix a noisy MacBook Pro fan at No Film School — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:43:47 +0000

[...] emitting a constant racket from its left fan (which sounds something like this). Most people will tell you you need a new fan for $50, but I decided to try to fix it instead, and so far (it’s been two [...]

By: Asher

Asher — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:03:03 +0000

Randy, where did you buy the fan alone. if it saves money I’m more than willing to perform further surgery on mine. my fans are not working correctly. the hardware test showed inconsistently that they are both experiencing issues. i was hoping i could replace just the fan with something newer, more efficient, and even more powerful. but at this point i would really like a cheaper alternative to $100 for 2 fans.

By: Randy Foster

Randy Foster — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:15:14 +0000

I just finished replacing my fan, and by fan I mean just the fan. I bought the assembly pictured in the video (my problem was the right fan), but found that the plug was different and incompatible. As I was packing up it occurred to me that if there is a mechanical noise, the only thing that could be making the noise was a moving part, and the only moving part in the assembly was the fan subassembly. So I swapped out the fan subassemblies and, to my joy, it worked. My MB Pro is as quiet as the day I bought it.

By: kitt

kitt — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:03:14 +0000

Although the video skipped the important parts (like the opening and removal of parts, as chris mentioned above), it was enough to give me confidence to replace my dying fan (the video and Eric’s comment about “any reasonably technical person can do the repair). So, instead of the $300 to fix, I spent only $48 for the fan and screw drivers.

For the next person: you need a small phillips head screwdriver, a T-6 sized Torx screwdriver, and, if you don’t completely disconnect the keyboard, a small piece of tape to hold the keyboard to the LCD while performing repairs (just make sure to secure/reseat the end of the keyboard cable when done). A can of compressed air and tweezers are also recommended.

By: Ahhhhhh

Ahhhhhh — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:12:58 +0000

SMCFancnotrol, 5500 for 10 seconds and now utter silence. THANK YOU!

By: chris

chris — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:41:28 +0000

also tried SMCFancontrol. 4500 for 10 seconds, 5500 for another ten, and then 6000 for ten. I forgot how great having a silent computer can be. Thanks Max

By: chris

chris — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:32:36 +0000

sorry, great video, but you made it without the demographic in mind. people come across this with the same problem, and need more help than cutting all the important parts. I understand you were filming with a hand camera, but that’s like trying to teach heart surgery by showing an unconscious patient, cut to the patient with open incision, cut to patient sewn up, cut to patient alive. just saying.

By: Freek

Freek — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Hi, I also tried the SMCFancontrol trick. But unfortunately it did not work in my case… :(
Anyway cool instruction video.

Freek

By: Dario

Dario — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:32:04 +0000

Hey, the SMCfancontrol trick really (really, really) works! My MB Pro C2 left fan just stopped to produce noise after 10-15 seconds of 6000rpm! It’s really, really cool!!!
I use Fan Control normally, but it can set max 3500rpm.
Max, you’ve saved me time and money.
Grateful.

By: Colin Holgate

Colin Holgate — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:23:25 +0000

Firstly, thanks so much for this page, it set me off in the right direction. But you’re going to laugh at how I solved the noise problem. Well, your wallet won’t laugh so much, but you will…

I’ve had the dreaded noise for a little while, only mine was from , it turns out, the right side fan. It sounded so dire that I thought my hard drive was dying, and so I’ve upgraded the 200GB drive to a 500GB, and retired the existing drive to an external enclosure. But that didn’t affect the noise at all. Hence tracking down this page.

Having changed the internal drive I was already familiar with all the screws to undo. When I got into the fan area I decided to be even more bold than you had been, and I ran my machine with the fan removed, but still connected. Doing that helped prove that the fan was vibrating within itself, and not just vibrating when in place. I went further still, and removed the silver plate that you had removed too, and ran the machine again. All of the noise had gone away, but there was still some vibration. The left side fan doesn’t vibrate at all.

I next tried putting some electrical tape between the fan plate and the metal holder thingy, but that didn’t improve things at all. I looked at the plastic fins, hoping to see an imbalance there, but they seemed ok. That really only left the shaft of the fan to blame. So I squirted it with a tiny amount of WD-40. Instant low vibration!

I put things back together again, and now the right side fan has no vibration when in place, same as the left side one. With the machine fully assembled again I have that eerie silence that you experienced after fitting the new fan, only without having to buy a fan!

Of course, in the full experience it did cost me the price of the 500GB drive, but then that is incredibly useful, so I’m not complaining.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:02:47 +0000

Thanks for the video… I desperately want to do mine myself, but it’s a work computer and still under AppleCare. You shouldn’t discourage people from taking their laptops apart… they should just tape their screws to the paper… it’s can be expensive if you make a mistake but very rewarding and worth any reasonable screw-up.
-jonathan

By: rosenz

rosenz — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:23:55 +0000

ginuz: If it was me, I’d return that fan and by another from another source, making sure it was exactly the same before installing it.

By: ginuz

ginuz — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:25:45 +0000

Hi,
I replaced the left fan because it was noisy. I ordered the fan from “we love macs”.
The fan was slightly different as the power connector was different and also the case has screw holes different. But the serial number and model were right!!! That’s strange!
I decided to go for it: I replace the fan case with the old one and cut the power cord to match the power dock on the motherboard.
When I powered the mac all seemed to be ok!
I worked fine for a week but now it’s a coulpe of days I have sudden speed of the left fan to the maximum velocity… they are short and fast… but they seem to be totally random.
What do you think I can do? (of course keeping it to official reseller, I will do at the first holiday)
thanks,
ginuz.

By: Hubert

Hubert — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:39:47 +0000

Where can you buy your new fan?

By: Max

Max — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:39:48 +0000

Try this

Download SMCfancontrol and go to prefs.

Then ramp up the speed to about 4500 rpm, then wait 5 seconds and put it back to about 1500 or where it started, the rattling stops!!!!!

By: glitterfish.com » Blog Archive » MacBook Pro Update

glitterfish.com » Blog Archive » MacBook Pro Update — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:01:26 +0000

[...] is a total rip. You can buy the fan yourself for $50 but installing it yourself looks like more trouble than its worth. Di-No computers in Pasadena, CA said they would do it for [...]

By: Todd M

Todd M — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:27:08 +0000

AWESOME VID. Thanks so much for making it. I took my 15 ” Macbook pro apart and replaced the fan and the entire process was very easy and only took me about 45min. Your video took all the mystery out of it and I cant thank you enough.

cheers

todd.

By: Jdproducer

Jdproducer — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:30:46 +0000

Great VID. I have taken mine apart 5 times put in a new drive 250GB and new superdrive and NOW yup..the left fan is doing the same freakin thing..so I appreciate the work you did and will no doubt be busy this weekend!!! wish me luck. fyi also bought mine at powermedic. Since i am in broadcasting i beat the crap outt thism achine.. jd

By: rosenz

rosenz — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:09:31 +0000

I bought my fan at powerbookmedic.com

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:12:07 +0000

Hey, nice video! I’m about to do the same exact operation; looks a little more complicated than I was expecting (mostly in how the fan itself is connected/seated), but I think I’m up to the challenge. I actually just took it to the genius bar, and the guy said that a reasonably technical person could probably do the repair; I decided to go for it. :D
I would also like to know where you got the fan.
Thanks!