Comments on: Replacing a MacBook Pro Fan

By: sjan

sjan — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:33:26 +0000

hi nice video!! i think the fan of my mac is about to die.. it makes a noise like there is a paper grinding into the fan it is not a loud noise it is just annoing how can i tell if this is the beginning of the end or if it will just stay like this?

thanks

By: rosenz

rosenz — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:30:33 +0000

sjan: I’d recommend taking it into the Apple Store ASAP. They can tell you.

By: D

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:41:35 +0000

Hi - can you refer a good parts source? I have a couple fans to replace as well, and am having a tough time finding a parts supplier (and similarly, identifying an exact part number for fans on a Core Duo MBP 1.83).
Thx,
D

By: voortex

voortex — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:44:56 +0000

Nice video. Thank you for taking the time to show that. Apple really should just replace these even outside of warranty and applecare, but they know we are hooked and will buy the next ones anyway. I found smcFan control earlier today and have used it and amazingly by speeding up the fans it seems to have made the loud rattling sound stop - at least for now. Probably just a matter of time before the fan goes for good, but I’m game to put in a new one having seen the video. I opened my old powerbooks to do hinges and hard drives. They never went back together perfectly at the front seams, but were acceptable; much better than having to live without the thing for a week.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:55:58 +0000

Not a PowerBook, that is driving me crazy.

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!

By: rosenz

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

I bought my fan at powerbookmedic.com

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: 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: 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: 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: Hubert

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

Where can you buy your new fan?

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: 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: 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: 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.