Question MSI Stealth GS65 fans

Feb 4, 2023
5
0
10
Hi. I have an MSI Stealth GS65 gamer laptop. Some days ago, it started to make a strange noise, so I turned it off. The noise was continuous. I turned it on again, with the hope that the problem would resolve by itself (it happened once). The noise, which I suppose was one of the fans, started again immediately. After some more experiments, in which the noise changed a little (it wasn't continuous anymore) I took it to a service. They said the fans were damaged (all fans) and they had to be replaced (something that I thought suspicious was the difference in speed between the fans). Now I have the replacements, but I turned the computer back on,after several days, and there is no noise... Should I change them anyway? I'm not sure, but it seems to be working fine now. This computer gets very hot when I play a game, and quite hot when I'm working. But, for instance, write now, as I write this, its temperature is around 50 C.

I also bought some RAM and an additional SSD. I thought, if they're going to open it so that they change the fans, they might as well upgrade it (I'm not comfortable doing it myself; this computer is not easy to upgrade). So, I'm thinking about taking it back to the service anyway. But I wonder if I should have the fans changed too (the replacements are not original, I suspect; that is, they are compatible, but probably not identical to the ones that came with the computer).
 
They said the fans were damaged (all fans) and they had to be replaced (something that I thought suspicious was the difference in speed between the fans). Now I have the replacements, but I turned the computer back on,after several days, and there is no noise.
so, no fans have been replaced yet?

if so,
it's possible they were wrong with their diagnosis and any manipulation of fans or cleaning of the area has resolved the initial issue.

some lower quality fans can even get dislodged in their housing and cause noise by rubbing or grinding.
if it was this type of issue i wouldn't use the same model fans as replacement but find something of higher quality or you may run into the same problem again.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Your fans MAY be wearing out. Here are typical symptoms. After a few years' use, a fan's bearings wear to the point that the clearance between the fan shaft and its sleeve bearing gets wider. At some point the FIRST symptom is that the fan makes noise only when it starts up from cold, and the noise stops after a short time. What is happening is that the shaft shrinks MORE than the sleeve when it gets cold. So it "rattles" in the loose space until the parts get warmer. By then the shaft has expanded more than the sleeve, shrinking the clearance so it runs smoothly. The fan stays quiet until it is shut down long enough to cool right down. But as time goes on (many months, maybe longer) more wear increases the clearance and the period of initial noisy operation gets longer at each cold start. Eventually the noise never stops. Some time after that the bearing gets so bad the fan stalls and will not run. You must replace the fan BEFORE it fails.

IF this fits your situation - it may be early and only cause noise for short periods after cold start-ups - you might choose to wait until it gets worse before doing the actual replacement. But if the process I described is NOT what you experience, you have some other issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ernanton
Feb 4, 2023
5
0
10
No fans were replaced, yet. I do suspect that, perhaps, just by touching them or cleaning, they solved the issue. But I don't know.

On the other hand, fans may be wearing out. But when they started making the noise, I had been using the computer for some hours.

I think the sound the fan made was similar to the one described here:


Except, when I first heard it, the sound seemed continuous.

And I see that you, Paperdoc, already wrote there something similar to what you wrote here.
 
Feb 4, 2023
5
0
10
Well, I 've been using the laptop for work. Temperature is good. Fans are not making any weird noises. If it goes on like this, I think I'm going to leave them alone. Is it possible that an especially hot day caused the noise?
 
Is it possible that an especially hot day caused the noise?
it could be possible but the outdoor temperature doesn't usually affect computer systems unless they may be near an open window or out in the elements.

possible that it was just in a warmer area or somewhere where it was just recycling the same already heated air and the fans ran at RPMs higher than usual for some amount of time.
or still may be possible that there was a buildup of dust/debris resulting in the noise that was cleared when the system was inspected.
 
Feb 4, 2023
5
0
10
After a couple of weeks use, the fans seem to be working well. Although in the last couple of days, I hear a low buzzy noise quite different from the common "airy" sound. I had half decided to leave them alone, but now I'm starting to have doubts again.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Well, IF you HAVE the replacement fams with you but not installed, you are all prepared to do a swap yourself. CAN you do that, or would you need a service shop to do the swap? IF this is a case of fans slowly degrading from wear, the noises and so on will just get worse over time, and you can decide for yourself when to swap. And IF they suddenly fail completely, then it's immediate swap time for which you are prepared.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ernanton