fan vibration on 10 months old Cosmos VI running Ubuntu

Hi, maybe someone else has a similar case.

I purchased a Cosmos VI 17'' September last year. Here are the specs. I installed Ubuntu, currently Ubuntu 16.04.

For almost one year I really enjoyed the laptop, best one I had ever. I forgot what is waiting for a program to compile or delays in processing. Everything on the fly.

However, last Sunday, something new happened. I began to hear a vibration on the laptop in the left side of the keyboard. Initially I thought it was a car on the street, but I turned off the laptop and the noise was gone. :-( I live in a very wet city in South Ireland and now the weather is quite hot, but it has been hot already for 2 months. I have monitored temperature last 2 days and it does not go further from 50 degrees, which I think is ok, but this left side of the keyboard is a bit warm. I do not think it was before. The right side of the laptop is perfectly cold.

My guess is that there is some fan on the left side which is either dirty and maybe needs just a maintenance cleaning after 10 months of active usage, or the fan is malfunctioning, and I am afraid it can damage other components if I do not take some action. So I have 3 problems now: the vibration, the noise, and the threat to damage other components.

I would like to know if you have any similar experiences. Questions that come to my mind:
* how did you solve it?
* I am waiting delivery of a hard drive to do a full backup and then I will update to Ubuntu 17 just to see if there is any progress as well. I remember that I updated Ubuntu about 3 weeks ago.
* Do you have any schema of the laptop to confirm that there is a fan in Cosmos VI on the left side?
* what are the options now: should I send it back to PCS (still under the 1 year guarantee) or to the local retailer for a maintenance cleaning?
* If I send back to PCS, should I use the original box? How long would they delay in returning it to me?
* do you have any Ubuntu tool that I can use to learn more about the issue?

I appreciate you share your experiences.

Regards,

Adolfo

I have got this picture below from this link. It is supposed to be a Cosmos VI and the location of the left fan would match the source of vibration and heat that I am noticing.

N850HZ i5-7300hq or i7-7700hq +igpu / N850HN i5-7300hq or i7-7700hq+940mx / N850HL i5-7300hq or i7-7700hq+mx150 / N850HC i5-7300hq or i7-7700hq+gtx950m
(aka Sager NP5850, Sager NP5852, PCSpecialist Cosmos VI)
[Dimensions:385 x 268 x 28,5 mm (W x D x H) / Battery:48.84/62Wh / Weight: 2,40 kg with battey]

After 10 months it's quite likely that both fans need a good clean. The vibration you're noticing could well be because dust and muck build up has unbalanced the fan - if that's the case you do need to deal with it fairly soon to avoid damaging the fan bearings.

You can clean it yourself, PCS have an open case policy, which means as long as you do no damage your warranty is not voided by opening the case, especially for a clean.

The best way to clean it is to get a soft brush (I use a largish artists paint brush) and a can of low pressure compressed air (these are made for cleaning computers) which you can get from any decent computer store or online (see https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...lias=aps&field-keywords=computer+cleaning+air).

Use the air and brush to tease away all the dust and muck off the fan blades. Pay particular attention to the finned heat exchangers right next to the fans (where the copper heat pipes go) because this is where all the cooling is done. There needs to be a clear airflow through these heat exchangers but they commonly get blocked up with dust and fluff which greatly reduces the airflow and the cooling. The slightly warm feeling you get on that side of the laptop could be because the finned heat exchanger is clogged up and airflow and cooling there is reduced. That fan cools the GPU (from the image you posted) so you should notice more heat when doing graphics intensive work.

You could send it back to PCS for a clean, but since it's not faulty they might well charge you for cleaning and the cost of sending it there and back. Be wary of taking it to a third party, it's possible that this might invalidate your warranty - talk to PCS before you do this. Cleaning it yourself isn't difficult.

Edit: It would be wise, when you buy the compressed air, to get an anti-static wrist strap (known as ESD straps) like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ref=nb_...field-keywords=esd+strap&rh=i:aps,k:esd+strap. An ESD strap will prevent any static build-up in your body from damaging the sensitive components in the laptop. These straps are quite cheap and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks ubuysa,

sounds very possible that needs a cleaning. I think will be my first goal. Still reading about it.

I am not yet 100% sure that this is my Cosmos VI 17'' model because mine has startup button on the top right side and this has in the top middle, but here is a video on the cleaning process:

[video=youtube;xcaQS3frCcE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcaQS3frCcE[/video]

pellyadolfo said:

Thanks ubuysa,

sounds very possible that needs a cleaning. I think will be my first goal. Still reading about it.

I am not yet 100% sure that this is my Cosmos VI 17'' model because mine has startup button on the top right side and this has in the top middle, but here is a video on the cleaning process:

[video=youtube;xcaQS3frCcE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcaQS3frCcE[/video]

Click to expand...

Give PCS a call and ask them about the fans on your Cosmos. If you're very polite they might even send you a copy of the servicing manual or at least detailed information on getting the back off and cleaning it. They're pretty helpful at PCS...