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Replacing fan.. should I replace heatsink too?

P

poopieboy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2009
7
0
My macbook fan has been super noisy for about a month and a half now. I checked with smcfancontrol and the speed was completely normal. This last week its been starting up with a fan speed of 0rpm and gradually builds up to 2100 but it will no longer go past this. I took it to an apple store and they confirmed the fan must be replaced, but I don't have the money to pay them for it.

I am going to be replacing it myself and have done my research and know I am capable of doing it. I have not yet decided whether I will buy the fan off ebay or off powerbookmedic.com, but I notice I can buy the fan assembly (fan and housing) or fan assembly with heatsink.

What should I buy? Should I just replace the fan or should I go ahead and replace the heatsink while I'm at it?
 
Well would it be a bad idea to replace the heatsink too? The fan w/ heatsink is pretty cheap on ebay.

Which leads me to ask, are the macbook fans on ebay a good idea or should i just go with the powerbookmedic.com ones?
 
As long as the specs of the fans are similar I don't see a problem with where you get the fan or what brand it is.
If the heat sink comes with the fan I'd say sure go ahead and replace it but I wouldn't go out of your way looking for one. It won't really make a difference.
 
It isn't imperative to replace the heatsink when you replace the fan, just remember to be careful, reattach the felt tape that attached the 2 pieces, and use new thermal paste on your processors after thoroughly cleaning off the old paste. Good luck! This repair isn't very difficult, just keep track of your screws.
 
Thanks a lot Silvia, I ordered the fan this morning off ebay for 5 bucks. I am not going to replace the heatsink. I have a system for tracking which screw goes where already.

I have printed out the instructions on ifixit.com on how to replace the fan, and will have double sided tape on the little circles indicating which screw goes where, so when I take off a screw I will just tape it to the picture of the macbook corresponding to where that screw is. I shouldn't have an issue there.

Once I have this thing fully open, screws aside, is there any other place where you think I could mess up and possibly damage my computer?
 
My old macbook fan was not working so I replaced it today. However the new installed one doesn't work either :(. I wonder if it isn't working because I broke the black felt tape (where ifixit clearly states that I shouldn't). Does anyone know what the felt tape does? Thanks.
 
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