Computer sounds like my car...

[Canuck24]

HELP!  My computer/laptop sounds like a car trying to turn over.  It'll run fine for the first maybe hour, and then starts this noise and SLOWS right down..  Its almost 4 years old, Toshiba Satellite.

I'm thinking its my fan... any ideas/suggestions??  I've already backed everything up for fear of it dying!

[Broni]

Welcome aboard

I'd open computer case, and check where is that noise coming from. Maybe some fan is going south.

[RankenTech]

this is a laptop, correct? taking it apart just to check a fan would be pretty tedious...might be your hard drive. find out the maufacturer of your hard drive...easiest way to try to do it is go to device manager. should be under disk drives. when you find out, go to that manufacturer's website and download the testing utility. run it and let us know the results.

[Canuck24]

It is a laptop.  I previously took it apart to try and figure out where the sound was coming from, but couldn't quite figure it out... its at the back near the fan, nowhere near the hard drive.  In fact I KNOW its not the hard drive, cuz I just replaced it about 4 months ago...

I cleaned all the dust off the fan (there was a lot) but it didn't really do anything...

[Canuck24]

I guess my question is, if in fact it is my fan that is pretty much dead, could that cause my computer to run slower than molases in January???

[Chrisxs5]

Yes a dead fan can eventually kill your computer. I dont mess with my laptops, just me desktops. At this point I would take my in and have it fixed. It's usually cheaper than the cost of an entire new one, and the work should be warrantied. Just a suggestion.

[Broni]

My computer/laptop

I guess, sometimes, I read too fast. Sorry for a confusion

[Canuck24]

I was going to try and replace the fan myself or just sell it for parts at this point.  I have another laptop that I've been using, and I really can't afford to have it fixed right now... I've seen the exact fan on eBay for like $25, and it doesn't seem to hard to unplug the fan and put a new one in....

Any suggestions?  Is it worth it to fix it, or should I just sell it for parts at this point?

[ultimatum]

Ye for a four year old laptop I suggest you sell it for parts, I don't know if anyone would buy it though. You just can't upgrade it anywhere further like desktop computers and since you have another laptop don't bother keeping this one.

[Chrisxs5]

Suggestion 1: Target practice.

Suggestion 2: Load Linux on it and have fun until it dies.

Either way if this not your primary, no real need to mess with it further.