The Basics
Often, it is easy to forget the troubleshooting basics during times of frustration. Before you can repair your device significantly, please check the following.
- Ensure that the vents to your device are not blocked. If your device's air vents are blocked, airflow will be restricted. Often, dust and debris can accumulate in the vents, which results in your system's fan spinning faster to cool the device's internal components.
- Try using your device on a level and smooth surface. Irregular types of uneven surfaces, like carpet or fabric, can block your device's vents and cause airflow to become restricted. Ideally, you would want to use your laptop on a flat surface, like a desk or a table. This does not mean you should never use your device in your bed, or have it on your lap, but if you notice that your fan is running loudly try using it on an even surface.
If the above steps did not resolve your issue, try the more in-depth troubleshooting steps below.
Causes
While the vents for your Chromebook might be clean, dust and debris can accumulate inside your device, obstructing the cooling fan and causing it to work harder, resulting in increased noise. This is why it is always a good idea to clean the internals with compressed air and a soft brush occasionally.
- Power off your Chromebook
- Open your device. (This will be different depending on your specific device)
- Using compressed air and a soft brush, gently clean the fan vents and the surrounding areas.
- Ensure that the cooling fan and heatsink are free from any obstructions.
- Once everything is clean, reassemble your device and check if the fan noise has reduced.
Outdated software can cause your cooling fan to run unnecessarily fast. You can ensure that ChromeOS is up to date by following these steps.
- Click on the Time in the bottom-right corner of your screen and select the gear icon to access Settings.
- Scroll down and click the option About Chrome OS.
- Click on Check for Updates and install any available updates.
If no ChromeOS update is available for your device, or the issue has not been resolved after you have finished updating, continue to the next section.
If you are running multiple applications or have numerous browser tabs open simultaneously, then this can put a strain on system resources and cause the fan to spin faster due to heat generated by the system. Typically, when this is the case, you might notice that your Chromebook is slower than usual. If this is the case, consider looking at the Chromebook Running Slowly Troubleshooting Page.
You can also see which applications are using a significant amount of power by using ChromeOS's Task Manager by tapping the Search button and Esc on your Chromebook's keyboard.
If you notice that your fan is constantly running loudly, the issue might be caused by an underlying hardware issue. Often resetting the hardware resolve this issue.
- Power off your Chromebook.
- Disconnect the charger.
- Locate the small pinhole on the bottom or side of your device.
- Insert a paperclip or similar object into the pinhole and press the reset button for 10 seconds.
- Release the button and power on your Chromebook to see if the fan noise has decreased.
If your device does not have this pinhole, then follow these steps.
- Power off your Chromebook completely.
- Disconnect the charger from your Chromebook.
- Press and hold the Refresh key (usually located above the 4 key) and the Power button simultaneously.
- Continue holding both buttons for about 10 seconds.
- Release the buttons.
- Power on your Chromebook and check if the fan noise has improved.
If the issue continues, it may be an issue with the Chromebook's Operating System. If so, you may need to restore ChromeOS using a Recovery USB. Thankfully the process is very simple, and the instructions can be found here. This will restore your device to the factory default, so ensure that all the files you want to save are either backed up to Google Drive or to an external storage device.
- 5 minutesVery easy
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