Dead Laptop fan.. ARGH (Update, Need other help)

[protokatie]

I turned on my laptop tonight, and I heard a sound coming from the fan that sounded like what Dexter's avatar would sound like if it were dying a slow and horrible frog death. Of course, the fan was pushing almost no air as well. I have been searching in vain for a site that sells laptop fans that 1. Is in the US and 2. Doesn't look like a Geocities site.
Does anyone have a link for a good site to get laptop parts that is trustworthy?

Thanx in advance, I really need to get this part...

[Vanguard]

Who's the laptop manufacturer?  I had a Asus motherboard that the chipset fan died on.  I went to the Asus website and found them for sale there.

[protokatie]

Its a Compaq CQ50, I went to Compaq's site and they didn't seem to offer parts for sale. :<

[Vanguard]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290325078962

[protokatie]

I was trying to avoid ebay, but it looks like that is my only real option...

BTW, why do you only have 27 posts? Or am I just going crazy? (Or is it the PnR type rules)

[protokatie]

Well, it turns out the fan wasn't fully dead. (It was turning slowly and making horrible grinding sounds). It appears that Vista SP2 upgrade (from sp1) required me to reflash my BIOS. I did as the nice lady in HP chat told me to do, and it seemed to make the fan work better (spins a bit faster and no grinding noise).

I have a few weeks before warranty runs out, and I am still perplexed at speedfan saying the temp is at 65C at idle and 85C at full load. But it has always been this way with speedfan, so I am hoping it is just speedfan misreading the values. Anyone have any insight on this? Is there another heat monitor out there that is more accurate?

[SirPeale]

Katie, I'm surprised at you!  You of all people should know that a grinding fan is a dirty fan.  try blowing it out.  If that doesn't work, you may be able to remove it and lube the bearings.  I do it all the time with 4" fans, there's a stopper you can remove to add a drop of 3-in-1 oil.  And oil doesn't conduct electricity, so you might be able to get creative with a syringe.

[protokatie]

The thing is, I HAD cleaned it, and for some "magic" reason the BIOS upgrade got rid of the grinding (for one night). Now it is grinding again, so I may try a more thorough job of cleaning it tomorrow. The thing is, the laptop still has another 2 weeks on warranty, so taking it apart right now is a no go. (I didn't realize it was still under warranty until last night). Regardless, there has always been a grinding noise since day one, but it wasn't bad until lately.

Guess if a more thorough cleaning doesn't do the job, I will send it in while still under warranty (after removing certain "personal" files from the HD, of course )