# Laptop has a rattle & gets very hot



## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

Hi everyone,

I have an Acer Travelmate 8215 and recently I've noticed it has a rattle.

The rattle occurs if I tilt the laptop and sounds like there is something loose in the case. It sounds like it's coming from the bottom edge (i.e. at the same edge as the trackpad) and if I tilt it enough, the rattle seems to work it's way from one end right along to the other.

Could it be a loose screw or something? How do I solve it?

Also, the underneath of my laptop gets very hot when I'm using it - almost burning to touch. Could this be related to the rattle?

I'd be very grateful if someone could help me.

Thanks in advance.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

hi you need to find out what it is that is loose if you have the manual it may help guide you it is important to get this object out as it may cause serious harm ,the heat issue could be related but no way to really know at this stage, try checking all the air inlet and outlet vents for dust and debris and cleaning any found with canned air may help, as would a laptop cooling pad or similar,if your not comfortable attempting the removal of the object then take it to a repair shop


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## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

Thanks for your advice joeten. I finally got brave and attempted to remove the back case of the laptop to locate the mysterious loose item.

I've been unable to remove the case totally as there are a couple of screws under the moving edge of the screen that I can't see how to get to.

But I've used spray air to clean the fan (which wasn't very dirty) and blow it into the openings left by removing the dvd drive and hard drive.

The annoying thing was, the rattle stopped so we put it all back together and put all the screws back in. I used the laptop for a couple of hours and after I shut it down and went to put it back in it's bag, the rattle returned.

We repeated the same thing a couple of days later - the rattle was still there, we removed the hard drive, disk drive, battery, back case as much as we could - rattle was still there. Then it disappeared again as if the 'loose' item had become lodged or stuck under something. But no amount of tapping the laptop or shaking it would bring the rattle back so we put it all back together again. I used it for a few hours again and then after I shut down and went to put it away, the rattle returned.

I don't know what to try now - does anyone have any ideas what this might be?

We could open the front edge of the case a little way and see inside with a small torch but we're unable to see if anything is loose and as the rattle keeps stopping, we're unable to see anything moving as it seems to get stuck somewhere. I can't understand why the rattle doesn't come back even when I shake the laptop but then after using it and shutting it down, it comes back.

Could it be something to do with the heat?

After cleaning the fan, the laptop still gets very hot and the air coming out of the vent at the side is hot too.

I'm very puzzled


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi i suggest you go to acers support website and look for the manuals for your model and see if it can help you with any info on how to access the area where the rattle is coming from.As to the heat a laptop cooler could help with that, is the fan constantly running,do you use it on a flat surface,recommended rather than on your laptop I know that is what they are called but in truth they are not suited to it the heat from your body adds to the issue,nor is it good to sit it on a bed or cushioned sofa etc.


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Sounds like a screw has fallen out your cpu or graphics chipset heatsink. This will cause the heatsink to loose contact with chip and thus cause a reduction in thermal transfer to your heatsink...........result, overheating.

Remove the bottom covers and check your heatsinks.


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## win98forever (Jul 3, 2009)

I agree it may be a loose screw from the heatsink. I have notice sounds from my computer that might be called rattles and they were from the HD and the DVD drive. The first is the drive going bad and the second was a cracked disc.


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## ScottG (Jan 28, 2009)

You ever figure this out?
I ended up having a similar problem and opened mine up. It was a pain to get to the rattle but after taking most everything apart I found it.
Turns out it was a heat spreader though I'm not 100% sure yet where it comes from. Pretty sure it was on the South Bridge.

Only reason I know is because I downloaded the service manual for my Acer (which took a while to find too).

Is that what you found out?


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## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

ScottG said:


> You ever figure this out?
> I ended up having a similar problem and opened mine up. It was a pain to get to the rattle but after taking most everything apart I found it.
> Turns out it was a heat spreader though I'm not 100% sure yet where it comes from. Pretty sure it was on the South Bridge.
> 
> ...


Hi Scott,

No, I still haven't solved the problem. We tried to take the laptop apart a couple of times but couldn't figure out how to do it properly.

The rattle is still there and I still don't know how to fix it!

Where did you find the manual to download?

Do you also have a travelmate 8215?


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## night_shift (Sep 8, 2009)

Heres a link to the 8210/8200 its basically the same series. 

http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/travelmate 8210 8200.pdf


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## ScottG (Jan 28, 2009)

Well there you go! There's the service manual and it should go through how to take things apart.
The only issue is that it's not easy to take apart. There's all the screws, which isn't so bad but all the cables which connect different parts of the motherboard are annoying to deal with.

If it was the same problem I was having it was the heat spreader off of the south bridge. When you look through the service manual you'll see where the south bridge is.
If you find that that is the problem then post here.

Good luck!


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## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

Thanks for that night_shift, I'll have a look and see if it helps me!

Is your laptop fixed now Scott?


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## ScottG (Jan 28, 2009)

Because it was such a pain to take apart and I'd have to buy the coolant cement, I just brought it in for someone else to take a look at.
I figured the amount of time it would take me to take it apart was worth bringing it in.
Currently in the shop and I'll post if that was the problem.
Hopefully it was or else I'll be looking for a new computer.


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## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

I'll look forward to hearing whether that was the problem then Scott. I hope it doesn't cost too much to fix.


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## ScottG (Jan 28, 2009)

So I finally got my laptop looked at.

The hardware stuff really wasn't that bad and just ended up having it cleaned out and the heatsink reapplied.
The tech ended up tossing that heat spreader, saying it was "redundant." While I wasn't so happy about that it ended up not really being too much of an issue (and hopefully won't be in the future). But either way I'd recommend opening up your laptop and looking around near the south bridge area for that heat spreader. Metal pieces floating about in your case is bad news.

My laptop is slightly cooler now and some of that might be due to the reapplication of heatsink but I'm also using a notebook cooler now. These Acers just run hot.

To fix my slow down I just put in a WinXP cd and did a repair. It ended up fixing whatever files were corrupted and things run fairly smoothly now.

Good luck with your problem!


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## katiesam (May 7, 2008)

Thanks for the update Scott :smile:

I'll have to find a screwdriver and get that manual looked at!


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