Is it fine to ignore fan problem (error 90B) for light to medium use?

TheMystic said:

My HP laptop is now 8.5 years old. Recently, the fan has started making a noise and I get Error 90B almost every time I boot. The noise isn't too loud, but it is not normal either.

This is now my secondary laptop, so my use is quite light, except when I am exploring Windows installation, etc.

The temperatures as recorded by Speccy, SpeedFan, CoreTemp are all within normal limits (under 60°C) most of the time.

Can I continue using the laptop without replacing the fan (which spare is not easily available for this model) and without damaging the other components?

The laptop is running perfectly fine otherwise.

Thanks.

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If you are planning to continue using it, I'd just replace it.
It'll be the CPU fan. They are very cheap to buy.
I've replaced many over the years. In fact, the last one I did was a HP.

Winuser said:

My dad use to make fried potatoes for Sunday breakfast. He fried them in hog's lard. He would add onion, bacon and just before they were done, he added a couple of eggs.

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That sounds delicious. My step-mother would make some, but not as that yummy. Though I can cook, I never seemed to be able to manage the art of making fried potatoes. Mine were always undercooked.

jvickers said:

That sounds delicious. My step-mother would make some, but not as that yummy. Though I can cook, I never seemed to be able to manage the art of making fried potatoes. Mine were always undercooked.

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Use a small amount of water in the frying pan and use a lid. It will help the potatoes cook.

Its been a month since I made this post. During this period, I have been using my laptop almost daily, and for many hours each day.

I don't game on the laptop, nor do typical processor intensive tasks such as video editing.

But during this period, I have tried installing/ re-installing Windows many times (both internal and external disks), run Virtual Machines and used my laptop for usual office work and browsing internet.

I see the CPU spike up under Task Manager when running VMs as well as a simple activity like Browser, but the temperatures reported by Speccy has mostly been under control (below 60°C) with occasional momentary spikes.

The fan is still running, but makes some noise (but not a very loud one). I can feel hot air coming out of the vents.

I have never had any random shutdowns or applications crashing.

Based on this, can we conclude:

1. The fan is doing its job, although it is best to fix it or replace it.
2. It is okay to use the laptop even without the fan as long as temperatures (of CPU, GPU, Internal Disks, etc.) are under control.
3. The laptop has a built-in mechanism to shut itself down in case temperatures go out of control. Even if the fan isn't doing its job, the system can prevent permanent damage to hardware by shutting itself down.

I know the proper way to fix a noisy fan is to replace it, but I have had luck with a little southern engineering. You can take a sharp blade and gently lift up the paper sticker label on the fan. Try not to damage it. Drop a drop of all-in-one oil into the center of the fan bearing. Then replace the paper sticker. If it won't re-stick to hold the oil in, take a piece of duck tape and cut it in a circle. I've had them work for years by doing this. Not the best way for sure, but like I said...southern engineering.

This post reminds me of how my ex called me and said (my) car had broken down and it turns out engine had seized. It turned out oil light was flashing but she ignored it. I had to replace engine at a huge cost!

In the end, laptop is old and probably only got a limited life left. One thing is for sure - fan issues will shorten its remaining life. In the end, it is debatable if it is worth investing (any significant) money in trying to fix issues or just carry on until it finally kicks the bucket.

glasskuter said:

I know the proper way to fix a noisy fan is to replace it, but I have had luck with a little southern engineering. You can take a sharp blade and gently lift up the paper sticker label on the fan. Try not to damage it. Drop a drop of all-in-one oil into the center of the fan bearing. Then replace the paper sticker. If it won't re-stick to hold the oil in, take a piece of duck tape and cut it in a circle. I've had them work for years by doing this. Not the best way for sure, but like I said...southern engineering.

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I'm avoiding (or postponing) opening my laptop because everytime I open it, my keyboard gets damaged a bit. As of now, EVERYTHING (except the fan noise and that error 90B) is working well. The laptop is running fast and cool.

I have a couple of other things to sort out (broken hinge on one side and a busted speaker) and I want to do all of them together when I open it. Hence the delay.

But I am just thinking that since the fan is still running and temperatures are under control, I am not causing any damage to the hardware. This is unlike what I read in several places on the internet where people cautioned that the motherboard will be fried in minutes without the fan. I don't think it is that bad.

cereberus said:

This post reminds me of how my ex called me and said (my) car had broken down and it turns out engine had seized. It turned out oil light was flashing but she ignored it. I had to replace engine at a huge cost!

In the end, laptop is old and probably only got a limited life left. One thing is for sure - fan issues will shorten its remaining life. In the end, it is debatable if it is worth investing (any significant) money in trying to fix issues or just carry on until it finally kicks the bucket.

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Apart from the warning at boot, there is absolutely nothing during use that suggests a problem. My laptop runs fast AND cool. I'm taking this risk on the assumption that since the laptop is running cool, the fan error should NOT be of much concern.

@cereberus You are so right. Southern engineering is NOT the proper solution, but I'd like to meet one man who has not done a little of it in his life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. @TheMystic Even though the laptop is 8 years old you could probably still find a used fan on flea bay but it might end up being no better than what you have. OR as Cereberus said, you can just let the old girl die naturally and hope her death is peaceful.

glasskuter said:

@cereberus You are so right. Southern engineering is NOT the proper solution, but I'd like to meet one man who has not done a little of it in his life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. @TheMystic Even though the laptop is 8 years old you could probably still find a used fan on flea bay but it might end up being no better than what you have. OR as Cereberus said, you can just let the old girl die naturally and hope her death is peaceful.

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Given that the laptop has seen much worse days (it used to run @ 100°C for several months) that even led to the copper pipes turning black, and as we speak it is running really well despite all that it has gone through, I think this is a very special laptop for me, even if it is from the stone age (as @hdmi called it).

No question of letting it die. I will do whatever is reasonable and keep it running like this for atleast the next 5 years, maybe more. :)

Reading through this thread, a couple of points about the fan issue:

1. Continuing running it under normal temps will not shorten it's life. The worse that can probably happen is the fan will fail and the processor thermal throttles. Should be OK if you keep an eye out on it.
2. Opening it up may shorten its life or lead to its demise from your experience doing this.

So my advice is it's a no brainer - continue to run it until the fan fails, then replace the fan if you so desire or replace the laptop, Not worth the time fretting about it.

One can look at this another way. It may be more than just noise. A mobo also throws out fan errors when a fan is spinning but NOT at the RPM the mobo expects which in effect is saying it is not cooling efficiently. So to say "my fan is working fine. It's just noisy." is a misnomer. It can be spinning and still not 'doing its work' like it is supposed to so the mobo is warning you of that by throwing out the error. You say that it is running under 60 deg most of the time which says it gets hotter at times under relatively normal load. That probably would be fine with newer components, but the older the components, the easier they break down under heat and looking at that photo, that old girl has taken on some serious heat. Just my opinion and others might not agree with it.

glasskuter said:

One can look at this another way. It may be more than just noise. A mobo also throws out fan errors when a fan is spinning but NOT at the RPM the mobo expects which in effect is saying it is not cooling efficiently. So to say "my fan is working fine. It's just noisy." is a misnomer. It can be spinning and still not 'doing its work' like it is supposed to so the mobo is warning you of that by throwing out the error. You say that it is running under 60 deg most of the time which says it gets hotter at times under relatively normal load. That probably would be fine with newer components, but the older the components, the easier they break down under heat and looking at that photo, that old girl has taken on some serious heat. Just my opinion and others might not agree with it.

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I see the temperature (of CPU) spiking up when I am running a VM (I installed macOS Monterey) and it is surprisingly running fine on my 'stone age' laptop.

I am not sure if running VMs is considered 'normal load'.

The fan is supposed to spin much faster during boot, and my fan is probably not doing that and so the error 90B. But I have seen that SpeedFan reports higher fan speeds when there is a higher load on the CPU, so the fan is still doing what it is supposed to do, atleast for normal use. The fact that the temperatures reported by multiple apps are all within the normal range even when I use the laptop for extended hours during the day, suggests that I am not doing any harm to the hardware by using the laptop despite the error at boot.

The fan's sole purpose is to keep the temperatures within a range. As long as the temperatures are under control, I guess it is okay to keep using the laptop even if the fan is not in its best of health.

glasskuter said:

but like I said...southern engineering.

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