There is probably nothing else that could cause the vibration than the fan. Most likely you dislodged a lot of junk, but not all of it, and it got a little off balance.

If it was me, I'd open it up and blow it out in a way that I could see what's going on. Usually there's some kind of take-apart video or instructions out there - youtube or otherwise.

Google for "pavilion" followed by "clean fan" or "disassemble" or "take apart" and you get lots of hits.

I've done it several diff. times on my laptops - not really all that hard. I even had to re-lube the fan on one Thinkpad.

As far as the fan itself, there is probably a specific fan and assoc. part number for that laptop - and most likely it's not something generic - although I could be wrong. If you look on HP's site, isn't there a service manual, where you can look up the part number ? (and also exploded diagrams).

Without a part number, I don't think I'd buy something just called "universal replacement fan", but would get something more specific for that model laptop.
Also my guess is that there's only one fan - usually that's the way it is.

This post was edited by kbarb on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 10:53

Get yourself a good chill pad for under your laptop, we would never be without one on either of our laptops.

Get yourself a good chill pad for under your laptop

This is a smart and simple solution. I have a Lenovo laptop with fan issues and the Youtube video left me in no doubt of the struggle I might have trying to not only replace it but buy the special fan with housing needed.

Strangely after removing Windows and installing Linux the thing works well. Strange things these confusers.

Actually, I wouldn't recommend a "chill pad" as a solution.
It might keep your lap, whatever, cooler, but it won't cool the cpu - which is the real issue.

I just replaced one of the fans in my all-in-one Sony, and now it doesn't sound like an airplane about to take off. It would have taken a couple hundred dollars to have this done in a shop, so I got hold of the manual, figured out the sequence of steps needed to get at the fan, and kept cups around to keep track of the 24 screws of different sizes that I needed to remove. Once I got inside I was able to determine which of the three fans was making noise, confirm the part number, put the computer back together, and order a fan online. Once it came, I took it apart again, and repaired the computer. Maybe, if you have just one fan, you can get the part number from HP, and only take it apart once. If this sounds like more than you want to do, maybe paying $75 isn't so bad. If the fan is going out, a chill pad may help, but you will still have a fan that is deteriorating. And you really need to open the computer up just to blow everything out.

Fans operate at up to about 4000 rpm. If you leave your computer on 24/7, like I do, that works out to about 6 million revolutions per day, or about 2 billion revolutions a year. That's a lot of potential for wear. It is sometimes possible to get inside, pry off the seal that covers the fan axis and add a drop of oil to the fan to quiet it, but, with parts so cheap, you might as well put in a new one while you're inside.

If a PC doesn't have 24x 7 jobs to handle (I know some do), there's really no need to have it on all the time. Set it to put itself to sleep after a fixed period of inaction and you won't need to think about it again. If it does need to stay on (and I have one like that), just figure it may not last as long. On the one hand, the lack of on/off cycles may lengthen its life somewhat, but the lack of cool-down periods will shorten it.

I'm not a fan of laptop cooling devices. Most laptops are nomads, living from place to place to place. No one would lug an extra piece of equipment around just to use it, most especially not one that needs to be plugged in. Using one of those, you really lose the utility of what's otherwise an easily portable battery operated device.

With a vibrating or off-kilter fan, I'd be more concerned with the effect of the constant jiggling on the hard drive than with the heat, though neither is an ideal condition.

Thanks for the input. I am taking it apart tomorrow to see if I can't clean it better and, if not, find the exact part I need.

Good luck...I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

I ended up taking it up to Data Doctors, I just got it back yesterday. The fan was broken and they replaced it. They also got rid of all the crap on the computer that was slowing it down and I have no idea what to delete, It wasn't the cheapest route, but the safer one and now it is warrantied.

Thanks!

I have learned after paying for repairs and getting a bad job that HP will sell you an extended warranty after your warranty expires. They will fix it for a set price, mine was $99 and it was warrantied for another year. This was a desktop that cost close to $900. so it was worth it to me. They fixed it by walking me through some stuff, if that had not fixed it they would have had me send it in. They would have fixed or replaced it.