First, let me say that my Chinese is very limited, which makes my quest for a repair shop quite hard. I’ve got an MSI gaming laptop that needs repair. The cause of the problem is unsure.
I’ve been to MSI repair service center. The first time, they said 1 of the fans needs to be changed but they can’t get the part because it’s too old. So I bought the 3 spare fans myself (the laptop has 3 fans total) and asked MSI to change all 3, just in case.
The problem is still there, though, so I went back. This time they said 2 fans needed to be changed but they don’t seem to understand when I tell them that the fans have already been changed, all 3 of them, so the problem comes from somewhere else. Whomever I speak to (I’ve seen like 5 different people now, all of them with decent enough English) keeps repeating they can’t fix it because the laptop is too old so they can’t get the part. I have a feeling they only pretend to understand what I’m explaining.
I’ve been to Guanhua and had one shop check the laptop but they said “can’t fix it” but I’m not sure they actually checked the laptop. Another one refused to service the laptop, they seemed to be afraid to open it.
I called an “appointment-only” gaming repair shop in Tamshui, the guy didn’t speak any English, didn’t have Line (which I can use with Google Translate), and told me to call again with a Taiwanese friend (I understood that, at least). I haven’t been in Taiwan for long enough to know anyone who can do that for me except my employer, and I’d rather not. I can’t show up to their shop either because it’s always closed, appointment only.
I’m absolutely desperate here It’s an awesome powerful gaming laptop that cost me an arm and two legs. I just need someone to find out what the issue is at the very least, and repair it if possible. I’ll source the parts myself on Internet if needed. This country is the heart of tech stuff. They must be someone out there able to help me!
Based on experience I’m betting that the first time they only replaced the 1 fan that they said was bad and ignored the other 2, hence the second shops difficulty with you saying that all 3 were recently replaced!
Actually, the first time they didn’t change anything, they only said 1 fan needed to be replaced but they didn’t have the part.
That’s when I went to Guanhua and the shop said they couldn’t fix it (didn’t have the part, or didn’t want to look for it).
I bought the 3 fans on Internet. The second time I went there, the technician had a (brief) look at it and said he couldn’t find any problem. They asked me if I wanted to change all 3 fans, since I had bought all 3. They allegedly changed all 3 with the new ones I had bought and gave me back the 3 old ones. There’s a possibility they didn’t actually change them but I doubt so because I was waiting in the shop during the repair and it took a decent amount of time.
The problem (=weird loud fan noise which is not due to dust, and likely due to the laptop dropping on the floor from a 1-meter height while being in its bag) remains. My uneducated noob guess is that something else than the fan is misplaced or damaged next to the fan itself, which explains the noise. Doing anything remotely demanding on the laptop triggers the turbo fan mode which triggers the noise and it sounds like the fan is gonna break if I push it any further.
The third time I went to MSI, they said 2 fans need to be changed (though all 3 had been changed a week before). When I explained that all 3 fans were new, I was answered “laptop too old, can’t get the parts”… I tried several times and with the help of Google Translate, and the people I interacted with had decent English, so I’m guessing it’s not a communication issue.
Model is GT83VR with SLI, a real mechanical keyboard and an 18" screen. As far as I know, good luck finding anything similar nowadays.
The MSI software should give you a reading on the CPU and GPU temps, do they climb before the fans kick in? What’s are the temps when under and not under load? Can you set the fan speed manually to a lower speed without adversely impacting temps or performance?
I’ll test it and let you know but I think it will inevitably affect the performance, especially when doing demanding activities such as gaming with my second monitor. That’s a good workaround, but I’d rather fix it, not work around it.
I need a repair shop that won’t be afraid to open it and can tell me what’s going on, since it seems replacing the fans did not help.
Sure, first step is diagnosis. If the temps are too high and that is what is commanding the fans on full speed then the temp/temp sensor issue needs to be addressed, if the temps are normal but the fans are running high then it’s a different issue. Surprised no shop wanted to touch it though, perhaps there’s a known issue that’s extremely difficult/expensive to fix? Maybe do some googling although there were likely not a lot of those sold.
I Googled all I could. The issue is likely due to the drop though (dropped from my suitcase, about 1 meter high, while in its bag, travelling to Taiwan).
I’m guessing the shop who refused to open it just didn’t want to bother.
The shop that did open it it said they couldn’t fix it because couldn’t source the part. If I managed to find the parts myself on Chinese Alibaba while not speaking Chinese, they could have found it too.
As for MSI, they did accept to open it, of course, but I guess they’re not allowed to use second hand parts, which explains why they couldn’t source the fans.
Being that the laptop is older and it was dropped I would think a replacement of thermal paste on the cpu and gpu will be one possible solution. Maybe the cooling pipes were dislodged.
Did you confirm that the fans were replaced? I’m sure you can tell if you just look at them. The old ones would be much dirtier than the new ones if you haven’t used the new ones that long.
Just wanted to come back here to thank you for suggesting this one. I just picked up my newly fixed laptop. I tried another shop in guanghua that was also recommended to me, but they told me without even opening the laptop that the middle fan needed to be fixed but the part couldn’t be bought neither in Taiwan nor from China because of current import boycotts (??). But the one you recommended was really helpful and actually opened the laptop, checked what was the issue (the “radiator was out of shape” I was told) and fixed it in no time! Thanks again!
It’s an awesome powerful gaming laptop that cost me an arm and two legs. I just need someone to find out what the issue is at the very least, and repair it if possible. I’ll source the parts myself on Internet if needed. This country is the heart of tech stuff. They must be someone out there able to help me!