My laptop fan was working fine before but failed on its own. The laptop was always used on a hard surface and now im just getting overheating then beeps and shutdown. the laptop is pretty much upgrade friendly so i am able to take bottom cover off and easily take 'bare' fan out without taking the heatsink off. Though i have experience with desktops i want to be sure, the laptop works fine for more than a few minutes after a long rest obviously but could it be the fan connection causing this problem? or the motherboard itself? if not.. can anyone suggest as to where i could find a bare fan replacement? or would i have to change the heatsink too since the fan only screws in one way onto the heatsink? btw i tried taking it back to pc world to hear that its going to cost me £170 is this even normal? a fan this simple shouldnt cost £2 i hate these guys and there advents. Another question.. Can i use the same heatsink paste that i use on the desktops for an upgrade on the laptop? Thanks in advance

A simple solution which I've used on my 4 year-old laptop (which has cost me a lot of money repairing - so I don't intend to spend any more), is to put it on a wire rack about 15 cm off the desk and put a small fan, about 10 cm diameter, underneath, directed at the laptop fan intakes. It's been working like that for almost a year now with no problems. In fact, this has been the longest period it has worked trouble free!