Sony Vaio shutting down

[nanllyn]

I just came across this forum after researching replacing my fan on my notebook. I'm hoping you can help me. I am having problems with my Sony Vaio PCG-GRV550. It is 2 years old and a 2.4G, 512mb and a 17" screen. I think the fan is possibly going out. When I'm using my computer after about 30-45 minutes my PC will just shut down. I will hear 2 clicks(not like a beep from the sound card)and it will just shut down. It is completely shutting down because when I reboot it tells me that the program I'm running was not shut down properly. At first I was not sure what the problem was and would turn the laptop back on. If I turn it right back on it will run for approx. 2-5 minutes and then shut right back down. If I keep it off for awhile then I can use it again for 30-45 minutes before shutting down again. Now that I think it may be overheating I have felt the vents and they are so hot they would burn you if you touched them. The keyboard is pretty hot as well but not so much to burn you. I bought a "cool pad" when I bought the computer to give it extra air flow but this doesn't seem to be helping any more. I also turned my screen to go off after 1 min of no input. If the screen is off the computer will run for approx. 2-4 hours but then it will shut down. Also the computer is getting louder and louder when it runs, which I believe is the fan. People have thought I was running the vacuum cleaner when setting by the computer and I answered the phone! I have checked all my settings and I don't have the hard drives set to go off or the computer to hibernate or anything like that. The only power setting I have is for the screen to go blank after 1 minute. I know it is hard to diagnose a computer without seeing it but does this sound like it could be the fan? Is there anything else I should check? Also I want to say, I build my own desktop and fix other people's computers, so I am fairly knowledgeable but not an expert by no means. I have never worked on a notebook before. I would imagine it would be pretty much the same. I think I could handle working on my laptop as well. Please tell me if there is a lot more to working on a notebook. I thought I would just change out the fan since they are so cheap(PC's anyway) and see if it fixed it but I called Sony and of course it is out of warranty, which I knew, but the fan was $68. So I don't want to spend that if it is not the problem. Also I went to http://www.laptopparts.com, it had fans for $39 but I don't know my part number without opening my computer. I wouldn't mind paying that because I really think this is the problem. One other option is I found at http://www.newegg.com a Vantec lapcool2 notebook cooler. Maybe this is another way to go for cooling the notebook? Has anyone had any experience with any of these laptop coolers? Any other thoughts on what it might be or do you also think it sounds like the fan is going out? Thanks for your help in advance. I really appreciate your help. Nancy