Laptop Fan Not Working Well
in [Hardware]
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From: Neil on 2 Apr 2008 01:11 I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it, the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back. Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot of dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it didn't help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's caked with dust. I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the fan, but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas? Thanks! Neil
From: tpow on 2 Apr 2008 01:39 "Neil" <nospam(a)nospam.net> wrote in message news:EzEIj.36834$J41.14876(a)newssvr14.news.prodigy.net... >I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it, >the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back. >Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot >of dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it >didn't help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's >caked with dust. > > I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the > fan, but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas? > > Thanks! > > Neil > What/which warranty did you take up when you bought it. It could still be covered. You gotta take off the case to inspect/clean/replace the fan. There are instructions on the Dell site for case removal. Punch in your TAG and look through the options.
From: kony on 2 Apr 2008 04:04 On Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:11:00 GMT, "Neil" <nospam(a)nospam.net> wrote: >I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it, >the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back. >Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot of >dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it didn't >help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's caked >with dust. > >I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the fan, >but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas? > >Thanks! > >Neil > Well if you could shrink yourself down to a small enough size to crawl in through the vent slits with a dust wand... On a more serious note I could be wrong but suspect it has a separate panel right under that (exhaust?) port on the side which is expressly there so you can access the fan and clean the dust out. Just make sure you have a high quality/precision screwdriver with the right sized tip so it's not as likely to strip the screw head. It can take a lot of downward pressure and torque to break notebook screws loose the first time, especially if they have threadlock on them.
From: GT on 2 Apr 2008 06:23 "Neil" <nospam(a)nospam.net> wrote in message news:EzEIj.36834$J41.14876(a)newssvr14.news.prodigy.net... >I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it, >the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back. >Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot >of dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it >didn't help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's >caked with dust. > > I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the > fan, but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas? I poured a cup of tea over my 6400 a few months back and had to take it all apart - getting it open is easy - 1 small tipped cross-headed screw driver to undo the screws and a small normal screw driver to prize bits off. I can have my 6400 openned up in about 2 minutes now! You remove most of the screws on the bottom of the case, then work with the computer the 'normal' way up - the base stays where it is and you remove parts from the top - first the strip under the screen, then the keyboard, then the grey main 'lid' - that is enough to get you to the CPU cooling arrangement. - instructions are on the Dell website - go to support, then use the 'tag number' on the bottom of your PC. This PC can't get onto javascript sites, so I can't find the page to link for you, but I can post instructions here if you want - let me know.
From: Clark on 2 Apr 2008 10:29
Neil wrote: > I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it, > the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back. > Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot of > dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it didn't > help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's caked > with dust. > > I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the fan, > but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas? > > Thanks! > > Neil > > Perhaps using a vacuum cleaner to such out from the air intake would pull out any debris. If that does not work, perhaps some compresses air would help. If it was clogged, you might be able to break it up and allow it to blow itself out. Open the case, as was suggested, is not that hard, just be careful and don't break the snaps, and make sure you keep track of what came from where. Clark |