Please help- need to fix overheating fan/remove back cover

The Resistance

Hi all, hoping someone can help me with this, my laptop is barely usable at the mo. Dell Inspiron 1525, only over a year old, with Vista running on Dell recommended power plan. It's becoming way too hot when I use it and just powers off- been happening for a good while now, am worried the insides are burning or something!
I can't really afford to bring it somewhere to be fixed so going to attempt to take the back off and clean the fan. Could anyone give me tips/advice as I'm terrified I'll damage it!?
I read somewhere you can use compressed air- does anyone also know where I can get this in Dublin city centre?
Thank you!

skinner2x

The Resistance wrote: »

Hi all, hoping someone can help me with this, my laptop is barely usable at the mo. Dell Inspiron 1525, only over a year old, with Vista running on Dell recommended power plan. It's becoming way too hot when I use it and just powers off- been happening for a good while now, am worried the insides are burning or something!
I can't really afford to bring it somewhere to be fixed so going to attempt to take the back off and clean the fan. Could anyone give me tips/advice as I'm terrified I'll damage it!?
I read somewhere you can use compressed air- does anyone also know where I can get this in Dublin city centre?
Thank you!

Not sure what the 1525 is like , but I had a similar issue with a 5100.Fan always running flat out (though it never cut out) . I found this fix on another forum, don't laugh , it work.
Take a deep breath, wrap you lips around the output of the fan grill, and give to 4 good puffs. In my case there was a large puff of dust, and the fan slowed down after < 1 min.
however , it is possible you may have malware/virus/too many programs running in the backround. Check task manager to check your CPU usage.

For malware/virus, heres an excellent tool I used recently to remove a stubborn trojan
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/avptool2010?level=2

The Resistance

Thanks Skinner I'll try that! I think I should have done that before though when it was just hot- it's got to point where the overheating is causing it to crash. I will check CPU usage- do you know what optimal is/how I will know if too much is running? I really only use laptop for going online

skinner2x

The Resistance wrote: »

Thanks Skinner I'll try that! I think I should have done that before though when it was just hot- it's got to point where the overheating is causing it to crash. I will check CPU usage- do you know what optimal is/how I will know if too much is running? I really only use laptop for going online

If its just sitting idle, should be < 5% in most cases, though higher if there's scheduled virus scans going on in the backround, or windows updates.

duckysauce

the fan is not under the back on this model , its under the palmrest

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1525/en/SM/palmrest.htm#wp1181046

get a can of air from peats or any decent electrical store, say theres a big clump of dust blocking the fan.

Voodu Child

Unfortunately you can't get at the fan itself via the bottom panel.

However you can get to the heatsink assembly via the bottom panel, and actually this is the component most likely clogged up with dust.

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1525/en/SM/cpucool.htm#wp1179839



The part circled is the radiator fins/comb. The fan blows directly through it, and if the fan is picking up dust (from a dusty surface) it can get clogged in the comb and reduce effectiveness.

The main problem is that judging from that photo, you'll have to remove the whole heat sink assembly to get at the cooling fins and give them a blast of air. And you don't really want to do that, unless you know what you are doing - because if there is thermal paste at either of the contact points, you'll need to re-do it any time you remove the heatsink. From the picture there are two contact points, it looks like one with a thermal pad and one with thermal paste.

By all means open it up and have a peek to see what can be done, but dont remove the heatsink without reporting back here first for advice.

pabloh999

Buy a can of commpressed air, blow it into the fan area to clear out all the dust and gunk, i got mine in pcworld or harvey normans i think. Works for any electronic devices that uses a fan , i use it on my ps3 aswell.