Laptop burning smell

HyperSkypeWiper

Theres a burning smell, not to strong coming from the fan of my laptop. What could this be?

monty_python

is it on fire??

HyperSkypeWiper

is it on fire??

Let me check.....

ThatsOurGaming

you have had it on too long or or on a hot surface maybe a blanket pillow bed etc...

monty_python

if it is....... thats where your burning smell is coming from

HyperSkypeWiper

ThatsOurGaming wrote: »

you have had it on too long or or on a hot surface maybe a blanket pillow bed etc...

Its been on about 45 mintutes now and its on my desk

I'm just wondering does anyone have any experience of this, and if so, what was it.... dust or something like that, or a lethal fault with the machine?

zuroph

It's probably your firewall :pac:

Mr.Energetic

i got that smell for about a week and couldnt figure where it was coming from. i thought it was mold but me gaf is only a couple years old. i turned laptop off for two days and smell went. asked about it in pc world and of course they knew nothing. TWATS... a mate said that silicone burning/ overheating on motherboard can happen and cause rotten sulphur smell. its a cheap laptop and knew it wouldnt last too long. got 2 years outta it. wouldnt recommend eMachines if you're getting a laptop

zenno

More than likely it's from dust and fluff embedded in the heat-sink as it get's quite hot there.

Mr.Energetic

is there any way to blow that out without opening the laptop? cheers for the reply

Mech1

if you wash it in the bath, you can put out the fire and clean it out at the same time!

Mech1

Unplug the charger 1st obviously.

Mr.Energetic

cheers but thats a long process.it could take a week before its dry and not really That bothered. im getting a desktop cause im sick of laptop errors, so it will be just used the odd time after that. would be better without smell tho!

danger_mouse_tm

If you're not confident about taking apart your laptop you might try blasting the vents with a can of air. It's not going to be as effective as a complete dismantle but it could help break up large amounts of fluff that are clogging the fan. Do wait a while before turning on again as air cans can leave quite a bit of condensation.

If all else fails you could open a port and let some air in.

Duggy747

It's probably a build up of dust in the fan and the hot air is creating the smell.

To properly clean it, you'd have to dismantle the machine. You could blow air in from the outside to break it up but what will happen if there's enough dust is that it'll go back into the fan (It'll have nowhere else to go) and clog the blades, stopping the fan from working.

Mr.Energetic

cheers for the info... i got a can of compressed air and that sorted the problem.