Precision M6400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

I think the pulse you are referring to is between the computer sensors and Ik8 trying to take over control of the fans.
When I clean the fans and heat sinks, I take the battery out first, then the two screws to hold the back panel in place. Now I can just slide the panel out and have a clear view of the back for easy blowing out the dust.

 

Thats what I was thinking would be the best way too, otherwise the dust may just spray all over the inside of the case. By blowing out any dust through the vents, I dont suppose there's a danger it could force the dust further into the motherboard anywhere at all? From the diagrams in the manual it just looks like the entry and exit points of the heatsink are the vents and no outlets between those too.

 

Oh My. A quick squirt of compressed air through the GPU fan and this bad boy flew out. GPU temp dropped by 5 degrees on it's old idle average. I can feel the air being sucked through the vents now thankfully. If you have not done this to your laptop yet - go for it!

Veni

 

Now that you've cleaned it. just a quick squirt every few weeks (the "wrong" way with the lappy powered off) will keep the radiators free of obstruction.

 

Yes definitely, shoot the air through the rear vents and the dust will fly out of the bottom (base) vents - this is the reverse of how the air is normally passed through the computer in normal use. If you take the bottom panel off the base first before you use the compressed air, it will allow the dust to escape properly.

Veni

 

May I suggest to all those whom are using compressed air and blowing it into the fans in any way, please secure the fan before doing so. The velocity of the air causing the fans to spin affects the fan's mechanicals, and as such, cause damage and failure to the fan.

I recently had an overheating problem, and the vents were also clogged. I used a straw to blow air back through while also holding the fans. I also blew air in other areas of the case to dislodge any dust that may have accumulated in the tight places.

Anyone that suddenly has a huge slowdown in performance, and large CPU spikes, look to see that the fans are running a high speeds, and clean the system. It is like I have a new computer again.

 

You'd be amazed at how common having 1/8 tp 1/4 of dust buildup forming a solid blanket is in notebooks. I've repaired many, many notebooks over the years, and most of them had problems that started out with overheating due to dust buildup.

neehouse does raise a valid point, but honestly I've never seen a fan die due to being cleaned in this manner, plus often if you are squeamish about disassembling a notebook, you often HAVE to leave the fan free-spinning to get the bulk of the dust out. The construction of the m6400 in particular is very unusual in that it gives you extremely easy access to the CPU heat sink/pipe/radiator and fan, allowing you to clean it completely in minutes with the fan secured. When I've seen damaged fans, the damage has already been done by allowing so much dust to build up that it wedged into the space between the fan and the housing. I've revived fans for notebooks that are hard to obtain correct-fitting parts for by opening the fans and injecting Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil or sewing oil into the bearings (which oil I use depends on whether the bearings are roller or sleeve) and then over-spinning them with high pressure air to work the lubrication throughout the bearings.

For the m6400, once you do the initial cleaning, just pop the cover now and then (be gentle on the screws so you do not wear the cros-slots nor the threads out (nor cross-thread them). It doesn't hurt to heed neehouse's advice, but honestly, unless you're really going at it with an air hose from a high-pressure/high CFM compressor and keep it on the fan long enough to overheat the bearings, I don't see much risk in reality since the bursts from "canned air"[sic] is generally not done long enough to cause the bearings to heat up enough to pit, score, or otherwise deform. If it happens, it's likely because the bearings were out of tolerance to begin with.

 

Okay running into a problem. I have a DisplayPort-to-HDMI cable and am not getting audio through it. I tried suggestions from the part 1 thread about disabling the PC speakers. etc. all to no avail.

OS: Windows 7
Audio drivers: Dell's latest IDT drivers
cable: DisplayPort-to-HDMI from monoprice

Any suggestions?

 

I found the solution: always have the IDT HD Sound applet resident (running in the system tray) then the notebook will automatically route sound output to the DisplayPort.

 

Good you found the answer and post the solution for reference.