Do other laptops suffer from the fan clogging with dirt?

I own an Asus G51jx-x1 gaming laptop. I notice that with my laptop, the fan gradually clogs up dirt and I have to take out the base cover to clean it up. How I know it's getting clogged is because the computer tends to crash and give me a BSoD when it's clogged which I basically use as an indication to clean. It also works harder, is ing loud, and exudes an unusual amount of heat when clogged. After I clean it, the laptop returns to normal and works at its average pace. I have to do this quite often (maybe once every month).

Just to note: I don't live in complete filth. My desk is usually clean and dust-free so my guess is that it accumulates dirt over a long period of time.

 

Every laptop gets clogged with dust eventually, it's not something you can avoid, you can keep the laptop in top condition by cleaning it every few months though. Pets and smoking generate a lot more dust that get into laptops as well no matter how much you clean your house/apartment/desk space.

 

Umm, yeah...no! No denigration towards your cleanliness, but that dust is coming from somewhere. And to have to clean the vents once a month indicates you have a very dusty environment.

I suspect that you may have your laptop in a location with a lot of fabrics? If so you could probably reduce the amount of dust accumulation by relocating your laptop to a place that is fabric free.

You see, some fabrics give off a lot more dust than others. And sometime even your movement through the space can be the catalyst that creates the environment so detrimental to your laptop.

 

All computer fans eventually need to be cleaned, but once a month or else it overheats and BSODs is excessive.

 

I agree with what others have said, every laptop needs cleaning.

I'm also curious as to why you get a BSOD, I would have expected the laptop to just turn off if it overheated, not BSOD.
There is something strange about that.

 

Dust will always find its way into your laptop, no matter how clean your place is, however I find using a laptop cooler could reduce the amount of dust accumulates inside, that doesn't mean you won't need to clean your laptop however, it's just that you can just clean it less often.

 

Once a month is way too frequent. I clean-up my laptop's fan and heatsink once in 9 months.

(w/ average 6 hours of usage per day)


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I usually give my machine a good air and alcohol swab cleaning every six months or so. Even clean houses, dust collects in areas you can't see. I've seen spotless homes but when removing their computer and pulling back their desk, there's a ginormous dust bunny-like-dragon monster there to greet me. Just the nature of the world.

 

I know this is not a good idea, but I am not good at laptop disassembly- I use a vacuum cleaner set on the lowest fan setting with an edge cleaing tool every week. I am careful to not touch the laptop with the tool. My temps are the same now as when I got my machine 18 months ago. Also Krane makes a good point, I am on a metal typewriter stand with no fabrics anywhere close by.

 

Well a gaming laptop, especially if pushed hard a lot, will clog more readily then say a netbook. The fans will be moving a much higher volume of air than a lower powered laptop or one that is used less frequently.

 

I clean my fans about every 3-4 months. I just use a can of compressed air. Its ok for me as there usually is little dust. I've owned this for a year and temps seem to be pretty same.

 

the only laptops i've seen which remain relatively clean are the lenovo thinkpads. they have a kind of mesh over the air intakes which seem to help quite a lot...

 

Again, it's more dependent of the climate/environment/furnishings/Air Conditioning, etc.

Naturally a computer kept in or near a workshop area will collect dust a lot quicker than one located in an environmentally controlled "clearer" room.

 

Good points above. I usually blow out my laptops about once a month (I know, OCD), and I take off all covers (battery, hdd, etc.) and blow out those areas too. And I blow out the intake vents as well as the exhaust vents. A build up of dust inside can do much to impede the airways, so just blowing out the fans won't keep it clear if there is any other buildup.

 

To the original poster:

You might to find out why so much dust is being collected from the area around the notebook. The reason I say this is because I have a notebook that I almost always have on a desk. I generally keep it away from the floor or bed because dust can accumulate faster in those areas. I've never had to clean my lenovo ideapad fan in almost 2 years of regular daily use. However, my desktop on the other hand gets very dusty every 2-3 months. I attribute this to it being stationed on the ground, where more dust collects. I don't think it has anything to do with the design or fan itself, but I could be wrong.

 

Not so much my fans as much as my heatsinks they get clogged way faster than my fans.

 

Are your heatsinks oily? Try to clean them thoroughly and then 'rinse' them with alcohol to ensure there is nothing for the dust/debris to stick to (with a Q-Tip, of course!!! Don't pour alcohol into your notebook).

And also: it is normal for smaller spaces to clog up faster (compared to the relatively large 'fan' space).

This may just be a 'feature' of your notebook and your immediate work environment.

 

The laptop that Im using right now is 1 year and 9 months old and have almost never been removed from my desk. It is a very clean desk so one might think that the laptop doesn`t collect dust. But few months ago the fan started making much more noise than it used to. My guess is that dust is the reason. Will try compressed air next week

 

Good points above.
I use to get stressed about cleaning my laptop's vents whenever dust comes in. It gets dirty regardless.
Totally agree with everyone, six months is a decent interval for cleaning it.

 

I am definitely going to try that cleaning them with Alcohol. Could be that they are oily. Thanks for the suggestion! +rep.

Because my temps have decreased by 6 degrees idle on both GPU's, and by almost 20 on the high end. So I do also clean every six months.

 

MKelliny, I'll be looking for an update in a few months - and hopefully, you'll have had less gunk to clean off them heatsinks!


Another thing that I thought of is static buildup on the heatsinks...

Is your notebook's power supply 3 pronged (with ground?) or 2 pronged (simply power)?

Assuming static charges are building up with the constant airflow; I would be tempted to put a bare wire to the heatsink and to the notebook's 'ground' plane. But, if you don't know what you are doing - then don't!

Anyway, just thought I would give you all my .0001 GHz of brain fizzling, computing hp to your issues.

Hope it helped.

 

I don't see any logical reason to make the heatsinks oily (i.e. dust collector). Please let me know what brand that laptop is so that I will never ever buy such a sloppy designed machine.


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It might be due to the process used to manufacture the heatsink or the sheet of metal used to make the HS. When you buy sheets of metal, they are often coated with oil to prevent corrosion so they might not have removed the oil before manufacturing the laptop or deliberately left the oil to prevent premature corrosion of the heatsink before manufacturing the unit. It is most likely a manufacturing oversight.