Cleaning the Laptop Fans/Vents Without Disasembling The Laptop?

I want to maintain my laptop to the best of my ability to ensure that it lasts me for many years to come. However, I'm afraid of opening up my laptop and spraying the fans with compressed air because I'm scared I'll screw up. I was wondering how I could go about cleaning the laptop without opening up the back? Could I spray the vents with compressed air? (Although, I've heard this just blows the dust further within the laptop further complicating matters.)

Thanks

 

use the force and it will come out...jk, how do you expect it to come out without opneing it up? what laptop do you have? i love opening my laptop up for fun, as long as you dont stab things you wont break anything

 

Opening up the laptop is not an option.

 

You can just blow them out with the compressed air. I don't really like to do it as I think putting that much pressure on your fans will wear out the bearings faster. But it does get it clean, maybe not as clean as taking it apart but it cleans it better than nothing.

 

but how do you blow them out without opening the cover? you are blowing them back into the laptop, which isnt such a good idea :S also why cant you just open up the cover? it doesnt void warranty. just dont play with the heat sinks

 

Even blowing it 'back into the laptop' is going to help alot versus not blowing it at all. Unless the design of the laptop is retarded(like the asus G73) then it isn't really to big of a deal to just blow it back in IMO.

 

Open up the laptop, compressed air, done!

 

Speaking of opening up the laptop why is there yet no panel/port/slot for this? What year are we in again?

 

I don't think it's ever been done since so many would just take the bottom cover off anyways. I know I would even if there were some sort of opening because I need to know where the dust is going that I'm blowing around.

 

Not sure what you mean by disassembling, opening the back cover and removing the dust build up on the fan with compressed air (or brushing) is far from disassembly, compared to other laptops like HP where you need to open the case, remove the bezels, remove the keyboard then the top part of the motherboard just so you could access the fan and grills to clean off.

with sager, it's just removing the back cover then cleaning, if you want to repaste then you disassemble the heatsink and repaste.

I'd rather not blow the dust with compressed air going into the laptop as over time this will add more build up of dust inside, instead removing the panel, dislodging the dust build up with a toothpick or cotton swab with alcohol then spraying with compressed air going out of the vents.

 

The new dell latitudes you can take the back cover off and access the whole under side of the mobo basically. You can replace the fan just by removing the 'user-removable' panel.

 

That's why I try to stay away from those laptops.

 

Steven, Depending on what model you have a procedure like this (with canned air or a hair dryer set to cool) How I fixed my G73 overheating problem! - YouTube should help. I have done my G73 monthly for ~2 year and my temps are the same as when it was new.

 

This is a question that depends on your particular laptop.

For instance; my old toshiba P30 responds to blowing air back through the cooling fins. But it's temporary at best. I have to open it up, remove the fans and then I can extract the lint ball that accumulates on the cooling fins.

It's this "lint block" that thermals my laptop. Only way to get it out is to open it up and brush it out.

Some have had luck with putting a shop vac over the fan intake, turning it on and then blowing compressed air in the exhaust vent. If you're lucky, the vac pulls out anything that you dislodge.

Personally, I prefer to disassemble the unit and KNOW it's cleaned out. lasts a couple years before I need to do it again.

It might be worth paying the 30-50 bucks to have it cleaned properly at a service center if you're not comfortable doing any of this.....

 

The compressed air cans work well; especially if you're not going to take the laptop apart to clean it, as you can focus the air using the supplied straw attachment and get inside the vents (sometimes you need to flatten the end of the straw a bit, depending on how wide the vent openings are).

It really is more efficient to go the route great white suggested, though. A shop vacuum and a can of compressed air will not always get anything caked onto the fan blades.

 

... a hoover?

 

It's been done, most of the Lifebook Fujitsu's I've owned or worked on have had a removable tab between the fan, and exhaust fins precisely to make maintenance easy.
Only one laptop had a small filter to catch the dirt, it was Fujitsu. I suspect this hasn't been used again for obvious reason of a clog.

I know another laptop manufacturer used it for one laptop but I cannot recall if it was a Dell, Samsung, or a Sony business laptop.

 

It all depends on what kind of computer you have. Some Dells are designed so you can remove the whole heatsink after unscrewing five or six screws. I know with my MacBook Pro, I simply take off the bottom cover and blow out the fans/heatsink fins.

 

regardless of everything you do, you cannot effectively clean the fans without taking them apart. you might try everything but if later you take them out they'll still have some dust. how much dust left depends on the notebook model and methods used. imo it's much easier to take it out.
just don't buy those cheap usb vacuums, they are worthless, very low power.