Yesterday I was working on my zd8000 laptop, which is essentially a desktop replacement. It’s been getting too warm lately, even with the addition of a laptop desk, a chiller pad, and removing the battery. Yesterday was a bummer day when the machine started shutting down and wouldn’t boot up without shutting down. I figured it was a heat problem, so I got out my can of air and proceeded to gag myself with blowing the laptop out through the vents and fans.
Well, during that little activity, I noticed big blobs of hairy lint. coming out through the fan openings and causing the fans to stick. This is not good. Heat is really hard on a computer and lint holds in the heat. So as I’m let the laptop cool off, I’m digging out the lint with a dental explorer while blasting the laptop with canned air through the vents so I can fire it back up and google heat and zd8000. Once I’m out there I see that someone has literally taken their laptop apart to clean it. Taking apart this particular laptop is NOT trivial. I’ve got an Acer, a Gateway, and a Vaio that I’ve had to take apart and fix. This is by far the hardest laptop I’ve ever serviced.
I’m seeing where the canned air is loosening the chunks of lint, but I’m thinking it’s probably still pretty bad, but I’m not thrilled with the idea of dismantling it to clean it. So I’m out there reading where someone hit their laptop with 120 pounds of compressed air. I go looking for my air compressor in the basement to see if that’ll dislodge more junk. I can’t find the air compressor, but I do have a shop vac down there, so I put that over the fans and suck them out one at a time. OMG. The amount of crap that was pulled out was significant. I then connected the hose to the exhaust and blew the fans out. No dust or link came out the vents, so I’m pretty sure I’ve cleaned out all the dust bunnies.
I was reluctant to use a vacuum on the laptop due to static problems, but that seems to be more of a problem where metal wands are involved and close proximity to the motor. My vac is all plastic and the hose opening is just wide enough to cover the fan opening, which really helped to pull the air through.
I don’t think I could have cleaned it out using a data vac without taking the laptop apart. There just isn’t sufficient sucking strength.
Now since the cleaning I have over a 20 degree reduction in the temperature of the laptop to the extent that the middle fan isn’t coming on all the time to cool the machine like it had been for the past year, my wrist isn’t getting uncomfortably hot, my laptop desk isn’t warm anymore and my legs are no longer discolored. My machine is back to the way it worked when I first got it. The machine is much cooler and more responsive.
I am a happy camper!
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