Found a trick to fix sticky laptop fans without opening the case

Had a Dell Latitude from 2019 that was overheating like crazy, tried compressed air but the fan was still noisy. Used a guitar pick to gently pry the vents and blew canned air at an angle while the laptop was running, cleared out 3 years of dust bunnies in 30 seconds. Has anyone else found weird hacks like this for tricky fan issues?

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3 Comments

the_lucas5mo ago

Damn, I always thought opening it up was the only way but this actually makes sense.

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matthew8643mo ago

Buddy of mine used a flattened paperclip to wedge between the heatsink and fan on his old laptop. Worked like a charm till the clip rusted and snapped off inside. He swore by it until that day, then went back to canned air and cursing.

4

miles_jones395mo ago

@the_lucas I read someone taped a drinking straw to their compressed air nozzle for better angle control, sounded nuts but probably works similar to your guitar pick trick.

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