Laptops and Dust- A warning

[Spacecadet]

I just did this to my laptop

http://yokechye.spaces.live.com/blog...0&sa=543523374

I've got the same model as in this guys blog. After 2 and bit years I had even more dust than his.
The heat sink was completely smothered in it.
This would explain why even leaving the fans on full speed (using fan control software) it still wouldn't cool the system down

What seems daft though is that you have to take the laptop completely apart to get to it, took about 30 mins in the end, and of course there is the risk of accidently damaging something in the process.

Would be nice if the fan module was built in such a way that a simple panel removal could give you access.

Anyway - if your laptop is a "bit old" and running like a very hot dog even after reinstalls then this'll be why

[xoggoth]

In my old laptop which I still dig our occasionally (backward compatibility and all that) one of those little thunder fly things crawled under the screen and died. I couldn't find a way to get it out and its husk is still visible just above the waste basket.

[RichardCranium]

My laptop had to have a new processor 'cos it got cooked by a combination of running SETI@Home 24x7 and dust.

I could now buy a Linux notebook for the cost of that replacement processor.