Good cooler for older laptop (Presario)- plus, air advice needed

Hey folks,

I own a Compaq Presario 2108CL and need some help.
Yes, I know my laptop's old, but I can't afford a new one, and I don't do really intensive things with it.

I've had it for a couple years and never done what people here recommend, which is blow compressed air in vents. Some advice on that would help too, since it sounds like a smart thing to do
Only problem is my laptop, when unscrewed, doesn't really open very much, it's pretty bizarre. Can't really explain without doing it and taking a picture, which I have no desire of doing (I sound like an *******, but this thing is a ***** to open up!!). So, not sure how to blow out the vents.

Main question: It overheats big-time, and aside from blowing out the vents (which I will do- does WalMart sell compressed air, and what brand do I need, etc?), what laptop cooler should I buy? For a 14.1 inch screen, is the Zalman NC1000 fine?

I haven't heard much about other models (aside from bogus commercial reviews), and I've been using a Targus one for a while but it's so-so (doesn't hit the vents, traps heat itself, etc). They're too expensive to 'trial-and-error', either.


Finally, I was running it on an external power supply after a while (same power level as required)- this is an OK idea, right?

Regards, and thanks in advance for listening to my 20 questions,
- Spike

 

I would go for getting the canned air stuff from walmart. As for specific brands, get the cheapest per ounce you can.

If possible (you already said it isn't), try getting inside the laptop and clean off the fan with a Qtip ... blowing out the vents doesn't get ALL of the dust out. Also, if you can get in the laptop, you can reapply some of the thermal paste to the CPU and that will help control temperatures too - no doubt the CPU grease is worn out after a few years.

As for compaq laptops being a ***** to get in, I agree with you there. I've been in a few and they are hard to get apart ... granted these ones are older but still hard to get into.

When you say running off of external power do you mean the laptop or the cooler? It's perfectly fine to run both off of external power ... probably better for the Laptop's AC adapter if you run the cooler off of external power.


Hope this helped
Miller

 

<nods> Yeah, sounds common-sensical enough, will have to try it.

I'll try, but I don't know how much succes I'll have. Should I blow the dust with the case fully on, nothing unscrewed?

What's thermal paste (cooling gel stuck on a CPU?), and where's the CPU in a laptop like this one?
Plus, what brands are good, where do I get it, etc.

I can't believe this forum censors that word

Yeah, it's hard to explain unless you've tried. You usncrew one screw, then another, then 5 more, you think you're almost done, and it still won't come apart. Then you unscrew 10 more, take out the keyboard and speakers, all this stuff you really don't want to be doing, and you still can't get to the fan (the reason we took it apart was to get to the fan).

I will have to revisit it, though.

I mean like, running the laptop cooler off a AC adaptor, of specs I guess 5 or 6 V, 500 or 1000 mA. What would be good to simulate USB power? And it's OK to overpower, but not underpower, right? I seem to remember that being the case.

Just bought the Zalman NC1000, incidentally.

Did indeed, I very much appreciate the response.

 

Have a look at the cooling guide...pack with useful info

Cleaning the fan and vents would definitely be the 1st thing I would look to do. Then I would probably use software such as Notebook hardware control to have a look at the temperature to check whether it is over heating.

Hope this helps.