Acer Ferrari 3400, heat and taking apart problems.

Hello!

So after 1 year of constant problems with my acer ferrari 3400 I decided to do something about it and since I was fairly sure it was heat problems (spontaneous reboots, very warm computer) I started to take it apart so I would be able to clean it from dust. When I was failing in my attempt to open the casing up to be able to clean it I gave up, bought "air on a spray can" and tried to clean it that way.

I thought it cleaned pretty well so I closed it and started it up. No noise from the fan, I guess its dead.

My questions are, how can I fully open up the notebook so that I can actually look for the problem?

If the fans broken, can I exchange it? If so how?

If its not broken what more can I do about the heat issues?

Thank you for any help given.

 

I have a ferrari 3000. It also suffers from heat problems but regular maintenance helps keep this under control. I take it apart every three months or so to clean it out.

If you are asking about laptop maintenance/repair in general I would say it is mostly common sense but a small part of it depends on your knowledge and technique. I would advise that to gain knowledge do as much research as you can on your laptop. Especially read any web pages devoted to modding or fixing it, or models similar to it. Look in particular for websites with photo tutorials. e.g. http://repair4laptop.org/

When you are ready to do the disassembly work in a clean, well-lit, organised environment. Do not keep drinks or liquids nearby as accidents happen. Keep yourself organised and keep track of what screw goes where. Some people colour code the screws as they remove, others use a few little boxes to keep track of what goes where. Its up to you, but there will be dozens of tiny screws coming out - so keep them organised.

Use proper tools, if you dont already have a set of small percision or small electrical screwdrivers then get one. Do not force any screws. Do not use an oversized flat head (-) screwdriver on a small phillips (x) screw as you will "pare" the head and make it impossible to ever remove the screw. Do not force any PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). When screwing out or back in, do not put huge pressure on unsupported PCBs as it might snap or crack. If faced with a stubborn screw it may be necessary to brace the PCB underneath with cardboard before applying the required pressure to loosen it.

Do not use petrol or any strong solvent to clean PCBs. Strong solvents dissolve plastics and that is not good news for PCBs. Use surgical spirit or similar. Use cotton stick swabs and old toothbrushes to gently remove dirt and crumbs from PCBs. There are stories of people washing PCBs in dishwashers or with detergents and it working out but I would not gamble on it. Stick to surgical spirits as it is non-toxic, non corrosive, leaves only a trace residue and also it evaporates very quickly.

Remember also when you disassemble something, you must reassemble later. So think ahead and have all required parts on hand. E.g. after removing heatsink/ fan components from the cpu for cleaning it will be necessary to reattach to the cpu on the mainboard. So have your thermal paste/artic silver ready and waiting for this moment.

Above all, give yourself enough time, do not rush disassembly or reassembly.

Now regarding specifics. I do not have a ferrari 3400 so there could be important differences however I can describe what I did for the ferrari 3000.

Firstly my research did not go well for the ferrari 3000 and turned up very little information. But I kept on trying and eventually I got lucky. I found out that infact the ferrari 3000 had a similar if not identical mainboard and construction to the acer aspire 1450. There was much more information available for the latter. I downloaded the service manual for this at http://www.eserviceinfo.com. Using the exploded diagram in the service manual for the aspire 1450, my ferrari 3000 was easy to disassemble.

I dont use compressed air and tend to do things a little slower but maybe compressed air works well, I dont know. Anyway I found that on my ferrari 3000 large amounts of lint, hair and dust had accumulated at the back of the cpu heatsink/fan component. I first took out the small fan and put it to one side. I then cleaned the copper heatsink with hot water and old toothbrush. I dried the copper/metal parts with the gf's hair drier. Do not use hair drier on PCBs or pastic parts/wires as it easily melts sensitive parts. On the actual fan itself, dirt had accumulated on fan blades and was very stubborn. For cleaning the fan again I used small amount of hot water on an old toothbrush and gently removed the stubborn dirt. Remember I am referring to cleaning the fan blades only here so don't do something stupid like dipping the whole fan into hotwater. Its essential to avoid getting any hot water on the electronics of the fan.

Next I cleaned the cpu heatsink with cotton swabs and surgical spirits. After this I applied the artic silver thermal compound to the cpu (you can find tutorials for this elsewhere just google). Next I reassembled the laptop. After cleaning temperatures run far lower and the fan only kicks as the chipset heats up during extended gaming and/ or overclocking.

In regard to your request for specific parts. You will need the service part number to reorder parts. Again I cannot speak for ferrari 3400 but for ferrari 3000 the part numbers are listed in service book I downloaded for the aspire 1450. A wee bit o' research on some computer suppliers websites for these parts later confirmed the parts were being listed by the suppliers as compatible for both. You may try something similar if you need to replace a component.

I could go on but I'll keep it short so final thoughts. One thing to watch is the environment in which you use your laptop. Keep your laptop on smooth surface so proper amount of air can get through the fan intakes on the base. keep the area your machine is in clean from dust and crumbs etc and you will have to clean it less often.

Good luck.

 

also: here is a link for acer fans / spare parts (UK/Europe)
http://www.laptopfans.co.uk/companies/ACER.htm

extra: i also undervolt my cpu to reduce heat. Undervolting reduced my temps by about 20-25%. Another thing to note - that this does not affect performance, actually it enhances it as having a cooler laptop overall means you can overclock the gpu for faster framerates in games etc. Sure have a look at this article, it explains it all very well
http://www.nordichardware.com/Articles/?skrivelse=465