The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M17x R3 assistance with cleaning

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Saryon1, Apr 20, 2012.

  1. Saryon1

    Saryon1 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    16
    As with all laptops the fan exhaust ports are covered with gunk (yes that is the technical term :p .) Has anyone found a way to clean the dust and grime out of the system board area without a disassembly and or warranty voiding?

    Thanks in advance!

    PS, yes I know I can just blast canned air in said ports but i'm looking for a more thorough solution.
     
  2. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

    Reputations:
    3,079
    Messages:
    4,207
    Likes Received:
    168
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Just take it apart. The Dell rep on the forums has assured us that disassembly DOES NOT VOID WARRANTY.
     
  3. Saryon1

    Saryon1 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Uh.....Link to topic please? If you can find it of course :-D
     
  4. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

    Reputations:
    3,079
    Messages:
    4,207
    Likes Received:
    168
    Trophy Points:
    131
  5. Special_K

    Special_K Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    73
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    While your in there, re-paste your CPU and GPU and buy some new thermal pads for your Vram. It will drop temps a good amount.
     
  6. Joe85

    Joe85 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    587
    Messages:
    1,024
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It definitely pays to remove the fans. I tried to without doing this and nearly cooked my gpu as i ended blocking the vents. You want to remove the fans for better access to the grills (and fans) with a can of compressed gas.
     
  7. Saryon1

    Saryon1 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Thanks for the information everyone!
     
  8. Saryon1

    Saryon1 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    20
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I'm assuming there is something in this forum that will assist me with that process? It's been quite some time since I've cracked open a laptop chassis. I'll do a search here and see what turns up.