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    Cleaning the m11x R2 fan

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by SlowAndFat, Mar 1, 2012.

  1. SlowAndFat

    SlowAndFat Notebook Enthusiast

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    How do you clean the m11x r2 fan? There is a hair in there and the sound is driving me CRAZY. The teardown video on youtube doesn't really help since it's for the R1. How do you gain total access to the fan in the r2?
     
    SlowAndFat, Mar 1, 2012
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  2. dragon23

    dragon23 Notebook Consultant

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    I use an air compressor (with great caution mind you) and a wooden skewer. Open up the bottom. Use the skewer to hold the fan in place and use the compressor to blow the dust out of the vents. Watch out for condensation and don't touch any part of the laptop. Presto cleano.
     
    dragon23, Mar 2, 2012
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  3. BitByteBit

    BitByteBit Notebook Guru

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    I took mine apart and was shocked at how much dust was clogging up the out-take. I saw my temps drop from an average of 70-80 at idle to 40-50 after cleaning the fan. I reckon with some new thermal paste I can get it down to a solid 40.

    To gain access to the fan you need to remove the motherboard.
    To clean it I used cotton buds and compressed air.

    Follow the service manual and use the teardown on youtube as secondary reference.

    It's not difficult at all. Just make sure you keep track of which screws came out of which holes, I did this using small containers for each bit of hardware.

    One tip, when you're removing the keyboard you need to release two locking tabs. On the video it's not clear how this is done. You need to slide your finger nail under the tab and lift it straight up.

    Finally if you remove the fan from the motherboard, I've been told you should to repaste the CPU and GPU. I've not done this yet so I can't really offer any advice.
     
    BitByteBit, Mar 3, 2012
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