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    How does one clean out the M11x Fan?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by keftih, Aug 19, 2010.

  1. keftih

    keftih Notebook Evangelist

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    Hello! Proud owner of an M11x R1 here ;D

    After about 3 months of heavy gaming usage, I decided to clean out some the dust that had undoubtably accumulated on and around the fan. However, I noticed to my dismay that the back panel is not connected to the cover of the fan! I trying spraying air through the back exhaust in hopes that dust would shoot out of the intake vent...and it did, but now there is a nice little dust bunny stuck inside of my laptop -_-

    So, how did you guys get access to the m11x fan?
     
    keftih, Aug 19, 2010
    #1
  2. zephir

    zephir Notebook Deity

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    zephir, Aug 19, 2010
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  3. keftih

    keftih Notebook Evangelist

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    keftih, Aug 19, 2010
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  4. knightluo

    knightluo Notebook Geek

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    what do you guys think about blowing canned air right to the fan without open it up? does it help? or make it worse?
     
    knightluo, Aug 19, 2010
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  5. MLM0351

    MLM0351 Notebook Geek

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    I would at least that the bottom cover off to get a better angle. Its really hard to get the dust to get out of the laptop without taking the bottom off.
     
    MLM0351, Aug 19, 2010
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  6. slickie88

    slickie88 Master of Puppets

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    I agree that removing the bottom access panel is the way to go. That way you aren't simply blowing everything back into the internals.
     
    slickie88, Aug 19, 2010
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  7. keftih

    keftih Notebook Evangelist

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    That's what I did at first and ended up with a big clump of dust stuck inside =[

    Also, I learned that when spraying air on the fan, you don't want to accidentally cause the fan to spin too fast, so opening up the laptop and holding the fan is actually the way to go.
     
    keftih, Aug 19, 2010
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  8. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    Makes it worse. That dust has to go somewhere. If you blow the dust IN to your system, then it is just going to end up somewhere else in the chasis.

    The correct way to do it is to take the bottom cover off, and blow dust OUT of the system.
     
    kent1146, Aug 19, 2010
    #8