Cleaning laptop's fan and heatsink

[chukkyjr]

hi there i just got a problem with my laptop heating up, its Vaio E Series VPCEA16FG, i just opened up the laptop's case and found the fan, but i have no idea how to properly clean it, i use an ear stick/bud (whatever you call it to clean ears) to clean the fan by sticking it inside, and slowly taking out the dust, but the process is too tedious so i'm asking if there is any other way to do this?

i do have a small portable vacuum, but it is not strong enough, and my local store doesn't sell any of the so-called "compressed air" to clean the fans, any ideas?

the cleaning with the ear stick/buds do works though, i monitored cpu and gpu temp, it goes down from usually 80 C to around 50 C for cpu, and 95 C to 75 C for gpu

 

[drg889]

When i cleaned my older laptop up, I removed the heatsink as well (i believe there were a few screws holding it in) and next to the exhaust, there was a giant dust sponge probably 1/2" wide. I then cleaned the remaining dust and removed the old crusty thermal paste from the heatsink and CPU, and reapplied new fresh paste. This made my laptop go from idling at 50-60C and load (during some games) at 90C+, to load 35-40C and load ~70C. Plus the CPU fan doesnt have to run at high levels all the time anymore.

 

[chukkyjr]

may i know how do you exactly open up the heatsink? since mine have a lot of screws (a few screw seems too tiny that it needs a special mini-screwdriver) and bolts which overlap with other parts such as the fan (i have no idea how to remove this since there is a few cables holding it in place)

maybe if i post a picture it will kinda help?

 

[drg889]

A picture may help. I did have a tool kit so it did help some, but if i do remember, i didn't really need any special tools or anything. mine was pretty simple just a regular screw drivers and lift it off its bracket i think.

 

[chukkyjr]

well i manage to open up the heatsink and the fan with a small screwdriver ( i believe it was a 1.0 mm one) and this is the inside of my laptop

but then i saw this on the GPU and CPU, is it some kind of a burnt or something?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Thats your thermal paste, it links the chip and heatsink, btw, you need to clean the old stuff off now and re-apply fresh paste before putting the Hs back on,
for the fan, if you unplug the fan from the Laptop and use a cocktail stick to pick chunks, you can vacuum the fan, DO NOT Vacuum with the fan plugged in!!
Alternatively, if you have removed the Hs and fan, then go wild and spongeclean it, just make sure it is dry before refitting
Moto

 

[chukkyjr]

umm i dry clean them, but there is a kinda new problem now, my GPU temperature is very low now, but i don't know why my CPU temperature is always high, in fact it reaches 100 C, causing my laptops randomly shutdowns, do having a screw loose or something might cause the CPU temperature skyhigh?

this might be hardware problem since the CPU usage is low, but it can reach 73 C while idle, and the fan going wild, but the air coming out is also cool, not hot, so i'm thinking if there is a problem when i undo the screws or something

EDIT : oh ya the reading shows that the CPU temperature and the Laptop temperature ( i have no idea what is this, mobo temperature maybe) is more or less the same, making me think the heat seeps out from the CPU case to the mobo, might this be a reason?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Did you apply fresh thermal paste?
You may not have tightened the Hs fully as well, but fresh paste is my immediate concern
Moto

 

[chukkyjr]

i just rechecked it (opened up the laptop) and make sure the Hs is tightened well, i didn't apply any thermal paste since i dont have any atm, might that be the cause?

weird enough the fan is going crazy, but what comes out is cool air

EDIT 1 : the temperature for CPU and mobo doesn't went haywire anymore, might be Hs have a few screw loose

EDIT 2 : any idea why CPU keeps on high temperature while GPU is kinda low?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Yes, whenever you remove a heatsink, you clean and replace the thermal paste
possibly the Gpu's paste is still servicable, but it still needs replacing along with the Cpu's paste as well
Moto