[oneeyedhobbit]

So I've been trying to get a game to run at a decent framerate on my laptop with the help of some people over at laptopvideo2go.com. Something that came up was the possibility that the inside of my case is dirty. I bought a can of compressed air to clean out the fan vents--I was very careful, using very short controlled bursts. Now, however, the fans do not turn on at all when I power on my laptop (I mean, at least I don't hear them....whisper quiet, and I'm assuming its because they aren't running at all). Are they shot from the air somehow? Can they be replaced?

 

[gsteinb88]

The fans on a laptop do not run unless they have to, and only run at the slowest speed they have to. In all likelihood you cleaned it out well enough that the fans do not have to work very hard. There is almost zero chance that you killed a fan with compressed air, i have never heard of that happening, and have cleaned huge amounts of fans with compressed air, and never had a problem.
In addition, many laptops have a warning signal, or will not boot, if the fan is broken/disconnected.
You probably just did too good of a job cleaning

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsteinb88 The fans on a laptop do not run unless they have to, and only run at the slowest speed they have to. In all likelihood you cleaned it out well enough that the fans do not have to work very hard. There is almost zero chance that you killed a fan with compressed air, i have never heard of that happening, and have cleaned huge amounts of fans with compressed air, and never had a problem. In addition, many laptops have a warning signal, or will not boot, if the fan is broken/disconnected. You probably just did too good of a job cleaning

Ok, I really appreciate the vote of confidence. My concern stems from the fact that even with a game on that typically required the fan on high pretty much all the time, it doesn't even start (at least I don't hear it), and someone on the laptopvideo2go forum mentioned the possibility of compressed air damaging the fan motor.

 

[gsteinb88]

Its a possibility, but not a large one. If your computer locks up while playing a game, i would look into it, otherwise, dont worry. This comes from an overclocker who has frozen his computer more times than he can count because the temp was too high.

 

[Gaughtfried]

Just cram a sliver of paper in the vent. If the fan smashes into it, you'll know. The fan on my video's cards cooler is very silent; so much so that I have to use the finger test to make sure its on. But yeah. In order to save energy, the fans on a laptop will speed up and slow down according to the temperature of certain components. They should never be off though. If you're really that concerned, I'm pretty sure the BIOS has an option to set the speed of your laptop's fans.

 

[Denim]

I can't comment on laptop PC's because I have never looked at the fan on one, but I believe I know why the concern with compressed air and PC fans. On a case fan in a desktop PC, compressed air will make the fan spin faster than it normally spins with the fan motor. The fan (or bearings) start singing. The faster it spins, the louder the fan sings. This will ruin the bearings and the fan will burn up shortly afterwards. (Sometimes sooner, sometimes later) I've seen people get carried away with this and try to get the fan to sing as loud as they can.

I suspect the same problem can occur with laptops.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denim I can't comment on laptop PC's because I have never looked at the fan on one, but I believe I know why the concern with compressed air and PC fans. On a case fan in a desktop PC, compressed air will make the fan spin faster than it normally spins with the fan motor. The fan (or bearings) start singing. The faster it spins, the louder the fan sings. This will ruin the bearings and the fan will burn up shortly afterwards. (Sometimes sooner, sometimes later) I've seen people get carried away with this and try to get the fan to sing as loud as they can. I suspect the same problem can occur with laptops.

Yes, I suggest using an finger to hold the fan in place when you use compressed air on it. And although I have found it hard to do anything stupid with compressed air, I just figured it would not harm to remind you not to inhale it or try to get "high" off of it, because it can kill you.

 

[jim3535]

The air alone wouldn't kill the fan. However, it is theoretically possible for lots of dust or other debris jamming it and preventing it from spinning up. Personally I wouldn't do the compressed air into a laptop since I normally try to blow the dust out of the system instead of deeper into it.

It might be a good idea to have an authorized service place open it up and dust it out for you.

If the fan really is dead, then your laptop should get hotter than normal when playing said games. While this can be a problem and damage stuff, it may just trip the thermal protections and power off when it gets too hot.

 

[Illah]

Laptop fans are typically 40mm low-RPM blower style fans. Blowers have blades perpendicular to spin, as opposed to the angled fins of conventional fans. This blade design makes them pretty susceptible to incoming air. If you were just blasting compressed air into the heatsing outlet of your laptop then that thing would have been spinning like mad!

Not to be pessimistic, but it's a possibility with those type of fans. It's not a heft 120mm thing in there.

Also just FYI - dirty heatsinks can make your computer hotter, but that in NO WAY will affect performance. If it get's REALLY hot it'll lock up or cause errors, but otherwise it makes no difference at all.

--Illah

 

[Denim]

I try to clean my PC out at least twice a year with an air compressor. I've never used the little cans, so I don't know how the pressure compares. The dust goes everywhere when I blow it out, so it's done outside. If you can open up a laptop to blow enough air at it, then the dust will get removed.

As for air not damaging a fan, I have to disagree with that statement. However, I will say that you need to get the fan spinning really fast to heat up the bearings beyond normal operation. (I always assumed it was bearing wear that caused the problem. If someone has facts otherwize, shout out.)

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Speaking from experience, I will settle this debate: compressed air can f-up the fan on a laptop computer.

If you search head-fi's archives, you will see that I have had nothing but troubles with this thing. Never, ever, buy Dell. Also, I hate it. I guess I'll have to find out how much a fan replacement costs.

 

[Illah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneeyedhobbit Speaking from experience, I will settle this debate: compressed air can f-up the fan on a laptop computer.

That was my point - a tiny 40mm blower-style fan in a laptop is nothing like a 80mm, 92mm, for 120mm fan used in a 'real' computer. They can't take the same stresses and while a few puffs of compressed air won't do it if the guy was just blasting all hell in there then that's a different story. Compressed air blows at very high speed and it'll only take a few seconds to accellerate a 40mm blower to many thousand RPM.

--Illah

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illah That was my point - a tiny 40mm blower-style fan in a laptop is nothing like a 80mm, 92mm, for 120mm fan used in a 'real' computer. They can't take the same stresses and while a few puffs of compressed air won't do it if the guy was just blasting all hell in there then that's a different story. Compressed air blows at very high speed and it'll only take a few seconds to accellerate a 40mm blower to many thousand RPM. --Illah

I was "the guy" and I tried to be gentle as all get out--very light short "bursts."