Laptop fans do have a rev limit
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This, my 15yo "social" laptop, spends much of its run time on soft surfaces, such as laps. As a consequence, I need to regularly open it up and pull the dust bunnies out of its airways. (I run a top bar temp monitor, so I can see when it's not breathing too well.) This morning I got to it. Of all the machines I've had to clean, it's among the most accessible. Unclip battery, 3 captive screws and 4 sliding clips to remove the keyboard. Pry up the "switch cover" above the keyboard. 2 more screws and the fan is out. As expected, major dust bunny almost blocking the airflow from fan into heatsink fins. Vacuum cleaner made short work of that. Brushed out the fan as best I could without disassembling it, decided to finish with the vacuum. Applied to outlet area, fan spins up to "normal" sort of revs. Vacuum applied to fan input face, fan sounds ready for takeoff. Sure enough, a clatter, and I now have an (n-1)-bladed fan. :-O Still appears to work, doesn't sound any different, and the CPU temp is about 15C lower. Might not survive too many repeats of that adventure, though.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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This, my 15yo "social" laptop, spends much of its run time on soft surfaces, such as laps. As a consequence, I need to regularly open it up and pull the dust bunnies out of its airways. (I run a top bar temp monitor, so I can see when it's not breathing too well.) This morning I got to it. Of all the machines I've had to clean, it's among the most accessible. Unclip battery, 3 captive screws and 4 sliding clips to remove the keyboard. Pry up the "switch cover" above the keyboard. 2 more screws and the fan is out. As expected, major dust bunny almost blocking the airflow from fan into heatsink fins. Vacuum cleaner made short work of that. Brushed out the fan as best I could without disassembling it, decided to finish with the vacuum. Applied to outlet area, fan spins up to "normal" sort of revs. Vacuum applied to fan input face, fan sounds ready for takeoff. Sure enough, a clatter, and I now have an (n-1)-bladed fan. :-O Still appears to work, doesn't sound any different, and the CPU temp is about 15C lower. Might not survive too many repeats of that adventure, though.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
I had the heatsink work partially loose on my desktop, and as a result the CPU temperature rose to around 100C. But I reseated the heatsink and it's still soldiering on, tough old birds, these chips.
Paul Sanders. If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal. Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.
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This, my 15yo "social" laptop, spends much of its run time on soft surfaces, such as laps. As a consequence, I need to regularly open it up and pull the dust bunnies out of its airways. (I run a top bar temp monitor, so I can see when it's not breathing too well.) This morning I got to it. Of all the machines I've had to clean, it's among the most accessible. Unclip battery, 3 captive screws and 4 sliding clips to remove the keyboard. Pry up the "switch cover" above the keyboard. 2 more screws and the fan is out. As expected, major dust bunny almost blocking the airflow from fan into heatsink fins. Vacuum cleaner made short work of that. Brushed out the fan as best I could without disassembling it, decided to finish with the vacuum. Applied to outlet area, fan spins up to "normal" sort of revs. Vacuum applied to fan input face, fan sounds ready for takeoff. Sure enough, a clatter, and I now have an (n-1)-bladed fan. :-O Still appears to work, doesn't sound any different, and the CPU temp is about 15C lower. Might not survive too many repeats of that adventure, though.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
I've had a Framework laptop for a few months now for personal use. I chose it because so many of the design choices were for simplifying maintainability and upgradability (sp?).
As an example getting to the fan to clean it - or even replace it is simple. And the same for other components. e.g. Heatsink and Fan Replacement Guide - Framework Guides[^] I also go the lap desk route, one with a lift so the underside of the machine is always clear. So far it is so new that I haven't needed to clean it yet. Time will tell. -
This, my 15yo "social" laptop, spends much of its run time on soft surfaces, such as laps. As a consequence, I need to regularly open it up and pull the dust bunnies out of its airways. (I run a top bar temp monitor, so I can see when it's not breathing too well.) This morning I got to it. Of all the machines I've had to clean, it's among the most accessible. Unclip battery, 3 captive screws and 4 sliding clips to remove the keyboard. Pry up the "switch cover" above the keyboard. 2 more screws and the fan is out. As expected, major dust bunny almost blocking the airflow from fan into heatsink fins. Vacuum cleaner made short work of that. Brushed out the fan as best I could without disassembling it, decided to finish with the vacuum. Applied to outlet area, fan spins up to "normal" sort of revs. Vacuum applied to fan input face, fan sounds ready for takeoff. Sure enough, a clatter, and I now have an (n-1)-bladed fan. :-O Still appears to work, doesn't sound any different, and the CPU temp is about 15C lower. Might not survive too many repeats of that adventure, though.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
I take my desktop outside every 6 months and blow out the case. I learned (the hard way) to NOT do it in the house. I also learned to stick a bamboo skewer in each fan before blowing air on it, as it's very possible to overtorque a fan and break it. While on the subject of desktops, my current case has the power supply on the bottom. DO NOT buy one, as they suck up every bit of dust on the floor. I built a stand for it, so the case is 8" (20cm) off the floor -- this cut dust accumulation by 75%.
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To add to what the others say, the loss of a blade will affect the fan balance, which will likely also affect the fan bearings detrimentally - remember that fans spin at around 2KHz and have tiny, tiny metal balls running in ABS races. The balance problem may also hasten the departure of other blades, which will likely jam the fan and prevent it turning at all. If you leave the lappie alone for even a moment, turn it off until you have a new fan installed!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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"Fans spin at 2kHz" - you sure about that? 120,000 rpm? "Love justice, you who rule the world". Dante.
I like my computers really cool. Or, I'm an idiot and made a mistake. I suspect the latter.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I like my computers really cool. Or, I'm an idiot and made a mistake. I suspect the latter.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Simple kinda mistake. I tested a 40mm fan, 12V, using a magnet and Hall sensor. Got about 6,000 rpm (in free air).
Tch! You know that accurate fan speed testing can only be done in a vacuum ... :-D
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Tch! You know that accurate fan speed testing can only be done in a vacuum ... :-D
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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This, my 15yo "social" laptop, spends much of its run time on soft surfaces, such as laps. As a consequence, I need to regularly open it up and pull the dust bunnies out of its airways. (I run a top bar temp monitor, so I can see when it's not breathing too well.) This morning I got to it. Of all the machines I've had to clean, it's among the most accessible. Unclip battery, 3 captive screws and 4 sliding clips to remove the keyboard. Pry up the "switch cover" above the keyboard. 2 more screws and the fan is out. As expected, major dust bunny almost blocking the airflow from fan into heatsink fins. Vacuum cleaner made short work of that. Brushed out the fan as best I could without disassembling it, decided to finish with the vacuum. Applied to outlet area, fan spins up to "normal" sort of revs. Vacuum applied to fan input face, fan sounds ready for takeoff. Sure enough, a clatter, and I now have an (n-1)-bladed fan. :-O Still appears to work, doesn't sound any different, and the CPU temp is about 15C lower. Might not survive too many repeats of that adventure, though.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
I usually use freeze spray canned air to push out the bunnies (keeping a greater distance to avoid too much freeze). Other things I have seen work have been photography cleaning tools and puffers - and they have a laptop vacuum which has a finer tip - so you can control where the suck comes from better. Many years ago - where I worked, we cleaned an entire PC in the freon bath I had access to. While it works great - I don't think you can do this anymore. It is apparently not good for the environment.
