Fried laptop

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potapo_gourouni
Azure Drake
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Hey guys! I have a problem with my laptop, and i was wondering if anyone here (that is not a computer engineer), ever tried to open one.
SHall i try it? or i'll probably make more bad than good?? :)
Already found a video that is showing how my model is getting dissasembled..
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void
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Well, I have this laptop and clean the fan every other month with air...
Image
...I'm 100% certain that it wouldn't have lasted for the 6 years it already has if I didn't.
IMO the most important thing about opening one is that it's easy to do so, for example the Sony VAIO laptops are a fucking pain in the ass to open because you have to disassemble the entire thing in a million steps and keep track of lots of screws...
I got lucky that I have to unscrew like 4 screws and can be done with it in 5 minutes. So in my case it's certainly worth it.
In the end it's up to you what you'll do, also depends on what you want to fix and as I said the difficulty of it all. I would also never touch the inner parts of the thing with my bare hands because you can never know if you get zapped and end in a casket. :P
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Quirinus
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usually laptops are very compact, so you can't really mess up anything when you open it.

you didn't say what the problem is, so it's hard to give advice.
"but if it's simple it's not that hard" - Quirinus 2017
"small things like this are not a big deal" - Quirinus 2017
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potapo_gourouni
Azure Drake
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Yeahhhh... The problem is the heating, which comes from the dust and the thermal paste i think.. I watched few videos and read some comments... Its a total pain in the ass to dissasemble my hp dv6 model... I think i'll give it to an expert to make the job. O-)
Thnx for the info!!

edit: and here i remembered, when i watched a video of how a guy was pulling the dust from his laptop with a vacuum and so i did it. At the next start up my laptop shutted down in 1 minute cause of cooling fan's malfunction :)
Somehow i fixed it by pushing the fan with a toothpick between this small openings for the air... haha. i got shocked back then :)
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suchbalance
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Yes the fans are not designed to spin in both directions, you got lucky that you didn't break it. What void said is true, if you own a laptop you have to spend some time every few months to open it and blow compressed air through the heatsink (while holding the fan blades down with your hand). Every year I like to take the fans out entirely and clean any congealed dust with some q-tips and blow compressed air + use a pin to clean out the heatsinks. Replacing the thermal compound can help sometimes too, but if you aren't comfortable with opening the case I wouldn't suggest it as something to try.

The only problem is that, as you have already seen yourself, western popular brand laptops are always a nightmare to disassemble for no obvious reason other than to discourage stupidity. If you're not confident in following a disassembly guide / youtube video then take it to a registered service point.

In the future when it's time for a replacement I advise you to buy taiwanese laptops - best bang for your cash and easy to maintain. Two recommendations:

- If you don't care about looks that much and only want performance & superior cooling - look for a Clevo. That name probably means nothing to you right now, but they have been the leading brand of performance laptops in the world for ages, rebranded and resold around the world by many companies. Just have to find a Greek reseller or buy from a continental European one (probably better :lol). They always take exactly 4-6 bolts to open the case and you get direct access to the drive bays, ram slots and fans which are also easy to disassemble. Not to mention it's very easy to remove the CPU + GPU copper heatsinks and it's the only brand of machines on which doing a repaste is quite easy.

- If you want good form + factor MSI is a good brand. Go with the GS series of slim laptops and avoid purchasing the model with the top NVIDIA card offered. I.e. current line go for 970m vs 980m and older line opt out for the 860m vs the 870m.




There are also some software tweaks you can do on newer generation laptops:
- you can undervolt your CPU, basically maintaining the same performance but shaving off several degrees under sustained heavy load. This is easily done with Intel's own program. I always run -60mV on my machines for example.

- You can undervolt the GPU for the same effect as the above with nvidia inspector, but to a much smaller degree such as -6mV. The temperature gains are not as big, compared to the CPU, but still worth it given the nature of mobile graphics cards.
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potapo_gourouni
Azure Drake
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1000 thnx guys!!
Very useful information. Didn't have a clue about some.
I'll ask the expert to do this undervolt also if he can.
Thnx again!!
UncleGrimjerk
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I like mash potatoes and corn with my fried laptops. The trickiest part is getting the breading even.