Everyone who has been actively using the laptop for more than one year has already faced the need to clean it from dust. This question is relevant especially in the light of the approaching summer and the heat that it brings with it. Many do not want to bring a fully functional laptop to the service, because one is sorry for the money, while others do not trust the masters and are afraid that they will remove serviceable parts and replace them with faulty ones. However, an operation such as cleaning a laptop can be done at home. Let's take a look at the main recommendations that should be followed in order for the laptop to work without problems after assembly.
Training
Before you begin to disassemble the laptop, you need to do some preparatory operations. It is advisable to watch a video that shows the process of cleaning the laptop and replacing the thermal paste specifically for your model. This will help you immediately see the pitfalls that may arise during the disassembly process. They can be hidden loops or inconspicuous screws. It will be useful to remember the order of what is being removed. For example, when cleaning an HP laptop, you often have to disassemble the entire case and even remove the motherboard.
Also, watching the video, you can see what exactly is used as consumables. In some laptops one thermal paste will suffice, in others it may require a thermal interface, popularly referred to as “rubber band” or “chewing gum” for similarity with this product. All this should be purchased in advance in the electronics store or on the radio market.
Antistatic
The main important stage of preparation will be the removal of static from your own hands, because even a small charge may be enough to damage sensitive electronics. It is unlikely that a simple layman has an antistatic bracelet. Therefore, you will have to be content with other proven options. There are several methods to remove static voltage before cleaning a laptop from dust:
- Using an antistatic spray. The simplest but effective method. Spray on hands before starting work and wait until it dries.
- Grounding the hands on the battery. You can make the simplest antistatic bracelet from a soft metal brush for dishes, which should be connected to a grounded metal, such as a heating system. A prerequisite is the lack of paint at the connection point.
- Wipe your hands with wet wipes. This method will allow you to get rid of static stress, but only for a while, until some moisture will remain on hand. It is not very convenient and partly problematic, so it is worth using it only as a last resort.
Work on cleaning the laptop from dust should not be carried out in clothing that quickly accumulates an electric charge. It includes wool and synthetics. It is advisable to be dressed in cotton wardrobe elements, this will further protect against static stress.
Disassembly sequence
First of all, the laptop must be disconnected from the power. After that, if the disassembled model has an external battery, you should remove it and only then start to unscrew the screws.
In many models, the screws located in different places of the case differ, so you need to remember exactly where one or another of them was located. This will help to assemble the laptop faster and without damage. Among the first disassembled items is usually a DVD-drive, if available, and a keyboard. Carefully disconnecting the cables, carefully following the position of the lock on them, you should remove all elements that interfere with further disassembly.
It must be remembered that the goal is to get to the cooling system for cleaning the laptop from dust and replacing thermal grease, and not to take apart the entire laptop, even out of interest. In some models, for this it is enough to remove one cover, in others it is necessary to completely disassemble the lower part of the case.
Dismantling the cooling system
After the case is disassembled to the point where the cooling system has become fully available, you should completely remove it from the motherboard. Next to the screws there is a numbering, when unscrewing them, you should strictly adhere to it, because otherwise there is a chance to damage the chip of the processor or video adapter, which will lead to expensive repairs.
When the cooling system is removed, you need to disconnect the fan from the copper tube and the radiator, then carefully wipe the old thermal grease and remove all dust from both the radiator and the fan, and from the case. This can be done with a soft brush. Throwing away the old thermal interface, if any, should be replaced with a similar one in thickness. In fact, the cleaning of the laptop itself is finished, it remains only to assemble it.
Thermal Paste Application
You should not think that the more thermal paste is applied, the better the heat will be conducted. The fact is that its task is to smooth out the roughness of the surfaces between which it is applied, and nothing more. Thermal conductivity, even for expensive thermal paste, is many times worse than for metal used in the cooling system itself. Therefore, it should be applied with a thin layer, evenly across the entire processor chip, bridge or video card.
If a laptop with a processor that has low heat dissipation, then any inexpensive thermal grease will do. Cleaning a laptop if the processor is quite powerful and involves the release of a large amount of heat, involves the use of proprietary options using metals that have a higher thermal conductivity index.
Cooling system installation
Assembly is carried out in the reverse order. Make sure that all the dust in the radiator grill is removed, and then attach the cooler in its place. When cleaning a laptop from dust and replacing thermal interfaces, when installing the cooling system in place and fixing it with screws, it is important to adhere to the same numbering, otherwise you can chip the corner of the crystal and kill an expensive processor, or even get to replace the chip, and such work costs quite expensive.
It is not necessary to tighten the screws with great effort. It is enough to twist them until they stop turning freely on the thread. So there will be no risk of breaking several turns, and the replacement of the cooling system in the near future will not be required.
Assembly and launch
Assemble the laptop in the reverse order to disassembling it. When connecting the cables, you should monitor the position of the locks. If they are not closed, the loop may fall out over time or depart during operation. And if you miss one of them and do not connect it to the right place, you will have to reassemble and reassemble the laptop. Therefore, the issue of assembly should be careful.
If the laptop has a built-in battery, then it may well not start after assembly. This is a protection system against accidental start in a disassembled state. To turn it on, you need to find the small button indicated in the service instructions, and click on it with a sharp object. In fact, the cleaning of the laptop is fully completed.
If the result did not live up to expectations
After cleaning the laptop, you can see that it did not begin to bask less, or even did not start at all. In this case, it’s better to trust the experts, because trying to rebuild it again, you can only aggravate the problem.
If the overheating does not disappear, then the matter may not be in the dried thermal paste, but in some kind of malfunction of the power circuit or the cooling system itself. In this case, cleaning the laptop will not help, only qualified repair is required.
In order to protect the device from a large amount of dust in the future, it is recommended to use it only on hard surfaces. If there is a need to operate it on a sofa, in bed or sitting on an armchair, then you should make a small stand that will not allow him to capture dust, which is certainly in the upholstery or blanket. Well, of course, you should regularly clean the laptop from dust in the future. The price of this service, if it cannot be performed independently, usually does not exceed 1000 rubles, and this is much less than the cost of repairing it in case of failure due to overheating.