How "hard" is it to open up a laptop to clean/fix?

K

Kuo

Gawd
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Jun 7, 2001
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I know it's a bit of a general and subjective question... but I have a Sager gaming laptop that's started overheating after 2-3 hours of gaming. Kind of getting annoyed at it. I just ordered a laptop cooling pad, but I would prefer just "fixing" this if I could because I do travel a lot, and carrying an extra cooling pad is not something I'm too enthused about.

I've built many PCs. But I have never opened up a laptop. And the thing is expensive enough I don't want to accidentally break something either. Are laptops (and/or Sager specifically) made to be easily opened up, cleaned/dusted... maybe even reapply some thermal paste?!
 
It REALLY depends on the laptop. Some notebooks are a breeze and can come apart with a few screws. Some require hours and broken plastic. I would recommend just using an air compressor or canned air and just blowing out the vents in the reverse direction that they normally vent.
 
Take pictures as you disassemble it. It seems stupid and a pain in the ass but it can be helpful when you put it back together.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Take pictures as you disassemble it. It seems stupid and a pain in the ass but it can be helpful when you put it back together.
Click to expand...

This is good information: If you don't have a professional service guide to go off of, use your camera at every step of the process.
 
I have an A4 sized pad made of cut up fridge magnets. On top of that I lay a piece of paper.

On that paper I draw a crude layout of each "layer" I go through. That way, when I remove screws from, say, the bottom, I lay the screws out on the magnetic pad according to their actual layout.

That way you don't confuse longer and shorter screws. This is important, because you can accidentally use an overly long screw where it wasn't supposed to be and puncture something. Only danger, really.
 
It may help specifying which Sager gaming laptop?; some are easier to open up than others. There may or may not be some disassembly videos online for your laptop.
 
Its very likely theres a video guide on youtube for your laptop. check it out.
 
I have an old Alienware and removing the bottom plate gives you access to all the fans and coolers, so you can pull the coolers and clean the fans in minutes.
I did an HP for a friend and you have to pull the motherboard out which means total disassembly.
 
Stoly said:
Its very likely theres a video guide on youtube for your laptop. check it out.
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Definitely look for an ifixit or youtube teardown video.

BE VERY CAREFUL with air compressor pressure, you can spin the bearings right out of the fan or break blades if it is high.
 
The problem with laptops is that they aren't as standardized as a pc, when it comes to screw count and placement. Some are harder to open than others. Plastic clips will be your bane. Have a phone screen repair kit handy, those plastic picks are super useful.

I'd say if you're comfortable with replacing a cooler on a graphics card (with, say, a waterblock), then opening a laptop shouldn't be that much higher on the difficulty scale.

The danger part are the fragile thin ribbons used to connect the keyboard/TouchPad to the mainboard. Some makers give that ribbon more slack than others.

Like other have said, youtube and such. Someone probably have opened your model or a similar model (with basic design).
 
I can't recall what this one is, but I think it was an HP I was working on, board has to come out to access the GPU/CPU coolers and fan,
laptop motherboard.JPG


And this is the Alienware, everything is right there under the bottom panel,
IMG_0307.JPG
 
KazeoHin said:
I would recommend just using an air compressor or canned air and just blowing out the vents in the reverse direction that they normally vent
Click to expand...
This might have already been mentioned, but wouldn't this technique cause the fans to turn in reverse, thus causing damage?
 
Nah. Or, "it depends". I've taken several apart. My son's laptop was overheating and, rather than dig it open, a pita, I grabbed a dry air can, put the straw in the nearest corner of the vent, and gave a blast. The fan spun (loudly), and a cloud of dust flew out. 3-4 repeats and no dust. Then sprayed around/under keys, as needed. It immediately ran cool.

Obvious warnings apply: look at what you're doing, and don't blast large objects deeper into the machine.

Taking them apart is not hard...but it is detail oriented. C'mon, someone had to put it together, right?
 
About pressure cleaning the fan - a few times I've broken a fan partially while dusting. By broke I mean the buildup of crud was so significant and the fan so old, that after just one careful cleaning it started to buzz much louder than it had previously.
Just a heads up.
And the starting point for like 90% of laptops is removing the bezel that is between the keyboard and the screen hinges. Often times that bezel has hinge covers integrated. Once you take that out, you can decide whether to remove the keyboard and dig from the top, or turn it over and remove the bottom screws first.
 
I'd recommend cleaning fans with a soft cloth instead of compressed gases. If you do it properly there is very little chance of damage.

Take the bottom panel off and see, most Sagers (Clevos) are fairly easy to clean out.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Take pictures as you disassemble it. It seems stupid and a pain in the ass but it can be helpful when you put it back together.
Click to expand...

Especially the damn screws. You can have anywhere from 2 to 50 different size screws in there.

Top Tip: Take pictures, and scotch tape the screws to the pictures where they are supposed to go.

The absolute worst thing you can do is put a long screw where a short one is supposed to go. You can do anywhere from no damage, or possibly puncturing screens, keyboards, batteries, etc.. It can get VERY ugly if you put long screws in short holes.

Yeah, yeah. I know. "Thats what she said"
 
^^ O Yea. The screws. The goddamned screws. Definitely keep those screws tagged. Some can look very similar with diff threading etc.
 
+1 for those damn screws. And they are specific to the laptop too so there's a low chance of having them fit other laptops.

2k3eblade said:
Change the thermal paste and pads while you are in there.
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Where does One go about buying reasonably priced thermal pads that aren't shipped direct from china? I have only seen items with a ship time of 28-1836 days (slight exaggeration) or ones that cost multi-dollars per cm square before the outrageous flat rate shipping.
 
It should also be mentioned that we are in one of two times of year (fall and spring) where we see a marked increase (200-500%) in the failure rate of rotating computer parts.

Cooling fans in laptops are probably #1.

Fans, cd drives and hard drives are the big 3.

It's caused by temp and humidity changes.
 
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