Laptop Fan Not Working Well

"GT" wrote in message
...
"Neil" wrote in message
. net...
I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 which is 1.25 years old. When I first got it,
the fan worked great, and you could feel the air being blown out the back.
Now you can't anymore, and the laptop's getting very hot. There was a lot
of dust on the intake vents, and I blew the dust off of those, but it
didn't help. I'm guessing either the fan is burnt out or damaged, or it's
caked with dust.

I guess my only option would be to open the case and blow dust off the
fan, but I was trying to avoid opening up the case. Any other ideas?

I poured a cup of tea over my 6400 a few months back and had to take it
all apart - getting it open is easy - 1 small tipped cross-headed screw
driver to undo the screws and a small normal screw driver to prize bits
off. I can have my 6400 openned up in about 2 minutes now! You remove most
of the screws on the bottom of the case, then work with the computer the
'normal' way up - the base stays where it is and you remove parts from the
top - first the strip under the screen, then the keyboard, then the grey
main 'lid' - that is enough to get you to the CPU cooling arrangement. -
instructions are on the Dell website - go to support, then use the 'tag
number' on the bottom of your PC. This PC can't get onto javascript sites,
so I can't find the page to link for you, but I can post instructions here
if you want - let me know.

I've found it - on this page, follow 3 sets of instructions: the hinge
cover, keyboard then palm rest:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/sm/index.htm