This post describes how to take apart and clean up the dust off Dell Inspiron 51xx series laptops, resulting in considerably helping their cooling system.

1 The Effect of Cleaning Up Dust

Over the years, I noticed Inspiron 51xx laptops tend to overheat and I wondered whether cleaning the cooling system might solve the problem. It was striking to see that removing only what little dust I could find made such a significant change: while the temperature used to be something like 55°C at 1.5 GHz and exceeded the critical 72°C at 3 GHz before the cleaning, it now averages around 33°C at 1.5 GHz and around 45°C at 3 GHz. So it was well worth it.

2 Dismantling

There are several steps to be taken which are far from obvious. Throughout the operation, you should only need a size 1 cross blade screwdriver and a size 2 bit screwdriver:

1. Open up the screen lid as far as you can, so you can lever the blue plate underneath the display open with the help of a bit screwdriver in the notch on the right.
2. Remove the 2 keyboard screws. Mind the connector when taking it out.
3. Lift the shiny plate on the right, which covers the fan (and the CPU we can't see yet). There's only one long screw to remove here.
4. In spite of what other guides might suggest, you'll need to remove the palm rest, therefore the screen, before you can get to the fan. In order to remove the screen, unplug the connector: Then, remove the 4 screws near the top, and the 2 screws at the rear: This should be enough to take out the screen.
5. You may now remove the palm rest by removing underneath it the 12 screws holding it up. There are 2 screws on the top as well
6. Removing the fan means removing the CPU from its socket. You need to:
   1. Loosen the four screws keeping the assembly in place.
   2. Unlock the CPU socket.
   3. Lift the assembly well upwards with the help of the pull-tab (which is red on the picture – the original one is flimsy and broke, so it was replaced with a red fabric ribbon).

3 References

• Dell Inspiron – A Wikipedia article mentioning the issue
• Microprocessor Thermal-Cooling Assembly – With a few hints about dismantling the laptops
• Dell Inspiron 5100 Overheating Problem – More information addressing the problem