Monday, May 2, 2011

Great news! I fixed the cooling fan in my laptop!

Great news! I fixed the cooling fan in my laptop.

Dell’s box never arrived, so I had to dust off my A+ training and repair my laptop myself. I had two clients depending on me to get their projects out and I couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

So I bought a fan off Ebay for $5.00 last week.
After the mailman delivered the fan this afternoon, I got straight to work on my laptop. The whole replacement took less than a half-hour, and I was surprised at how easy it was.

I admit I was a little nervous disassembling my computer. It got a little antsy when one of the clips that connected the wireless card popped off when I was separating the monitor from the motherboard, but I persevered, remembering everything I learned about PC repair from my MEOC training, going slow and taking note of how things were connected to each other.

When I got inside my computer’s case and took the old fan out, I learned why it wasn’t working. A huge block of dust was preventing the blades from spinning. That’s something I’ll have to check during routine maintenance next time.

Anyway, after I took the old fan out I put the new fan in, put the screws back in and reassembled the case. Inserted the Dell Diagnostics CD, hit F12, then did a diagnostic on the fan. Tests show the new fan is working perfectly, and the computer is working fine after doing some heavier processing tasks.
This was my first repair job on a PC I’m pretty pleased with my work. No marks on the case, and all the screws are in place they’re supposed to be. Maybe I could do this more regularly. Or do it for pay.


1 comment:

  1. Hey, congratulations Shawn! Nothing is more important than being as independent as you can be. But then a smart mind works in many areas. Trust me, this isn't something everybody can do! You did it and I'm happy for you and for us.

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