How to clean or replace cooling fan in Dell Latitude D820 laptop

If your Dell Latitude D820 laptop runs very hot and noisy, most likely it’s time to clean or even replace the cooling fan. Thanks to Bite my bytes for the picture and some instructions.

The cooling fan in this model is buried deep inside the laptop so be ready to take the whole thing apart. This is not for beginners.

Here are a few typical cooling module related problems:

1. The laptop fan runs louder than before, it comes on more often. If that’s the case, most likely you can clean the cooling fan and heat sink without taking the whole thing apart. You can get a limited access to the cooling fan if you remove the keyboard. Spray canned air inside the fan until all dust is gone.

2. The laptop runs very hot and shuts down on its own. The fan is loud and works most of the time. If that’s the case, most likely the heat sink is clogged with dust as it shown on the picture above. You’ll have to disassemble the laptop and remove the dust buildup.

3. When the cooling fan starts, it makes grinding noise. If that’s the case, most likely the fan is bad and has to be replaced. You can purchase a new fan here for less than $20. Again, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop.

You’ll find step-by-step disassembly instructions in the Service Manual for Dell Latitude D820 laptops (not in the user’s manual as it was mentioned on Bite my bytes).

While inside the laptop, you can replace thermal compound between the heat sink and processor.

 

 

Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.

 

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