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In this guide I will help you to remove and replace the cooling fan in a Dell Latitude D600 laptop. The cooling fan in this model is buried deep inside the laptop under the top cover. Also you can use this guide for cleaning the cooling module and removing dust from the heat sink and fan.
If your laptops shuts down on its own without any warning, most likely it happens because of overheating. Make sure the cooling fan works and the heat sink is not clogged with dust. Replace the fan if it failed or clean the heat sink if it’s clogged.
Before you start, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.
When you are replacing the cooling fan, it is not necessary to remove memory, hard drive, wireless card or optical drive. I did that only because I was upgrading the laptop.
STEP 1.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 2.
Lift up the switch cover with a small screwdriver. Continue removing the cover with your fingers.
STEP 3.
When the switch cover is removed you can access two screws securing the keyboard. Remove these screws.
STEP 4.
Lift up the keyboard and access the cable. Disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.
Search for new keyboards here.
STEP 5.
Remove three (red) screws securing display hinges.
Remove one (yellow) screw securing the video cable ground.
Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.
STEP 6.
Remove and replace the LCD assembly.
Take a look at this guide for the LCD screen removal instructions.
STEP 7.
Remove three screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect the touchpad cable from the motherboard.
STEP 8.
Start separating the top cover from the base with your fingers.
STEP 9.
Remove the top cover assembly.
STEP 10.
Now you can clean the cooling module (fan and heat sink) using compressed air. In order to replace the fan, continue laptop disassembly.
Loosen four screws securing the heat sink.
Lift up and remove the heat sink.
STEP 11.
Remove two screws securing the cooling fan.
Disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.
STEP 12.
Remove and replace the cooling fan with a new one. You can find a new replacement fan for Dell Latitude D600 laptop here.
July 12th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
@ David D,
Does it have enough memory installed?
You can start using the laptop and at the same time watch the fan activity. Eventually the fan has to start and run for a while. Does it start at all in your laptop?
July 10th, 2012 at 5:26 am
My old Dell 600 runs painfully slow and this is with both win xp and when i boot ubuntu, so my suspicion is that this a hardware prob. The unit seems a bit hot as well so I’m going to use your tutorial to open it up and blow out any dust in the fan. My question is what’s the best way to test the fan with the laptop cover removed?
November 25th, 2011 at 10:52 am
TENGO PROBLEMA CON LA TARJETA MADRE DE LA LAPTO DELL LATITUD CPX NO PASA CORRIENTE AL VENTILADOR EL MISMO ESTA BUENO LO PROBE Y FUNCIONA NECESITO COMO UMA GUIA EL DIAGRAMA DE DICHA LAPTO GRACIAS
ATT
JOSE AGUIRRE
October 8th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
My boyfriend replaced the cooling fan for his Dell laptop, now he receives a caps lock error code upon start up, though I don’t believe it will start up. Is there a way to fix this? How do we fix it?
September 4th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Terry Storie,
You’ll find laptop disassembly instructions in Dell Latitude C600/C500 Series Service Manual
September 4th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
I need to know how to install the cooling fan in a Dell latitude…”C-600″, instead of the D-600
September 1st, 2010 at 5:13 am
Thanks a lot for this. Very helpful!
August 24th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Very useful, fan is now replaced, but I ran into another problem. The display hinges are now locked so that the display is in the vertical position. Any hints gratefully received
Thanks, Jerry
July 12th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Great tutorial. It was of great help to me. I have just cleansed my laptop’s fan and it now runs much more quiet.
THANK YOU.
June 6th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I just found this and it is quite helpful thank you.
I think is a Dell design by default. The fan will spin up when needed but not run all the time. I have found some software via a google search that allows the fan to run at full speed all the time, so far it has dropped my temp by 10 degrees and counting.