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Does your Dell Inspiron 5100 run hot and shuts down by itself? Apparently it’s time to take it apart and clean the cooling fan. These instructions will help you take apart Dell Inspiron 1100, 5100 and 5150 series laptops.
If you own a Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook, you may need to do this periodically. Otherwise you may find that your notebook will overheat and shutdown unexpectedly…The best way to solve this is to clean the fan. The weakness in this notebook model is the ventilation fan cannot be accessed from the outside. You have to take apart your notebook.
Here’s another guide for cleaning a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, similar to Inspiron 5100 and 5150.
The cooling fan makes noise and has to be replaced? You can find a new one here really cheap, just search for Dell 5100 fan.
While you are inside the laptop, it’s a good idea to replace thermal grease on the processor.
1. Remove the heat sink.
2. Wipe the old thermal grease off of the heat sink and processor.
3. Apply new thermal grease on the processor.
4. Install the heat sink back in place.
You’ll find more detailed instructions for replacing the thermal grease in the service manual.
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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June 20th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I followed the instructions to clean the fan on a Inspiron 5100. Several dirty q-tips but nothing major. After re-assembly power lite comes on, fan runs, DVD drive kicks on for a second, then nothing else. Any suggestions??
Jon
June 21st, 2008 at 9:27 am
Jon Gill,
- Test the laptop with an external monitor attached to the VGA port. If the laptop displays video on the external monitor but internal LCD is not working, check the video cable. Make sure the cable is properly connected to the motherboard. Maybe you accidentally pulled the cable and there is no signal going to the LCD screen.
- Did you remove memory for some reason? If you did, make sure it’s properly connected to the slot. Try reseating the memory module.
- Here’s another guess. Make sure that all screws are located in proper places. If you place a longer screw into a shorter hole, it may touch and short the motherboard. Make sure all screws you removed during the disassembly process are positioned correctly.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Thanks – this worked great for me. There was a large amount of dust built up along the heatsink. I removed this and now my 5100 is running quieter than i ever remembered.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Julie Dahlberg,
Here’s what you can do for preventing the same problem happening in the future. Buy a can of compressed air and once in a while spray it inside the cooling fan. This simple procedure will help you keep the cooling assembly clean.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Can you clairfy what you mean by ’spray it inside the cooling fan’… from what angle? From the rear or from the side.
Thanks!
I take my 5150 apart once a year and clean out the dust matt the has formed. It is a real drag, no less than 20 screws or something.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Tom,
Usually, I spray from the bottom first, right into the fan grill at a 90 degree angle. After most of dust is removed, I spray into the grill on the side and then repeat both steps if needed. Spray air until the dust stops coming out.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:38 am
I have a DELL inspiron 5150, 512mram, 3.06GHz. I downloaded http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html. While running a stress test using prime95. while the cpu is at 100% the cpu temp peaked at 72%. What would the normal Peak temp be at 100% and at idle.
I intend to dissassemble and clean my laptop in the comming days. I am very interested in the difference this will make.
Regards Mark
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I want to clean up my lap top, but I have lost my restoration disk, where can I get another one from?
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I want to do this without spending a bundle of money!!
August 25th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I followed all directions for cleaning fan, changing thermal grease, and it still shuts off in 5 seconds. I tried to boot from a usb stick, and same thing. What do I look for next?
August 26th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
mike,
Can you see the cooling fan spinning? Maybe you have a faulty fan?
October 5th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
my dell 5100 laptop was coming on for a second then going off now there is no power at all new battery fully charged and new power cord what causes this
October 7th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
mark,
If the laptop shows no signs of life with fully charged battery and new AC adapter, most likely you have a problem with the motherboard.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I cleaned the heat sink fins on my 5100.
The fan was running all the time on low and go to high with anything intense going on. The air coming out the back was quite hot. I took the CPU/fan/heat sink assembly out and blew it out with compressed air. There appeared to only be a thin film of dust over the inside of the fins. Not too bad.
After cleaning, the fan doesn’t run much at all. when the machine has been on for several minutes the fan will come on for a few seconds and then turn off again for a minute or two before coming on again. It really runs a lot cooler and the air coming out when the fan is blowing is much cooler. The fan took so long to start the first time that I thought I had left it unplugged or broken something. I took it back apart to check the fan plug and then had to leave it on much longer before it came on the first time. I have had it since it was new and I can’t remember the fan ever turning off completely. Probably just my memory going bad.
Thanks
Now if I could just get some more range from my internal wireless when I am in Hotels. Might have to hack an external antenna.
Gary
November 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Thanks for guide. I tried to do this myself by attacking from the bottom with no success. After following your instructions I pulled a dust clump the size of a small animal out of the fan cavity. Runs quiet and cool now.