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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.
September 21st, 2010 at 7:06 am
Just to chime in….
I had a friends Dell notebook shutting down due to overtemp; they bought external pad but no help….I offered to look into it and suggested they try replacing the heatsink assembly…..
I just purchased the replacement fan/heatsink assembly from Amazon. Dell no longer offered the unit. I researched quite a bit before ordering and was very confident I was all set.
I have replaced a screen or two, added memory, replaced keyboards, etc.
Luiz (March 5, 2010) commented on the “processor often pops out too…” seems to be what my problem was on initial removal of the original heatsink assembly. I found a white, square module about 1/2″ thick, with chips in the center, “stuck” to the bottom of the assembly. I didn’t think it could be the cpu module; assumed it is attached to the motherboard but on closer inspection and reading Luiz’s comments, I’m beginning to think that it is the cpu module? Anyone confirm this???
Anyway, I didn’t want to risk scraping it off (…not my Dell) and damaging it , so tried Just Answer and paid for some tech advice. It seemed that the person wasn’t really sure of himself and therefore, I finally gave up and returned the unit. PS>.reading the comments here I took just the fan assembly off and sure enough, 12 Q-tips later (…and 1 small animal) I re-assembled and the PC has been running fine ever since! Great website! I will refer to others….THANKS.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
It is not necessary to remove the heatsink assembly, and may not be that desirable. I’ve tried this with 3 dells this week and the processor often pops out too, risking bent pins. Easy to just remove the screws holding the fan in place, tilt back, and scrape the usually pelletized ball of gook of the heatsink. You can also blow with compressed air from outside the laptop (from the back left) to get 100% of the dust out.
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.
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
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 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
August 26th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
mike,
Can you see the cooling fan spinning? Maybe you have a faulty fan?
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 23rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I want to do this without spending a bundle of money!!
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?