I have this old laptop that needed fixing, it was my Dad’s and it was on it’s last legs, the screen was flickering, the screen was also coming away. I kid you not, it had Sellotape holding it together.
With a lot of wrangling I managed to fix the screen, it meant prying the screen back and removing some screws. The flickering was caused by a short circuiting due to a frayed wire in the screens hinge. This meant that every time you moved the screen forwards or backwards the screen would flicker and in some cases get stuck.
Anyway I fixed it and you’re not reading this article because of that fault.
I only mention it because I wanted to illustrate what a bad state this laptop was in.
I fixed all the problems, upgraded the operating system from 32bit Vista to Win 8.1 Pro.
One problem remained.
Overheating and a really loud fan.
It became unusable, too loud and far too hot.
When I originally took it apart I couldn’t seem to find a way to get to the processor and fan. I gave up and was ready to either live with it or consign it to the rubbish heap.
Of course I could have taken it to a professional but the laptop is not worth that much I don’t think.
Then this morning whilst doing the housework I jokingly decided to stick the hover nozzle over each vent of the laptop.
I spent a good 10 minutes hovering through the vents, probably too much time that I felt foolish thinking something so simple could work.
Guess what.
It only blummin’ did.
Yes it worked – it’s cooler – especially over the fan and processor – I can feel cold air if I put my hand over the fan and at the vent at the battery.
Even the hard drive feels cooler.
In fact I’m writing this article on the very laptop I’m writing about.
Laptop is a Compaq Presario CQ70 if you are interested.