Laptop fan died but temperature seems fine with cooling pad... is it enough?

[zooeyflores]

Hi all, many thanks in advance!

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545, the fan stopped working months ago so I got a cooling pad with little fans that connect to the USB. It seemed to not get too hot, but then I read that external fans weren't really good enough and I could be shortening my laptop's life : P

So I thought, okay I'll buy the fan and replace it myself, but the tutorial video shows you have to take almost EVERYTHING out and then put back in just to change the little fan. (And my repair estimates are close to the cost of getting a new laptop.)

FINALLY, I got a program called RealTemp that tells me my internal temperatures are usually around 55, with 70 C being the max they've recorded.

Is this good enough? It tells me I'm never closer than 30 degrees to "maximum".

Should I just leave it like this or should I try to take it all apart and change the fan?

Thanks in advance.

[Murf]

Welcome to CTH

Yes you have to pretty much take it all apart to get to the fan. HERE is your service manual. Are you sure the fan quit completely? Usually if it does the processor may overheat, as the fan blows air directly onto the processor. If you watch your temps you will be OK, I would not leave the laptop on 24/7 as it would sure over heat.

You may want to look into your BIOS SETUP, most will have a menu item that shows you the temperature. Generally the first screen will tell you which key to hit to get into SETUP.

[zooeyflores]

Thanks for the reply!

Well it hasn't really overheated except one day when the i felt it burning my legs a bit... (but I didn't have temperature check program till after, since then it's been stable in the 50s C.

I guess I will try and take it apart to replace myself, since I can't afford a tech...

My only question, isn't it pretty easy to mess up the computer doing the "take stuff apart then put it back" stages?

Or are all the parts designed to snap pretty easily in and out?

I just ask because it looks okay in the youtube videos, but I am not a professional.