Laptop issues

Hey everyone,

I’m having some issues with my laptop...

Actually, I have a few problems on my hands, though I’m sure we'll get them sorted eventually.😁

But let's start with this...

Why on earth does the fan—or whatever that component is—start kicking in constantly? Even when I’m under virtually zero load, I’m stuck listening to this constant "whooshing" sound and general racket.

Right now, I'm barely doing anything, yet the second I try to watch an mp4 file, it happens...

If I were actually playing a game, I wouldn't even think twice about it, but this? This is ridiculous.

Any help?

First off, you could have mentioned which laptop you're rocking, how old it is, and if you've ever actually cleaned it out. Also, is this some new behavior, or has it been acting like this forever?

And look... there are laptops where the fan kicks in even when you're barely doing anything. Whether yours falls into that category depends on you answering my first set of questions.

FYI, watching mp4 files is a moderately demanding task that puts a decent load on the CPU or GPU (depending on your specs), so it’s hardly surprising the fan starts spinning.

darkowl72 said:First off, you could have mentioned which laptop you're rocking, how old it is, and if you've ever actually cleaned it out. Also, is this some new behavior, or has it been acting like this forever?

And look... there are laptops where the fan kicks in even when you're barely doing anything. Whether yours falls into that category depends on you answering my first set of questions.

FYI, watching mp4 files is a moderately demanding task that puts a decent load on the CPU or GPU (depending on your specs), so it’s hardly surprising the fan starts spinning.

My bad...

Dell Inspiron N5110....

Exactly 4 years old.

Never cleaned it..

I don't remember exactly, but I don't think it started immediately...

The easiest move is just dropping it off at a repair shop for a deep clean. But if you actually know your way around hardware, just hop on YouTube and look up how to open and clean your laptop yourself. You’ll easily save yourself a hundred or maybe even 150 bucks $67...

Do that, and your problems should be solved...

darkowl72 said:The easiest move is just dropping it off at a repair shop for a deep clean. But if you actually know your way around hardware, just hop on YouTube and look up how to open and clean your laptop yourself. You’ll easily save yourself a hundred or maybe even 150 bucks $67...

Do that, and your problems should be solved...

Do you honestly think that's the only issue?

How much is this affecting the rest of the machine? Because it’s running incredibly slow...

It's so sluggish that it feels completely unresponsive whenever I try to open a file on my desktop or anything else...

How difficult is it, at least to clear out the basic dust, just so I can see if that's really the culprit? I've never really worked on computers before...

That’s definitely an issue you'd see after four years of use. Honestly, you should probably have the thermal paste under the processor replaced too, but you can't really do that yourself—you'll need to take it to a repair shop.

As for why it's slowing down, have you ever even bothered to defrag the drive? There's a built-in tool in Windows; just right-click your C: drive icon, go to properties, hit the tools tab, and you'll find the defrag option. It takes a while depending on how big the drive is and its current state, so don't force it to stop midway through; just let it run when you aren't busy. The program walks you through the steps. That should speed up the laptop.

Dammit. I'm watching some stuff on YouTube right now, and apparently, you have to strip that Dell completely naked just to clean it out... I wouldn't recommend tackling this yourself. Just call a few repair shops and see what they're quoting you for a deep clean and a thermal paste swap
.
Honestly, even I wouldn't touch the disassembly myself 😬 because of how much work it is just to get to the heatsink and the fan...

darkowl72 said:

That’s definitely an issue you'd see after four years of use. Honestly, you should probably have the thermal paste under the processor replaced too, but you can't really do that yourself—you'll need to take it to a repair shop.

As for why it's slowing down, have you ever even bothered to defrag the drive? There's a built-in tool in Windows; just right-click your C: drive icon, go to properties, hit the tools tab, and you'll find the defrag option. It takes a while depending on how big the drive is and its current state, so don't force it to stop midway through; just let it run when you aren't busy. The program walks you through the steps. That should speed up the laptop.

Does this defragmentation process delete any files, specifically ones that weren't meant to be wiped?

Also, I stumbled upon an old thread from 2008. Is this native Windows tool actually reliable? Does it sometimes fail to finish the job properly, making third-party software a better option?

Regarding the cleaning, how long would a service appointment take? I'm looking at some larger, more reputable shops that charge by the hour...

And are they actually liable if they mess up or, heaven forbid, break something else? Also, what if I were to (albeit at a higher cost) have them do it at my place so I can personally verify they actually swapped the parts out and everything?

No files are being deleted. I wouldn't recommend anything sketchy to you. Back in 2008, that built-in Windows tool was decent enough, but today it’s way better. I use it myself; you don't need anything else.

The size of the repair shop doesn't matter. Once you check the prices and pick a place, come back here and see what the community thinks. Someone probably already... And as for having someone come to your house? Unless it's a buddy or some guy working under the table, forget about it. You won't get a legitimate service tech coming to your door. If they do show up, it's by appointment and it'll cost you a fortune. Look, legitimate shops aren't filled with scammers and idiots. If they're an authorized Dell provider, they know what they're doing. Accusing people of trying to rip you off before you've even started is just low.

darkowl72 said:No files are being deleted. I wouldn't recommend anything sketchy to you. Back in 2008, that built-in Windows tool was decent enough, but today it’s way better. I use it myself; you don't need anything else.

The size of the repair shop doesn't matter. Once you check the prices and pick a place, come back here and see what the community thinks. Someone probably already... And as for having someone come to your house? Unless it's a buddy or some guy working under the table, forget about it. You won't get a legitimate service tech coming to your door. If they do show up, it's by appointment and it'll cost you a fortune. Look, legitimate shops aren't filled with scammers and idiots. If they're an authorized Dell provider, they know what they're doing. Accusing people of trying to rip you off before you've even started is just low.

Roughly how long does defragmentation take? It's a 450 GB hard drive... I'm really hoping I don't have to start this today...

It isn't an authorized Dell service center.

We're talking about a major repair chain; they have actual credibility...

It shouldn't take more than an hour, maybe two at most, though I doubt it'll even take that long. If your drive is nearly full or incredibly fragmented, it might drag on a bit, but we're talking minor delays... Anyway, you can technically stop it, but if you do, you'll be stuck waiting for the system to clean everything up and finish its business. Don't get impatient; even if it feels slow, don't force a shutdown...

So, which service are we talking about?

darkowl72 said:It shouldn't take more than an hour, maybe two at most, though I doubt it'll even take that long. If your drive is nearly full or incredibly fragmented, it might drag on a bit, but we're talking minor delays... Anyway, you can technically stop it, but if you do, you'll be stuck waiting for the system to clean everything up and finish its business. Don't get impatient; even if it feels slow, don't force a shutdown...

So, which service are we talking about?

tried running a defrag...

I keep getting this, and after trying it a few times, I honestly don't see any actual progress being made.

http://postimg.org/image/l1w5na4pf/

It took about three hours...