📅 2016-Feb-21 ⬩ ✍️ Ashwin Nanjappa ⬩ 🏷️ dell, laptop ⬩ 📚 Archive
The Dell Vostro 3300 laptop is by now infamous on the web for its terrible cooling design. The intake vent on the top-right bottom struggles to deliver air. The fan is noisy and still hopeless at cooling the CPU. I pulled out this old laptop recently and found that it would shut down due to CPU overheating. I fired up SpeedFan and sure enough, the CPU cores were 73C at idle! The only solution I could think of to give this laptop a longer life was to clean the fan and change the thermal paste.
Thanks to preparing well for this surgery, it went off well and the idle temperatures dropped by 15C! It still hits the 70s on a load, what a terrible cooling design! The temperature can be dropped by a further 5C by giving that top-right bottom vent a lot of space. This can be done for example by attaching high feet at the top row of the laptop.
Here are the things I found that I used:
Phillips screwdrivers: Unlike other laptops that use exotic screws, I found that Vostro 3300 uses only Phillips screws. See the screws visible at the bottom of the laptop for an example. You will need Phillips screwdrivers of a size that opens those and one more at the next smaller size (cause some of the internal screws are smaller).
Slot screwdriver: You will need one or two of these of the small size. There are some connectors and latches that really need a strong nudge to be opened. Due to the cramped space and tiny size, it is impossible to do this with your fingers. Alternatively, a small metal tweezers that is strong can also do the job.
Spudge: Entire sections of this laptop need this tool to be pried open. You could use a couple of tiny slot screwdrivers, but they are not as convenient as the spudge.
Brush or compressed air duster: To remove the dust stuck on the fan blades, heat sink and vents.
Thermal paste: Any good paste will do to replace the old one. I used the Arctic MX-4.
Something to clean the old thermal paste. Folks use cleaning alcohol and a soft non-abrasive cloth. I used an old thin sock.
Watch this video that shows how to get the entire process done. It is actually quite fantastic to watch the person do it without breaking a sweat.
If you need more help, get the Vostro 3300 service manual, which can be found online. The manual has sections, each explaining how to remove a certain component. In order to get to the fan and CPU, you will need to remove the following components in order (the order differs a bit in the above video):
Once you get the fan and heat sink, clean them, apply the paste. Put back all the components in the reverse order.
Note: For each component, do a careful visual inspection to ensure everything blocking its removal has been pulled out. This is because, I found that the service manual misses a few cables and tabs that need to be pulled out.
This is the first time I disassembled a laptop down to the CPU. I found that it is quite doable if a service manual or a demo video is available. And having the required tools is crucial. Good luck if you planning to try the same! 😊