Inspiron 5100

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

"Joe" wrote in message
...
My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.


Get a can of computer duster and blow out the dust, and do once month in the
future to prevent overheating.

Craig

Inspiron 5100 and 5150 are known to run hot. As another poster said, get a can
of compressed air and blow it into the vents where air goes in and comes out.
To do a more thorough job, remove the keyboard and blow compressed air in and
around the area where the processor cooling hardware is (top right of the
interior under the keyboard). She might also consider getting a USB-powered
cooling fan which sits underneath the computer... Ben Myers

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

Inspiron 5100 and 5150 are known to run hot. As another poster said, get
a can
of compressed air and blow it into the vents where air goes in and comes
out.
To do a more thorough job, remove the keyboard and blow compressed air in
and
around the area where the processor cooling hardware is (top right of the
interior under the keyboard). She might also consider getting a
USB-powered
cooling fan which sits underneath the computer... Ben Myers

okay thanks, she's had it 3yrs now I think. Is there anyway of getting the
diagnostics software back?

As shipped from the factory, the system has a special Dell diagnostic partition.
In the case of her system, the diagnostic partition is either damaged or simply
not there. Rebuilding the diagnostic partition is a pain in the ass, even for
someone like me who has done it more than once. First, there must be at least
40MB of disk space available to contain the partition. If the space is not
available, you'd need to use Partition Magic or similar to shrink the Windows
partition. Then you need to load up the diagnostics (from the Dell web site)
and change the partition type with a partition editor like ranish. IMHO, don't
bother unless you are seriously masochistic... Ben Myers

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:46:29 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

Inspiron 5100 and 5150 are known to run hot. As another poster said, get
a can
of compressed air and blow it into the vents where air goes in and comes
out.
To do a more thorough job, remove the keyboard and blow compressed air in
and
around the area where the processor cooling hardware is (top right of the
interior under the keyboard). She might also consider getting a
USB-powered
cooling fan which sits underneath the computer... Ben Myers

okay thanks, she's had it 3yrs now I think. Is there anyway of getting the
diagnostics software back?

Discussed ad nauseum for insp 11xx an 51xx series. The CPU heat sink
assembly gets blocked with dust, especially in pet households. The
blockage will eventually cause overheating and the failure of the
motherboard.

Compressed air will only flip the thick wad of dust back for a short
time. If the blockage is severe (which it probably is), you need to
either scrape the back of the heat sink or install a new one.

Dan

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

Corrective action is not THAT severe. If there is a wad of dust-and-dirt that
cannot be dislodged by compressed air because it has gotten too large,
disassembly and careful cleaning of the area around the heat sink is all that is
required. Fortunately, Dell (unlike other manufacturers, he said, speaking
like a Dellbot) has illustrated service manuals available on-line.

I'm sorta good at this sort of thing, but I tore down an Inspiron 5100
completely in maybe 10 minutes a couple of days ago, with a couple of references
to the on-line service info for the beast. A complete tear-down, IMHO, is
removing everything from the system, and disassembling the entire chassis, but
leaving the motherboard in place. I also left the LCD screen as-is. But,
really, it IS pretty easy with a couple of smallish screwdrivers, one flat-head
for prying plastic parts carefully and one Philips-head for all the little
screws... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:04:40 GMT, Dan wrote:

Discussed ad nauseum for insp 11xx an 51xx series. The CPU heat sink
assembly gets blocked with dust, especially in pet households. The
blockage will eventually cause overheating and the failure of the
motherboard.

Compressed air will only flip the thick wad of dust back for a short
time. If the blockage is severe (which it probably is), you need to
either scrape the back of the heat sink or install a new one.

Dan

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

Some of the fan assemblies are too large to pull out of the laptop
without removing the monitor and palmest. Most are easy enough after
removing the keyboard bezel, keyboard and metal plate...but not all

Dan

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:47:16 -0400, Ben Myers ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net wrote:

Corrective action is not THAT severe. If there is a wad of dust-and-dirt that
cannot be dislodged by compressed air because it has gotten too large,
disassembly and careful cleaning of the area around the heat sink is all that is
required. Fortunately, Dell (unlike other manufacturers, he said, speaking
like a Dellbot) has illustrated service manuals available on-line.

I'm sorta good at this sort of thing, but I tore down an Inspiron 5100
completely in maybe 10 minutes a couple of days ago, with a couple of references
to the on-line service info for the beast. A complete tear-down, IMHO, is
removing everything from the system, and disassembling the entire chassis, but
leaving the motherboard in place. I also left the LCD screen as-is. But,
really, it IS pretty easy with a couple of smallish screwdrivers, one flat-head
for prying plastic parts carefully and one Philips-head for all the little
screws... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:04:40 GMT, Dan wrote:

Discussed ad nauseum for insp 11xx an 51xx series. The CPU heat sink
assembly gets blocked with dust, especially in pet households. The
blockage will eventually cause overheating and the failure of the
motherboard.

Compressed air will only flip the thick wad of dust back for a short
time. If the blockage is severe (which it probably is), you need to
either scrape the back of the heat sink or install a new one.

Dan

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

True. But removal of the LCD panel is exactly 4 screws, and removal of the
palmrest is another dozen screws or so from the bottom. Might as well strip
down the system and do a thorough job. Or, for the mechanically and
topologically challenged, disassemble bezel, keyboard and plate and fish the
dust bunnies out with a paper clip, q-tip or similar. But carefully.

Unless the cooling fan fails, there is no need to replace the parts, only to
make sure that there is nothing to impede air flow... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 20:50:07 GMT, Dan wrote:

Some of the fan assemblies are too large to pull out of the laptop
without removing the monitor and palmest. Most are easy enough after
removing the keyboard bezel, keyboard and metal plate...but not all

Dan

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:47:16 -0400, Ben Myers ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net wrote:

Corrective action is not THAT severe. If there is a wad of dust-and-dirt that
cannot be dislodged by compressed air because it has gotten too large,
disassembly and careful cleaning of the area around the heat sink is all that is
required. Fortunately, Dell (unlike other manufacturers, he said, speaking
like a Dellbot) has illustrated service manuals available on-line.

I'm sorta good at this sort of thing, but I tore down an Inspiron 5100
completely in maybe 10 minutes a couple of days ago, with a couple of references
to the on-line service info for the beast. A complete tear-down, IMHO, is
removing everything from the system, and disassembling the entire chassis, but
leaving the motherboard in place. I also left the LCD screen as-is. But,
really, it IS pretty easy with a couple of smallish screwdrivers, one flat-head
for prying plastic parts carefully and one Philips-head for all the little
screws... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:04:40 GMT, Dan wrote:

Discussed ad nauseum for insp 11xx an 51xx series. The CPU heat sink
assembly gets blocked with dust, especially in pet households. The
blockage will eventually cause overheating and the failure of the
motherboard.

Compressed air will only flip the thick wad of dust back for a short
time. If the blockage is severe (which it probably is), you need to
either scrape the back of the heat sink or install a new one.

Dan

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.

Correction: 6 screws to remove LCD panel. Two in back and four for the two
hinges... Ben

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 18:20:24 -0400, Ben Myers ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net wrote:

True. But removal of the LCD panel is exactly 4 screws, and removal of the
palmrest is another dozen screws or so from the bottom. Might as well strip
down the system and do a thorough job. Or, for the mechanically and
topologically challenged, disassemble bezel, keyboard and plate and fish the
dust bunnies out with a paper clip, q-tip or similar. But carefully.

Unless the cooling fan fails, there is no need to replace the parts, only to
make sure that there is nothing to impede air flow... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 20:50:07 GMT, Dan wrote:

Some of the fan assemblies are too large to pull out of the laptop
without removing the monitor and palmest. Most are easy enough after
removing the keyboard bezel, keyboard and metal plate...but not all

Dan

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:47:16 -0400, Ben Myers ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net wrote:

Corrective action is not THAT severe. If there is a wad of dust-and-dirt that
cannot be dislodged by compressed air because it has gotten too large,
disassembly and careful cleaning of the area around the heat sink is all that is
required. Fortunately, Dell (unlike other manufacturers, he said, speaking
like a Dellbot) has illustrated service manuals available on-line.

I'm sorta good at this sort of thing, but I tore down an Inspiron 5100
completely in maybe 10 minutes a couple of days ago, with a couple of references
to the on-line service info for the beast. A complete tear-down, IMHO, is
removing everything from the system, and disassembling the entire chassis, but
leaving the motherboard in place. I also left the LCD screen as-is. But,
really, it IS pretty easy with a couple of smallish screwdrivers, one flat-head
for prying plastic parts carefully and one Philips-head for all the little
screws... Ben Myers

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:04:40 GMT, Dan wrote:

Discussed ad nauseum for insp 11xx an 51xx series. The CPU heat sink
assembly gets blocked with dust, especially in pet households. The
blockage will eventually cause overheating and the failure of the
motherboard.

Compressed air will only flip the thick wad of dust back for a short
time. If the blockage is severe (which it probably is), you need to
either scrape the back of the heat sink or install a new one.

Dan

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:44:09 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

My girlfriends 5100 keeps overheating and then just turning off. The under
base near the processor gets EXTREMLY hot. When you feel the fan exhaust
hardly any air is coming out but the fan is spinning up like mad. Its only
been the past few months. The diagnostics software is missing when I press
F12? thanks.