HP Omnibook XE3 Spring Cleaning

The ventilation slots on my HP Omnibook XE3 is choked with dust (just like any other fan, which accumulates dust over time), so there is a need for me to disassemble it for spring cleaning. Without doing so, the laptop will not have good air circulation, which is vital for cooling itself down before having a fever. This laptop has already start to perform full thermal shutdown without any warning. =x

The disassembly process was highly enlightened by LINK Thanks to Greg who had created that friendly website to share his knowledge and experience.

After understanding advices from Greg's site,
it's MY turn =)



Laptop lying on operation table, with organs exposed.



The boxy thing on the right is the air circulation unit. This entire laptop has only this boxy thing to get rid of heat!



This is how the boxy thing looks like when flipped over: there is a fan.



Remove the metal cover to expose the head sinks... it's choked with dust!



Look at the amount of dust ~ (2001 to 2005, 4 years)
This is only place for air in/out and it's choked with dust! No wonder this laptop can overheat so easily.



The head of the processor chip is very dry, will not form a good heat transfer contact with the heat sink when mounted.



Apply "toothpaste" (heat sink compound) so as to form a contact between the head and the heat sink, to allow maximum heat transfer.

Everything is back to normal again after this spring cleaning. =)

It does not cost me a single cent for such a cleaning action, but it might cost me some repair fees if I bring it to HP Care.