Laptop fan running constantly

[xrMike]

It never used to, but it's been doing it for the past couple weeks. Fan runs almost constantly. Other than that, no problems (no crashes, blue screens, etc).

I'm thinking it might be a build-up of dust/crap inside and that if I crack the case and clean it out, the problem will go away.

Anything to be careful of doing this?

I was going to start unscrewing screws on the back until it comes apart, then take a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment and lightly vacuum the board until all dust is gone, then reassemble.

Are there any static issues doing it that way? I don't want to zap my RAM or CPU or anything.

Thanks.

[NissanPreRunner]

I would just use a can of air and blow off all the dust after you get it opened up.

I have heard that the vacuums can have static built up and can harm the motherboard inside because of the electrostatic discharge (ESD). I have never tried a vacuum myself so I can't say for sure.

Edit: Also, try not trouble get any of the fluid from the can of air onto any of the chips, ruined a video card like that a few years back like that.

[Intimid8tor]

As previously said blow it out with a can of air. Probably don't even need to take it apart. Mine was doing that for a while and blowing it out stopped it.

[Deadbolt]

+1 another one for "get the dust outta her"

[paul0660]

A can of air can ruin the fan by running it too fast, backwards, and sideways. The heatsink is the thing. Taking it apart can be fraught with danger. Google your situation and brand and you will likely find a forum thread, somewhere, including instructions and schematics.

[xrMike]

^ Greatly appreciated! However, I had another idea also... I wanted to see if I had a process running that was hogging up all my CPU and making me run hot, and sure enough, when I run Task Manager, this bugger:

EEventManager.exe

is using 48 to 55% of my CPU, while "system idle process" is using the rest.

None of the apps I run ever use that much CPU as far as I know.

So I googled that process and it's associated with this new Epson printer I bought a couple weeks ago. It's one of those wireless printer/scanner/fax machines. After I installed the Epson software, I now have a new startup task that runs automatically, you can see it in the task bar, lower right, so it's hogging resources on startup. There is no option to disable it from running at startup either, I checked.

Anyway, so I ran Task Manager, right-clicked on EEventManager.exe and selected Stop Process and immediately the fan went off and has not turned on since.

So there's my problem.

One option is to run msconfig and disable the EEventManager process from startup, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to handle it.

I still want to have maximum functionality for the printer, but I can't have my laptop melting either. Open to suggestions.

ETA: I'm wondering it I should just disable the startup service, and run it from the Start menu anytime I need to use the printer?

[SouperMan]

^ Greatly appreciated! However, I had another idea also... I wanted to see if I had a process running that was hogging up all my CPU and making me run hot, and sure enough, when I run Task Manager, this bugger:

EEventManager.exe

is using 48 to 55% of my CPU, while "system idle process" is using the rest.

None of the apps I run ever use that much CPU as far as I know.

So I googled that process and it's associated with this new Epson printer I bought a couple weeks ago. It's one of those wireless printer/scanner/fax machines. After I installed the Epson software, I now have a new startup task that runs automatically, you can see it in the task bar, lower right, so it's hogging resources on startup. There is no option to disable it from running at startup either, I checked.

Anyway, so I ran Task Manager, right-clicked on EEventManager.exe and selected Stop Process and immediately the fan went off and has not turned on since.

So there's my problem.

One option is to run msconfig and disable the EEventManager process from startup, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to handle it.

I still want to have maximum functionality for the printer, but I can't have my laptop melting either. Open to suggestions.

ETA: I'm wondering it I should just disable the startup service, and run it from the Start menu anytime I need to use the printer?

You can disable it rather than deleting it if you are worried it might affect printing. I am thinking that the EEventManager probably is the program that communicates with the printer to tell you the printer ink levels when you print (and a little popup shows up with said levels.)

[JDay]

I'm thinking it might be a build-up of dust/crap inside and that if I crack the case and clean it out, the problem will go away.

Anything to be careful of doing this?

Find the service manual and read it.

[JDay]

As previously said blow it out with a can of air. Probably don't even need to take it apart. Mine was doing that for a while and blowing it out stopped it.

You cannot clean the build up out of the heatsink without opening it up.