Opening laptop before warranty ends?

PLSG08 · Apr 9, 2013

Hey guys, just a quick question

So bought a new laptop back in November and now I'm experiencing heat problems (back then my temps were around 40-60 degrees, not its 55 - 80; even hits 90 on some occasions). I looked at the fan and it looks like dust is building up. I was thinking of cleaning the fan (i did this already on my sister's laptop) but I might void my warranty by opening it.

Laptop by the way is a Lenovo Z480 (Core i7 - 3612QM, GT640m 2GB DDR3, 4GB DDR3 RAM)

Would I void the Lenovo warranty or is it ok?

adulaamin · Apr 9, 2013

You would likely... Try blowing it out with compressed air for the meantime or if you really want to give it a thorough cleaning, try to see if there are some stickers that will be tampered if you try opening it up. Something like a sticker saying "Warranty void if removed" or something...

Jetster · Apr 9, 2013

I will void the warrenty. Just run it

PLSG08 · Apr 9, 2013

Well there's no stickers on the outside, and there's only one screwhole to open the underside.

Guess I'll just have to wait until november to clean my laptop..

adulaamin · Apr 9, 2013

I had a Z470 before and I could unscrew the cover on the back and it would expose the fan. I don't know if it's the same with your z480 but I did open up the back and cleaned the fan without voiding the warranty. I know the warranty wasn't voided because I returned the laptop after a year since it had a faulty RAM slot and Lenovo accepted it, fixed the issue, and I got it back after 3 months. It's similar to the pic below.

PLSG08 · Apr 9, 2013

adulaamin said:
I had a Z470 before and I could unscrew the cover on the back and it would expose the fan. I don't know if it's the same with your z480 but I did open up the back and cleaned the fan without voiding the warranty. I know the warranty wasn't voided because I returned the laptop after a year since it had a faulty RAM slot and Lenovo accepted it, fixed the issue, and I got it back after 3 months. It's similar to the pic below.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 940x475.

Well The Z480 actually has lesser screws compared to the Z480 and it's just one big cover

see?

Coming from a fellow lenovo user, I think I'll clean after I get my requirements done. Thanks!

acerace · Apr 9, 2013

PLSG08 said:
Well The Z480 actually has lesser screws compared to the Z480 and it's just one big cover

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/WW/produ...-PC-Metallic-Grey-Bottom-View-14L-940x475.jpg

see?

Coming from a fellow lenovo user, I think I'll clean after I get my requirements done. Thanks!

My guess is, the screws might located under the rubber stand. So yes, you will void your warranty.

CJCerny · Apr 9, 2013

I would contact Lenovo support about it and ask them if opening to clean voids your warranty. Everyone here is just guessing if it will.

kiddagoat · Apr 9, 2013

Opening the laptop will not void your warranty. Your warranty will only be void if there is any physical damage to the unit. They have no way of knowing if you opened it or not. Generally speaking, Lenovo amongst other vendors, will put a sticker over a screw on the heatsink as the only proof the unit has been tampered with. With the hundreds of laptops I have repaired, I haven't seen such a sticker in awhile.

I personally would just use a can of compressed air or an air compressor to dust the vents and fan. Depending on your tech saviness, I would either take it to a shop or look for the service manual on how to get to the heatsink. Most of the laptops come with a Shin-tsu paste that will harden and crack over time. You should also replace that as well.

The only manufacturer I know of that will void a warranty upon opening a case will be Razer with the Blade laptop.

Batou1986 · Apr 9, 2013

kiddagoat is correct taking the back cover off will not void your warranty.
use a shop vac on blow for the vent or the side with the back off it will blow all the dust and crud out.

PLSG08 · Apr 10, 2013

Thanks kiddagoat! I'll try and clean my laptop now and see any differences

chrisl2366 · Apr 10, 2013

Just make sure you don't over spin the fans with the shop vac or compressed air, my friend ruined his fan because of that.

mlee49 · Apr 10, 2013

You might not need to remove the back to clean it out. Get some canned air and just spray around the vents, that would help remove the dust and not worry about any warranty questions.
Just make sure to spray it with the laptop off

PLSG08 · Apr 11, 2013

mlee49 said:
You might not need to remove the back to clean it out. Get some canned air and just spray around the vents, that would help remove the dust and not worry about any warranty questions.
Just make sure to spray it with the laptop off

Did this on a laptop back then. (turn off laptop, just blew some compressed air around the vents) Caused a lot of stuttering and made the heat worse.

System Name	PATATAS-3XTR3M3
Processor	Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling	Phanteks Glacier One 240MP
Memory	32gb (16x2) G.Skill Trident Z Neo 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG STRIX RTX 3080 Ti UV:850@1850
Storage	Boot Drive: ADATA XPG SX6000 256gb, Storage Drive: 1TB Samsung 980 x2
Display(s)	Lenovo G27Q-20
Case	Lian Li O11D Mini
Audio Device(s)	Samson SR850 connected to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	Logitech G Pro X Superlight
Keyboard	Akko MOD006, Durock POMS

System Name	hmmm... / lappy (ASUS Scar III)
Processor	Intel Core i7-8086K / Intel Core i7-9750H
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus XI Formula / ASUS G531GW
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15s w/ 2 x Noctua NF-F12 PWM Chromax and 1 x Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM Chromax Fans / Stock
Memory	4x16gb G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3600mhz / 2x16gb Kingston Hyper X Impact DDR4 2666mhz C15
Video Card(s)	2 x EVGA GTX 1080 TI FTW3 / Nvidia RTX 2070 8gb
Storage	2 x Samsung 960 EVO Plus 1tb NVME/ 1tb Intel SSDPEKNW010T8 NVME + 2tb Samsung 860 EVO SSD
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34P / ASUS 15.6" Screen
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 White-TG + Noctua Chromax Fans / ASUS Scar III Case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + Logitech Z623 / Onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 1000W + PROLINK PRO903WS / ASUS ADP-230GB B Power Brick
Mouse	Corsair Vengeance M65 PRO RGB / Logitech MX Anywhere 2S
Keyboard	Corsair K70 LUX RGB / ASUS Scar III Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64 / Windows 10 Professional x64

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s)	ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard	Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	PATATAS-3XTR3M3
Processor	Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling	Phanteks Glacier One 240MP
Memory	32gb (16x2) G.Skill Trident Z Neo 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG STRIX RTX 3080 Ti UV:850@1850
Storage	Boot Drive: ADATA XPG SX6000 256gb, Storage Drive: 1TB Samsung 980 x2
Display(s)	Lenovo G27Q-20
Case	Lian Li O11D Mini
Audio Device(s)	Samson SR850 connected to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	Logitech G Pro X Superlight
Keyboard	Akko MOD006, Durock POMS

System Name	hmmm... / lappy (ASUS Scar III)
Processor	Intel Core i7-8086K / Intel Core i7-9750H
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus XI Formula / ASUS G531GW
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15s w/ 2 x Noctua NF-F12 PWM Chromax and 1 x Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM Chromax Fans / Stock
Memory	4x16gb G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3600mhz / 2x16gb Kingston Hyper X Impact DDR4 2666mhz C15
Video Card(s)	2 x EVGA GTX 1080 TI FTW3 / Nvidia RTX 2070 8gb
Storage	2 x Samsung 960 EVO Plus 1tb NVME/ 1tb Intel SSDPEKNW010T8 NVME + 2tb Samsung 860 EVO SSD
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34P / ASUS 15.6" Screen
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 White-TG + Noctua Chromax Fans / ASUS Scar III Case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + Logitech Z623 / Onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 1000W + PROLINK PRO903WS / ASUS ADP-230GB B Power Brick
Mouse	Corsair Vengeance M65 PRO RGB / Logitech MX Anywhere 2S
Keyboard	Corsair K70 LUX RGB / ASUS Scar III Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64 / Windows 10 Professional x64

Processor	Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.1 GHz
Motherboard	Asus P8H61-M LX (B3)
Cooling	Intel stock HSF
Memory	2x 4GB Kingston DDR3 @ 1333 MHz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Radeon HD 6750 OC
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 3
Display(s)	HP W2072a 20"
Case	Cooler Master Elite 430 Black
Audio Device(s)	Integrated (Realtek ALC887)
Power Supply	Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500W
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium x64

System Name	Main Rig
Processor	Athlon 5350
Motherboard	AsRock mITX
Memory	4gb
Storage	120gb Kingston HyperX SSD
Display(s)	Samsung Syncmaster 740N
Power Supply	Corsair 430 watt

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard	MSI Z790 Tomahawk D4
Cooling	Corsair XC7 Block / Corsair XG7 Block EK 360PE Radiator EK 120XE Radiator 5x EK Vadar Furious Fans
Memory	64GB Corsair Dominator DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio
Storage	1TB WD Black SN850 / 4TB Inland Premium / 8TB WD Black HDD
Display(s)	Alienware AW3821DW / ASUS TUF VG279QM
Case	Lian-Li Dynamic 011 XL ROG
Audio Device(s)	Razer Nommo Pro Speakers / Creative AE-9 w/ Beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply	EVGA P2 1200W Platinum
Mouse	Razer Naga Pro
Keyboard	Deathstalker Pro

Processor	Ryzen 5900X
Motherboard	ASUS Prime X470 Pro
Cooling	Arctic liquid freezer II 240
Memory	2 x 16 Gb Gskill Trident Z 3600 Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 3060 Ti OC
Storage	Samsung 960 EVO 500 Gb / 860 EVO 1 Tb
Display(s)	Dell S2719DGF
Case	Lian Li Lancool II Mesh
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G703
Keyboard	Logitech G513
Software	Win 11

System Name	chris msi
Processor	i5-2410m
Motherboard	msi 16-g5 hm65 chipset
Cooling	stock
Memory	16gb 8x2 ddr3-1333
Video Card(s)	nvidia gt540m
Storage	120gb patriot pyro se,32gb patriot torqx2 via ODD adapter
Benchmark Scores	4707 cloud gate @ 780/980/1560

System Name	The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor	i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard	Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling	Custom water loop
Memory	16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s)	2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage	500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s)	27" Asus 144Hz
Case	Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s)	ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Win 10 64x

Opening laptop before warranty ends?

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