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Comment by tforcram | Hacker News Reader

This reminds me of a time I tried to install Ubuntu on an old thick Dell laptop many years ago.

Each time I would try the system would overheat and then crash. The existing (windows) system still appeared to work fine with light loads so I was pretty sure I just needed to get past the install and decided to try one more time.

It was winter at the time, I can't remember if it had snowed recently, but I think it was probably close to 40 degrees F outside. So I hooked up a wired keyboard and mouse, and then plopped the laptop outside on the deck and closed the door with only the keyboard and mouse inside. There was a window which I could see the screen through and start the install.

Sure enough with the natural winter cooling the install completed and I was able to use the laptop for a few more years.

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Good story!

Still, IMO a better solution is fixing the hardware. Many years ago, I had similar symptoms with an old thick HP laptop. I think I have paid something like $30 for the new fan assembly, it’s a large part which includes a fan, radiator and couple of heat pipes. The assembly connects to the motherboard with a small plug, no soldering was required. It only took half an hour (and a blob of thermal paste) to replace the part.

Opening it up and vacuum cleaning the fan from dust also can do wonders with old and "broken" laptops as a first step. Tiny bit of WD40 in the fan mechanic is the next, then thermal paste, then replacing parts.

(Advice, prevent the fan from spinning while doing vacuum)

WD40 - Nooooo! It gets gummy. Use a proper lubricating oil. Or replace the fan.

"Pro tip:" Do not direct the output of a strong air stream (e.g. the kind used for automotive work) at the fan as it can de-blade the fan.

Good to know, but in those few fans I used it for, it worked so far ..

And if you do that anyway, don't be a dingus.

Disconnect the fan cable from the socket so that the motor doesn't send pulses of energy back into your laptop. It probably won't harm it, but better safe than sorry.

Motors have flyback diodes. Otherwise they'd burn out things every time they turn off

Not in most laptops they don't.

https://forum.arduino.cc/t/is-a-flyback-diode-built-into-lap...

"You will find those fans are brushless DC fans, they are controlled by an inbuilt driver circuit and as such do not need a flyback diode."

So you "disprove" my statement with some rando on the Arduino message board that has less than 20 posts in their lifetime?

What makes you think they're an authority?

Brushless motor still have fly back voltage that has to be clamped. You may not need to install a diode in the fan, but I can guarantee you that this "inbuilt driver circuit" has such a diode.

And if you read the linked thread a bit more you'd see where they test it and it does produce -100V at shutdown. If there wasn't a flyback diodes it'd be burning out ic's left and right

Why would I accept your word without any backup?

Its on you to provide evidence of your claim, not on me to disprove your unfounded claim.

As someone else stated, WD-40 is a solvent and a degreaser. It is designed to displace water.

In fact, for bearings which need grease, WD-40 can remove the very thing that is keeping the bearings from wearing out!

If the fan is very old and no longer works properly, it just needs to be replaced.

"If the fan is very old and no longer works properly, it just needs to be replaced. "

Sometimes it is really complicated replacing them with a danger of damaging stuff, if you have no routine. Then using something to spray is easier to fix it for some time. It helped in my cases, even though I will definitely try something else next time ..

As mentioned by another commenter, many of the compounds in WD-40 “dry” out, either by evaporation or oxidation (turning to lacquer/sticky goo like what you find in the oven). WD-40 is meant for penetration and water displacement, not desirable for achieving long term lubrication.

An example of something better to use is 3-In-One Multipurpose or Motor Oil.

Another FYI is that oils break down grease, which is found in bearings (WD-40 aggressively so), so it’s not generally desirable to apply oil to bearings, unless it’s already having issues and you just need some additional life out of it.

I used to frequent overclocking forums and at the time a lot of this was crazy custom work instead of purpose built cooling products or things like water cooling AiO setups. I remember people building intakes into their window so the computer case sucked in cold winter air from outdoors. There was even a guy that installed a homemade water cooling setup and had the reservoir tank outdoors and piped through the window. I think the later had a real risk of freezing if his folding at home rig stopped working on very cold days.

I mostly just installed insanely loud tornado fans myself, which were in style at the time. This was before building a quiet PC was on anyone's radar it seemed.

Ive done that. I am doing that. Using the outdoors as a natural heatsink isnt crazy. In a couple months it will be -30 outside my window. Why should my computer fans whirl around constanly using 20c indoor air when literally inches away there exists and unlimited supply of -30c outdoor air? Some simple water cooling parts, a 30$ heat exchanger and a little radiator fluid. Net result is lower temps and significantly lower noise. The only practical problem is consensation, but with dew points of -30c even indoors that isnt much of a worry.

https://www.instructables.com/Mineral-Oil-Bitcoin-Mining-for...

I had this idea but never executed because it's only bitter cold outside for about 3 months out of the year. And then I'd basically be doing a semi-annual detachment/attachment of my PC from the wall and probably removing/adding an insert from a window for the other end of the loop.

This combined with my roughly 4 month itch to rearrange my office made it seem like much more of a pain in the ass than it was worth to ever actually do.

I've done it a few times. I find that seasonal temperature changes are not as much of an issue as I first thought. Automotive radiator fluid basically never freezes. And once you have a coolant loop running outside, your options are far greater. Even radiators are a unnecessary. I once has a coolant loop run outside to 20-gallon washtub sitting on the ground under a wood deck. No radiators or fans. The entire rig cost less than 100$. Just a tiny aquarium pump pushing water up the loop into the house. The tub was in thermal contact with the ground and was so massive that it took many hours for my computer to warm it up even in high summer.

It's a neat hack but I have to wonder whether the hole through which you pass through the pipes leaks more heat energy to the outside than the fans take to run on an all-indoor system.

Plus, in the winter, you get "free" heating by running the machine completely indoors. Not actually free of course, but free as a side-effect of using the machine for other tasks. Had a friend who tried splitting his electrical service off into a cheaper heat-rate branch to run his bitcoin mining rigs and claimed they were the same as a space heater. I don't think the power company bought it.

I would assume folks would use antifreeze when doing sub-zero liquid cooling, that would prevent issues in all but extreme cold. It would have a bit of an impact on heat transfer though...

Though, at 40 F, you could have put on some socks, shoes, shorts and a t-shirt and sat outside, instead of peering out through the window in your underwear.

Or, were you fully clothed and this was in Florida or something?

(I half joke, but when it warms up to 40 F again in the Spring, in Minnesota we break out the t-shirts, if not shorts.)

Download with some help from god. Haha

Hilarious imagery!!! Thanks for sharing.

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