That 'just reboot it' advice from a retired Navy IT guy saved my bacon

My old boss used to swear by canned air upside down to freeze a stuck fan bearing, and I thought he was nuts. Tried it on a HP ProBook that was screaming like a jet engine during POST. Held the can inverted for five seconds, melted the gunk, and the fan spun clean for another six months. I've got a drawer full of those little cans now. Any other weird field fixes that actually work better than the textbook method?

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angela19121d ago

Canned air upside down works for a quick fix, but it's just that, quick. The gunk is still in there and it'll come back faster each time. You're basically adding moisture to a failing part, which can hurt other stuff if it drips somewhere it shouldn't. Six months sounds good until you're doing the same trick every few weeks. Real fix is popping the fan out and cleaning it properly with isopropyl. Takes ten minutes and lasts years. But hey, if it keeps an old machine alive for one more cycle, you do you.