Computer processors, commonly referred as CPUs, are the heart of any computer. They are responsible of elaborating any informations or software instruction your computer will need.

During regular operations CPUs generate heat. The more intense is the workload of the CPU, the more heat it will generate. Unfortunately too much heat may results in overheating which can possibly damage the CPUs.

That's why any computer CPU is equipped with a dissipater, a piece of hardware usually associated with a fan, which serves the task of dissipating the CPU heat outside of the computers. This is trivial in notebooks or netbooks where space is reduced and overheating could be harmful for the whole hardware set.

Unfortunately, dissipaters tends to accumulate dust which may limit the functionality of the dissipater. If dust is enough it could also make the whole dissipater useless resulting in overheating.

If you experience computer shutdowns on heavy CPU usages you are probably facing this problem.

Personally I already had this problem on my Toshiba Tecra A7 and I've been able to clean the dissipater by myself.

Today I had to do the same on my cousin's notebook, an Acer Aspire 5685WLMi. The notebook had the same problems of mine: after heavy usage, it would simply shutdown.

Following you'll find a simple visual guide in the disassembling and cleaning procedure. I hope you'll find this helpful.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that disassembling a notebook is a complex procedure. You should only start it if you have enough technical knowledge and the right tools. You can seriously damage your notebook.

If you doubt, don't do it. Let the professionals do that and bring your laptop to an assistance center.

Disassembling

This is a simple disassembling guide for Acer Aspire 5680 series notebooks. The exact model I'm going to disassemble is an Acer Aspire 5685WLMi (see picture below).

Tools

You only need one tool: one thin cross screwdriver, which you'll use to unscrew the chassis screws.

I also suggest you to have a flat screw drivers which you can use to facilitate the removing of the plastic covers.

Let's start

You can start the disassembling process by removing the battery from the bottom of the notebook.

Then you can remove the hard drive cover by unscrew the 2 screws just at the right of the battery hole.

Proceed removing the hard drive pulling the little plastic cable to the right.

Next thing to do is removing the main coverage. There are 6 screws, all of them easily accessible.

You will now be able to see the fan on the top right of the chassis. You'll see two screws holding the fan. Unscrew them.

You can now move out the fan.

You are now able to see the dissipater. You should see lot of dust there!

Cleanining

It's now time to clean the dissipater. I used a small brush and a small vacuum cleaner. If you'll use a vacuum cleaner be careful in removing any screw around because you could accidentally vacuum them.

Conclusions

Here it is! The dissipater perfectly clean!

You can now just reassemble everything and enjoy your perfectly clean and heat efficient notebook!

If you have problems during the process please add a comment below and I will try to help you.

Good luck!