De-Dusting a W541?

[Geophyte1]

I've been using a W541 with 32 Gb RAM for 4 years.
The Lenovo hardware tests on the RAM have been generally good through the years but periodically have indicated a bad test. The followup tests I usually ran immediately were always good.
Recently it has been showing bad tests every time but not always on the same test items.
I've also noticed the computer is generally running warmer even though I've done the usual blowing out with compressed air around and through the air inlets and outlets so that leads to the possibility that increased heat due to dust buildup is causing the bad tests.
I decided to remove the 32 gig and test each 8gig stick one at a time and they all tested good. Interestingly the test on one of the sticks, on its first run, did not finish the last two items because of what the log called a system event. When I ran it again it passed.
The fan seems to be working.
I'm writing this because I'm contemplating taking the W541 apart to clean out the built up dust inside, especially the fan, but I thought I'd ask and see if any one had knowledge of how to do that without having to tear down the machine to the degree the Maintenance Manual describes in order to get to the fan and other air passages to blow them out.
I suppose I'm looking for a shortcut:)
While I've been writing this another question has occurred to me. Using TPfan to measure the fan speed, what should be the maximum fan RPMs I should see on a 7 speed?
And, do fans ever "fail" by slowing down without actually stopping?
Thank you for any information.

[RealBlackStuff]

You need to remove the fan, then clean it and it's surroundings incl. the CPU thoroughly from dust bunnies and other junk.
Then repaste the CPU, reattach the fan and put it all back together.
No just 'blowing out the dust'!

[Geophyte1]

Thank you. I was hoping for an easy way out but understand why there isn't one:)

[axur-delmeria]

You cannot just "blow the dust out". Here's why.

Here is a sample image of the W541 heatsink:
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1dOXrfAom ... 40x640.jpg

The air is sucked in by the fan, and blown through the cooling fins on the right side and at the bottom.
It also sucks in dust, which accumulates between the fan and the cooling fins.

Here is a sample image of a laptop heatsink that's clogged with dust:
https://www.efemt.com.au/images/laptop_ ... -large.jpg

If you just blow compressed air into the exhaust vents, the most you'll do is dislodge the dust, but it will still be stuck inside the fan. That's why the best way to clean it is to remove the entire heatsink, then separate the fan-- that way you'll have unobstructed access to the cooling fins, and can easily remove the dust that's built up through the years.

You also need to replace the thermal paste between the heatsink and processor (and GPU). Of course you need to remove all traces of the old paste first.

[Geophyte1]

Thanks for the explanation.

[Geophyte1]

For anyone needing to clean the fan, heat sink and reattach the heat sink to the processors on a W541, here is a detailed video. It is not in English but you don't need sound to understand the process.

https://youtu.be/GtJnBYRX2Zc

[onespeedbiker]

I would really look into getting new RAM. Most RAM testers only do a fair job of testing RAM and usually need repeated tests. Here is one of the best RAM testers. https://www.memtest86.com/ Just because subsequent tests of your RAM turns out good, does not men your RAM is good. On the contrary, if during repeated tests you get any errors it's an indication of bad RAM.

[Geophyte1]

Thanks.

I'll try the RAM tester.