The user of the Toshiba L500 laptop on the home network recently reported that it was getting a little hot for laptop use. Needless to say, it did not take too long to ascertain that the single cooling fan had ceased to turn, Airflow through the exhaust vent was at an all time low.

It isn’t clogged up with dust surprisingly, but with the laptop powered up, a quick jet of compressed air gets the fan turning and stopping after the air jet is turned away.

I can get the fan part on eBay for around $25, but I have an aversion to taking laptops apart. I can get a video which shows the technique from YouTube, but the part I never like is prising the case halves.. Other than screws, there are often moulded plastic clips, and I hate to break these things.

Getting it fixed locally is going to cost at least $125 + tax, so what to do in the short term? A cooler base, maybe?

Enter the CoolerMaster NotePal X-Slim (R9-NBC-XSLI-GP). A huge 160mm centrally placed fan, very quiet in operation, it blows air through a metal mesh cover.

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3047

The Toshiba fan/heatsink is nicely placed to catch air from the edge of the fan, as is the diametrically opposed position of the hard drive Presently, it is working well, very well actually. I will of course repair the L500, but I will also continue to ensure that the cooler base is also used full time

It is easy enough to carry around, is USB powered via a piggyback USB connector, useful as the Toshiba only has two USB ports,, the laptop doesn’t slip and slide on it, and it works.

It is a quick fix for $24 + tax, I have saved the Toshiba from burning itself and it’s user out and discovered yet another good CoolerMaster product.