I bought my Dell Inspiron B130 laptop two years ago and I have enjoyed it greatly. The extra-wide screen is very handy for working with lots of open windows, and it has performed very well. I replaced the battery after about a year and a half, which seems to be normal for these models.

Recently, I noticed that the laptop was getting uncomfortably hot on my left leg. The upper left corner of the base has always been a hot spot, but this was beyond normal. On closer inspection I saw that the fan was also running continuously. So I decided to do a bit of investigation.

The bottom of the B130 has several access panels held in place by one or more screws. In this view, the hinge edge of the laptop is at the bottom of the photo. The access panel below the fan and to the left of the battery covers the hot spot, so I started there.

I unfastened the one screw holding the panel in place. The screw is a captive type, so it won’t fall out of the panel. The panel lifts up slightly as the screw is turned counter-clockwise. Just lift it up and slide it out. Once the panel was removed, the problem was obvious. In between the fan and the copper heat sink was what appeared to be a layer of felt. It was actually accumulated lint.

Once I recognized the problem, the solution was easy. It’s really the same as cleaning the condenser coils on your refrigerator. To clean out the lint, unfasten the four screws holding the heat sink down (horizontal arrows in the photo above). These are also captive screws, so don’t worry about them falling out. With all four screws unfastened, lift out the heat sink using the bar-coded, white strap. Avoid touching the bottom of the heat sink.

As a point of interest, the bottom of the heat sink contains a dark grey square. In the middle of it is a rectangular mark caused by the matching rectangular feature on the green structure still in the computer. I presume the green device is the processor. The rectangle is probably a metallic material that conducts heat very well. The heat sink is made of copper, which is also an excellent heat conductor. When the fan blows air over the copper fins, excess heat is transferred from the processor, to the copper, to the air and then out of the PC.

In this photo, the channels of the heat sink are quite visible. They are so small, that it is easy to understand how they can be blocked by dust. Once the heat sink was out, the collection of lint was easy to remove. I also used an old toothbrush to gently clean out the ends of the channels that had been blocked. Blowing through them also helped. In the end, I used a small plastic cable tie to remove the last bits of dust. A small pipe cleaner would have been a better tool.

Put everything back together in the reverse order. Note that a number is stamped into the thick, copper base of the heat sink, next to each screw. They are numbered 1 through 4. Carefully re-insert the heat sink, and then seat each screw. I apply light downward pressure and turn the screw backwards until I hear or feel it click. Then I turn each one a quarter turn to just engage the threads. Starting with number 1, I tightened that screw fully, then moved to number 2, which is diagonally across the heat sink. Continue in order with screws 3 and 4.

With all the dust removed, the heat sink re-installed, and the access panel closed up, I was done. I am glad I caught this when I did. I’m not an expert on PCs, but I can easily imagine the processor shutting down from getting too hot. Cleaning just makes sense, and I plan to do this annually as long as I am using this computer. Although I don’t know for sure, I suspect this cleaning procedure would work on many other laptop models besides the Dell B130.

After I wrote the above article, several readers suggested using thermal grease when re-installing the heat sink. It’s a good idea, and I have explored it further in a follow-up article. See “Optimize Heat Transfer” in the Links section.

thank you so much!!!! Your suppose to clean out all PC pf lint. I'm not sure if every computer gets lint but you should clean all computers daily. It makes the computer quieter and its less stress on the computer. Thanks for the info - it cleared up the problem on my girlfriend's PC with shutting down due to thermal overtemp. Oh my gosh!! Thank you SO much for this! I was about to the point of trying to buy a new fan when I found this! Like others, I pulled out a LOT of lint, and my Dell is now working just like new. You are my hero for the day! you are a genius. I took 15 screws out of the back of my laptop and couldn't get to fan. I took 5 screws out per your direction and pulled out a 1/4" x 1 inch long slug of lint. GENIUS!!! SIMPLER IS ALWAYS BETTER!!!!!!!!!! Excellent ... Any idea on what needs to be done if the fan doesn't seem to work?? Wow! I've been having noises come from the fan for over a year now. Thought I would need to replace the fan, which I hear is expensive, so I never checked anything else. Well...I did what you said and sure enough, there is a bunch of lint in there. Too bad the IT guy at work couldn't have suggested that when I asked about it. Maybe you should go in IT...sounds like you know way more than they do!! Thanks! Ray, I can't thank you enough for posting such explicit instructions about how to repair my overheating computer. I thought I was going to have to buy a new computer, but now my B130 is working so well. Thanks SO much! My B120 has been running so hot that it would just turn off suddenly. i tried a lot of stuff to fix the problem, but it still persisted.I put up with that for 2-3 years, it recently got to the point where i had to set my laptop on a little box fan to help keep it cool(lol). Then I found and followed your instructions, and there was a big wad of lint in there.cleaned it out real good,now it's running a LOT better :D thanks it solved my problem as well. simple things makes life easier Thanks so much! I just pulled out almost 1/4 inch of lint from the laptop and it is cooler already! I found 4 years worth of lint in there. It literally ::poofed:: out at me once I got the heat sink out. I guess we'll see how it goes from here on out. Thanks for the post. Thanks so much! I thought I had to buy a new fan! WOW This really works. I got my B130 about 4 years ago, it started heating up a lot 2 years ago, and I always wondered why. I'm usually scared to open any component of my computers (especially laptops, they seem more fragile to me) but the overheating issue was making the computer nearly unusable. So I followed the guide and I found 4 years of dust in the heats sink. The issue is that the dust easily gets trapped into the fan and into the heat sink as I managed to pull a lot of dust out of the slot from the fan to the heatsink. Dell should've added a filter to this. I do believe the B130 had many other flaws though, such as the connector to the AC power supply. It easily comes out of place and makes it extremely difficult to charge breaking many chargers. I've gone through 4 Universal chargers with this laptop, this one lasting the longest. Supposedly it's a motherboard issue and would require replacing the whole motherboard. Other than that I'm very satisfied with my B130 now. If only Dell/Intel had a better display card that would support aero because the computer is very capable of running Windows 7, just no aero effects which kind of takes away a lot from the nice looks. I was about to scrap this laptop because it shut off from overheating, but your solution saved it! Thanks! Ray, you are a genius! The fan on my computer was so loud, that it was embarrassing to take to my college classes. My computer is only 2-3 years old, and I had no idea why it was running so hard and overheating. Your quick solution did the trick and saved my computer! You're the man!! Thanks again! Awesome post Ray. Top notch instructons and it did the trick. My wife is happy now and it didn't cost a penny. Thanks Again! Woah! I have a dell inspiron b120 (very similar) it had the same problem of burning my leg, so i opened it up and boom LINT!! i blew it out with air can and i do now every 2 months. Runs great. My battery did die though B( Thanks! I can't believe how cool my computer is now. It's been on for about 4 hours and its not hot AND its pretty quite now. Very good "how-to-clean-b130" steps, I think this has been going on for about a year now, but anyways, when I opened it up I found that nasty lint as well. Thanks man. Thanks for a great solution and preventive maintenance tip. I'm surprised that you say you are not an expert on PC's because the combination of your instructions and pictures constitute some of the best technical writing that I have ever seen! It is clear, concise and understandable to a general audience and was a joy to find. You made my day much brighter and my PC much cooler! This was at the top of the list in my Google search on this problem, and it certainly deserves to be there! I really appreciate your detailed fix. My b130 was actually shutting down because it was so hot. The lint I removed from between the heat sink and the fan will also come in handy keeping me warm during the cold northeast winters. Thanks again. I was facing the same problem. My laptop used to get heated up especially when it on AC power.I followed your method and now the laptop does not gets heated. Thanks a lot This was extremely helpful, thank you for taking the time to write this detailed posting. I just cleaned the lint out of my B130 and am hoping it will run a bit cooler now. It has been a great laptop and I want to keep it running for a long time! Ray..thanks a ton man! U just saved my laptop :) This is a good tutorial. However, simply reattaching the heatsink to the processor can still cause the processor to overheat if you don't apply some thermal gel (aka thermal grease). When the thermal grease heats up, it bonds the CPU to the heatsink and distributes heat through the molecular bond. Once you remove the heatsink the bond is broken and you need to clean the surfaces and apply fresh thermal grease to ensure proper heat transfer. Thanks so much! I was getting frustrated by my multiple B-130's having trouble with this. My son just said, "Dad, that's already working much better!" RAY...you saved my tushy and my naturopathic practice! I was all set to run down to the computer repair shop, although the only thing wrong was that my computer was overheating all day. I found you online, followed the instructions exactly and...HOO-HAH when I lifted out the heat sink...a whole batch of fuzzy lint, reminscent of the dryer after washing towels!!! I used a handy toothbrush and plastic cable tie, and blew in. Now my fan isn't even running and the ol' B130 is WAY COOL!!! And not suddenly shutting down. INDEED..you da man!!! thank you...radio nd. www.whus.org Wow! I had a 1/4 inch thick wad of lint jammed in there! No wonder the poor little fan was screaming so loud it woke me up! All better now. Thank you so very much. Charley Thanks a ton! My Dell Inspiron B130 would always over-heat and shut down after a couple hours of use, I thought it was a goner! Now its running fine. You saved me alot of money! Thanks!! Thank you It really helped. Thank you very much. Good staf for all readings in the future. Thanks again Thank you! Had same issue. B130 sounded like a bomber with the fan constantly on. All set now! Great tutorial. Thank you. My laptop fan is not running as much (Dell B130). I do have a question. Do I need to use ARCTIC SILVER 5? If so, where do I put it? Thanks for the clear and helpful instructions. Found a big chunk of lint right where you advised. THANK YOU! My wife's computer was doing this exact thing and your solution was the EXACT problem. Love you! Bump! This simple quick fix should always be #1 on Google search for these hot lil b130's. I slapped a dab of AS5(artic silver) on for good measure... Ray, You are da man!!! I just cleaned my heat sink and went to YouTube to run some videos. That is when my system would usually overheat, but now it doesn't even get warm. Thank you so much for the detailed explanations and the photos with graphics. WOW I thought my computer was dead. Thanks again. This was a simple fix and worked great!! It was amazing how much dust had collected at the mouth of the heatsink-the opening was completely blocked. My B130 is now completely quiet as the fan no longer needs to labor and the performance has improved vastly. Thank you for your posting and clear instructions. You saved me a lot of money and frustration. Col 3:17 You are awesome! I took apart everything except this heat sink (i was scared to remove it) looking for the problem. When i followed your advice here i found a HUGE piece of link blocking the air flow. I'm confident this was the issue. Thanks. Hi Ray, thanks for the detailed post. Its really useful and helped me fix my overheating Dell Inspiron B130. regards arun I am glad this article has been helpful. This is one of the best uses for the internet and I am grateful that Google has made it so easy to find answers to "life's persistent questions." (quote from Garrison Keillor, Guy Noir, Private Eye) Thanks Ray! Your instructions gave me confidence to clean my computer myself. My Dell Inspiron B130 was shutting down due to overheating and cleaning my computer using your instructions took care of the problem. Ray: Thanks for the detailed posting. I finally fixed the overheating of my Dell Inspiron B130 and it hasn't shutdown after being on for the past 12 hrs. The heating after this cleaning has come down drastically and its convenient to use the laptop now without having to worry about when it might shutdown. Awesome.. Cheers. Cheers.