how to clean dust from Compaq Presario // ESD risk

[planetrock]

To clean dust from the fan of a Compaq Presario 2100, can I vacuum through the vents? If not, is there any way to reach the dust without removing all of the following items, as instructed in HP's service manual?

• Hard disk drive (page 2-9)
• Keyboard cover (page 2-13)
• Keyboard (page 2-16)
• Switchboard PCA (page 2-19)
• Display assembly (page 2-23)
• Top case (page 2-26)

That is, the manual's instructions are for *removing* the fan, and I'm wondering if that's necessary in order to get the dust out. Apparently it can't be reached directly from the bottom.

And -

How big a threat is ESD? I'm not a repair person, but am a very capable amateur; I've replaced my laptop keyboard and opened up plenty of desktops and stereo equipment for minor repairs. Is there really a risk of frying myself or the laptop?

Background:

Laptop runs at second-highest fan speed 100% of the time, even when no programs are running. Clean computer, no spyware or unnecessary background processes. Sometimes the fan will go off if I'm running ONLY Microsoft Word (or other medium-size app) AND the document isn't very big AND I'm not connected to the internet AND the battery has been removed from the machine.

Fan goes to highest speed (scary sounding) and I get that hot plastic smell under 100% CPU conditions, e.g. at certain websites (I think with extremely heavy Flash or Java crap) or with graphic-intensive software.

Altogether is this enough heat to burn or wear out anything? The bottom is always fairly warm and the metal panel over the RAM is often hot.

Many thanks!

[jbennet]

fast moving air increases the static risk but even then, i regualry vacum my compaq proliant server and my Dell Dimesnion Desktop and never had any problems but ATTEMPT THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK

[planetrock]

I took the laptop apart down to the fan / heat sink and got the dust out. So far the fan is running at lower speeds and sometimes even shutting off, so I may have solved the constant-fan problem but it's too early to tell.

HOWEVER now the dsiplay doesn't work so I need to look this up in the appropriate forum and post if necessary. I guess the backlight is on (?) because it lights up in uniform gray color. Computer works fine when external monitor is attached.