Fan problems

[fms714]

The fans in my macbook seem to be working fine, but no air is moving out of the vents in the back, even when the fans are at 6000RPM. I think its due to a buildup of dust since it is over 5 years old. I'm way out of warranty but I would bring it in to the Apple store to fix it. I tried taking the top case off to clean it but it felt stuck near the screen, so I didn't want to risk yanking it off and braking something. I was just looking for some opinions on what to do.

 

[R94N]

You can buy cans of compressed air. Blow one down the fan gap. Good decision to not pull on the case; you'll probably snap it or something. You can also just take it into pretty much any computer store; they should be able to do it.

 

[Pax]

The case is not too hard to take off, but you are right not to force it
Try the iFixit guides, they are very good with lots of photos.
There are a LOT of screws on the old MBs, you need to be sure you take them all out. There are some grippy clips along the sides which you do need to pull off. I have taken the top off mine several times, and I am the nervous type.
As the other poster says, some canned air would be a good start.

 

[fms714]

Thanks for the help. I think the IFixit guide is what I used before, but if the compressed air through the vents doesn't do it i'll try again.

 

[Blondie :)]

I'd actually find it safe to say that your fans are probably working fine. I wondered the same thing the other day, so I used smcfancontrol to ramp my fans up to 6000 RPM. I still couldn't feel air moving in the vent hole. However, I know that my computer is perfectly clean, because I upgraded my RAM 2 weeks ago, and everything was perfectly clean. Still, getting the cleaning supplies is probably a good idea, but your computer probably isn't filthy or anything.