Warning: Some Q-Tips were harmed in the making of this tutorial
I have an Antec laptop cooling pad that is listed here from Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834999850
I will admit that it it cheaply made of all plastic except for the very thin aluminum layer on the topside. My cooler has started making noise from a fan after having it nine months or so. I decided to look into the problem and see what was going on. There are several places online saying that this unit is throw away, or very cheap, or that you can not service it or replace the fans. That is not true, so here is a basic tutorial on how to take the Antec cooler apart and what it looks like inside.
The unit has ten screws though out the entire device. There are four that hold the case together, two on each fan for a total of four fan screws and finally two that hold the fan speed board in place. There are also four pray type plastic tabs, one on each side that hold the case together.
Here is what I used for this project. I used a can of air, a #1 tip Phillips screw driver and a small tip flat blade screw driver, glass cleaner, a microfiber cloth, and q-tips.
Lets get started. Turn the cooler over on its top and gently pry off the feet which are held on with glue. The flat blade screw driver works great for this. Now remove the four screws from the case body, there is one under each foot. With the flat blade screw driver gently pry the case apart to separate the plastic clips.
Once the case is separated you can start to clean the inside of it with glass cleaner sprayed on the microfiber towel. I used q-tips soaked in glass cleaner to get the tight areas around the fans and into the air channel. The fans are thin and the fan blades look like fins, similar to a swirl cage fan. I am not sure in a standard case fan will fit in here unless it is very thin. The connectors on the fans are two prong and small, like a motherboard fan connector.
The fans have play in them and are very weak as far as power, so any dust build up will make them not work well and will throw them off balance. My fans quieted down after cleaning. The fan speed switch works like a low and high speed setting switch so both fans run always.
The cooler goes back together very easily as well. The top cover only fits back one way and presses back together. You can then re-install the four case screws and press the feet back on. The feet only fit one way and are slotted. That is it. You have now serviced and repaired your Antec laptop cooler, which has been said to not be fixable.
