No user serviceable fans
Grr. Last night, My PowerBook suddenly started making the oscillating, growling noise of a fan with built up crud rattling against the blades. I'd thought it was the hard drive at first, knowing my luck, but I narrowed down the sound to the fans in the back and could make the sound go away by cutting back CPU usage.
Normally, as with all the other machines I have, I'd open the sucker up and clean that out with a q-tip or cotton ball. However, this is still under AppleCare for another year or so, and I doubt they'd look kindly on me pawing around inside this thing yet. But, I really don't want to part with it for most of a week, just so they can ship it to someone with a more official screwdriver and Apple-branded cotton swabs.
Archived Comments
Apple's official policy is that opening a system up and servicing it yourself doesn't void the warranty as long as you don't break it. At least that's the case on desktops and the Mini, and I'd imagine it extends to laptops as well.
Also, if it's a minor thing, they can probably do it on-site at either the Learning Center in Ann Arbor, or at the Apple Store in in Novi's 12 Oaks mall.
Go to Office Depot and get yourself some air in a can. They call it cleaning duster. The stuff is great for blowing junk out of tight places. You can even freeze stuff with it if you tip the can just right.
It's ozen friendly!