Anyone ever dismantled a fan on a Dell laptop please?

I have an Inspiron 8200 which has two fans, one of which has gone. I have a
spares Inspiron 5000 which has a single fan in it. They look the same.
Taking out the whole unit entails dismantling the whole laptop and removing
the circuit board; and I wouldn't know where to get the fan unit. Can I
dismantle the two-fan unit in place and replace one of them? It seems
accessible but the power lead goes to the underside of the main PCB

They each SEEM to be held in with Phillips screws (but I may be imagining
it).

"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:R7CdnaaLY6IipNvYnZ2dnUVZ_vidnZ2d@rcn.net...
> Anyone ever dismantled a fan on a Dell laptop please?
>
> I have an Inspiron 8200 which has two fans, one of which has gone. I have
> a spares Inspiron 5000 which has a single fan in it. They look the same.
> Taking out the whole unit entails dismantling the whole laptop and
> removing the circuit board; and I wouldn't know where to get the fan
> unit. Can I dismantle the two-fan unit in place and replace one of them?
> It seems accessible but the power lead goes to the underside of the main
> PCB
>
> They each SEEM to be held in with Phillips screws (but I may be imagining
> it).
>

Contact Dell with the above information including the service tag.
Request access url for assembly level details on the laptop.
Depending on the day, the CSR at Dell and which way the wind is blowing they
may provide the required information.

How old is that laptop (I don't have time to check)?

"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in
news:R7CdnaaLY6IipNvYnZ2dnUVZ_vidnZ2d@rcn.net:

> Anyone ever dismantled a fan on a Dell laptop please?
>
> I have an Inspiron 8200 which has two fans, one of which has gone. I
> have a spares Inspiron 5000 which has a single fan in it. They look
> the same. Taking out the whole unit entails dismantling the whole
> laptop and removing the circuit board; and I wouldn't know where to
> get the fan unit. Can I dismantle the two-fan unit in place and
> replace one of them? It seems accessible but the power lead goes to
> the underside of the main PCB
>
> They each SEEM to be held in with Phillips screws (but I may be
> imagining it).

Complete disassembly directions for your 8200 are here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc..._en/remove.htm

"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in
news:R7CdnaaLY6IipNvYnZ2dnUVZ_vidnZ2d@rcn.net:

> Anyone ever dismantled a fan on a Dell laptop please?
>
> I have an Inspiron 8200 which has two fans, one of which has
> gone. I have a spares Inspiron 5000 which has a single fan in
> it. They look the same. Taking out the whole unit entails
> dismantling the whole laptop and removing the circuit board;
> and I wouldn't know where to get the fan unit. Can I dismantle
> the two-fan unit in place and replace one of them? It seems
> accessible but the power lead goes to the underside of the main
> PCB
>
> They each SEEM to be held in with Phillips screws (but I may be
> imagining it).
>
>
>
You may find the service manual helpful:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support...200/en/sm_en/i
ndex.htm

aka: http://tinyurl.com/nrfab

> Complete disassembly directions for your 8200 are here:
> http://support.dell.com/support/edoc..._en/remove.htm

Yes, I had got that far and established that it involves disassembling the
whole computer virtually down to the last screw. I wouldn't have thought
that my question is the sort of question anyone at Dell would even know?
Whether I can dissemble an internal part which they supply as such? How
would I get to a third level tech support rep to ask him if I can replace
ONE of two fans without buying a new part?

The 8200 must be about two to three years old as is the 5000 from which
would come the replacement single fan: If anyone at Dell would check it,
they would just find that the fans have two different part numbers, as one
is a two fan unit while the other is a one fan unit!