Introduction
The small form factor makes the NUC too prone to overheating due dust accumulation in the CPU cooler air outlet fins
What you need
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Place the NUC upside down and select a PH2 Phillips screw driver bit
Ask FixBot
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Start by using a Phillips head #2 screw driver to remove the lower screws on the lower case door.
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These screws are held in with retainers, so they won't fall out when you flip the lid.
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Lift the door, and keep an eye on the cables that connect to the NUC's motherboard. These cables are the power and data cables for the 2.5" hard drive bay.
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Carefully unplug the cables from the motherboard, and set the bracket aside.
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In the last photo, the slot for a blade SSD is marked with a red arrow. This is where you would install the blade SSD, and use a screw to hold it in place.
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Change the screw driver bit to the PH1 one.
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Unscrew the V-NAND SSD and carefully slide it out of its connector.
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Remove the WiFi and Bluetooth antenna cables (be extremely careful when doing this otherwise you risk to rip the base contact terminal off the PCB)
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Remove the stereo mic cable from the motherboard connector.
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Pay attetion to the WiFi cable hidden under a black piece of tape
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Not all are necessary only the two depicted.
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Use a pry tool to lift the motherboard from the casing
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Marked with red circles the dust signs evident on first sight
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Remove the 3 screws fixing the CPU fan
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Remove the fan power connect from the motherboard
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You will need to use compressed air, a small vacuum cleaner or something similar to blast off all the stucked dust.
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I'm using a compressed air can (optional)
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This step is probably not necessary, but for the sake of completeness here it is.
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Remove the screws holding the CPU cooler following the numbers on them.
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Use isopropyl alcohol for this, be careful not to touch the the thermal pads on the chips around the CPU.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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32 Guide Comments
Great tutorial, thanks, now my fan is very clean and quiet. Thanks for spending time to create this guide!
I did see this guide after finding out the same steps myself and having seen this guide before doing so would be very helpful.
