Laptop overheating

[kinley3]

I've been having an issue with my laptop overheating. I've purchased a cooling pad, but the problem really isn't solved. I was wondering if anybody knows some kind of clever tricks or fixes that might be appropriate for such a thing.

Thanks in advance.

[like2program]

Power saver mode should cut down on heat output, try not to block any vents as well.

[posidyn]

You can try cleaning the heat sinks and vents.

If you have a fan under the laptop, you can try to vacuum the fan to suck out as much dust as possible. No guarantees if the vacuum will ruin the fan. But I do do that with my laptops.

Where the air is being blown out try to blow into the outlet vent with compressed air (Air in a can). This is an attempt to dislodge any dust that is trapped inside.

The whole idea is to extract dust with reverse air flow through the vents.

Only do the above when your laptop is off and cool.


To prevent dust from clogging the insides in the first place, raised the laptop off the table when you are using it. Of course this kinda defeats the purpose of the laptop if you are using it for mobility. Most laptops suck air from underneath, including any dust that is there. Raising it off the table prevents this a bit. I use a wire frame document tray turned upside down.

Hope that helps.

[hlastimosa]

You might also want to try updating the BIOS to newer version , some of the BIOS instructions will have updates for the hardware to lower down consumption of power and reduce heat. As others say as well you might want to try clearing out the air vents and use compressed air when cleaning

[Mr. DOS]

It's not a project for the faint of heart, but it's possible to pull the laptop completely apart to the point of removing the motherboard from the laptop body and blowing the dust out/off of everything. Check the support section of your laptop manufacturer's website for a "hardware maintenance manual'; if one exists for your laptop, it should contain replacement (essentially removal/put-back-al) instructions for most of the hardware in the machine, hopefully including the motherboard.

As I said, it's not a light undertaking. I've done it several times and it still usually takes at least a couple hours just because of what's involved. A few tips if you do decide to do it, though:

• Keep screws organized! Find a flat, undisturbed surface to put screws on. It should not be anywhere near arm range or you will knock them!
• When taking screws out of the laptop, try to put them on said surface in a layout like they were in the laptop. That way, you'll have a better idea of where they go back.
• No matter what order the maintenance manual says to take things out, get rid of the hard drive and optical drive first. Put them somewhere safe, especially the hard drive; 2.5" drives are more delicate than 3.5" clunkers, and you don't want it damaged.
• You're almost certainly going to need to completely detach the screen from the laptop body. This is an excellent opportunity to clean it. I recommend glasses lens cleaner and a microfiber cloth, but any extremely mild, non-abrasive cleaner (I've used diluted Windex before) and a soft, clean cloth should work. Be careful if you have a non-glossy screen - the matte coatings scratch more easily than the (basically glass) glossy ones.
• Be extremely careful if you have to remove the heatsink from the CPU to properly clean it. Not only is the CPU breakable, but you probably don't have replacement thermal paste to put on the heatsink if you get dust all over it. The easiest way to avoid that is to try to get as much dust as possible off the heatsink (especially its underside) before removing it.
• If your laptop has a Wi-Fi adapter, the antenna is probably in the screen, which means two antenna leads (Main and Aux) will wind their way from the Wi-Fi adapter (usually on the underside of the laptop, revealed by removing a plastic cover) up through the body and under one screen hinge. When reassembling the laptop, make sure you re-run this before putting the palm rest and keyboard back in. It's an absolutely magical, wonderful experience to find that after reassembling the top half of the laptop, you've got to talk half of it back off again because you forgot to re-run the Wi-Fi antenna.
• If you've got to pry to get something apart, you've probably missed something. (This applies to electronics disassembly in general, actually.)

That's all I can remember right now. If you do decide to do it, good luck! If you don't, that's alright too - it's a daunting procedure!

--- Mr. DOS

[Smith6612]

Can you give me the laptop model as well as it's specs? That'd help us provide better info on the laptop. Also, keep in mind as the thermal paste ages between your laptops CPU and possibly even the GPU (if it isn't an Intel thing), it loses its ability to transfer heat onto the heat exchanging metal to carry it to the fan. Typically after a few years, you need to re-apply thermal paste to the CPU and GPU. I do suggest dis-assembling the laptop while the heat sink is still warm, as it minimizes the risk of damaging your CPU by pulling it from the socket incorrectly. Just keep in mind though, when applying thermal paste, do it neatly, and keep everything including the paste away from the motherboard. There are guides on the Internet as to applying it properly. Lastly, whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THE THERMAL PADS. THEY ARE GARBAGE.

Also, as someone stated before sometimes newer BIOS revisions can fix the issues that laptops get with overheating. Most of the time it's something simple such as leaving the fan running longer, or telling it to spin faster, and then other times it's something such as power management so that the hardware isn't generating unneeded heat. Of course, make sure if you do flash your BIOS to flash it under a clean system state. That's one of the best ways to turn laptops into Bricks if done incorrectly or in an unstable environment.

And of course, the most obvious thing to do is to open up the bottom of the laptop and simply used canned air or an air gun to get the dust out. Just be sure to prevent the fan from spinning while blowing dust out, or you'll have a better chance of ruining the bearings on the already cheap ball socket fan.

[kinley3]

Dell Inspiron B120
500MB RAM
1.4 gHz Intel Celeron

I think I got it around this time 2005, so yeah, it's no spring chicken. Since you mentioned the thermal paste, I would imagine that's what the problem is. Seemed to start going downhill about a year and a half to two years after I got it, and I haven't been able to do anything to fix it.

I did install Ubuntu and buy a cooling pad,both of which have helped pretty drastically as far as shutting down due to overheating is concerned. It still gets hot though, and I'm leery of using it without the heating pad even still.

[Smith6612]

Dell Inspiron B120
500MB RAM
1.4 gHz Intel Celeron

I think I got it around this time 2005, so yeah, it's no spring chicken. Since you mentioned the thermal paste, I would imagine that's what the problem is. Seemed to start going downhill about a year and a half to two years after I got it, and I haven't been able to do anything to fix it.

I did install Ubuntu and buy a cooling pad,both of which have helped pretty drastically as far as shutting down due to overheating is concerned. It still gets hot though, and I'm leery of using it without the heating pad even still.

Most likely, your cooling is starting to fail or the thermal paste is worn out. I wouldn't imagine a 1.4Ghz Celeron running crazy warm, as those are actually pretty cool running processors compared to the Pentium processors I've come across. But if the fan is still giving plenty of air flow, and has nominal amounts of dust in it, it looks as though it's time to apply some new paste to the CPU/GPU.

[apoorav]

Make and design of a laptop - It’s a known fact that certain laptops run hotter than other laptops, there are many factors involved such as processor type, cooling system such as fans or heatsink, ventilation, the initial heat given off by the CPU, even items such as video cards can increase the laptop heat as a whole.
Edit:

I've been having an issue with my laptop overheating. I've purchased a cooling pad, but the problem really isn't solved. I was wondering if anybody knows some kind of clever tricks or fixes that might be appropriate for such a thing.

Thanks in advance.

It’s environment where it’s situated - If the laptop is placed in a warm environment which cannot be avoided then being able to stop laptop overheating can pose more of a problem,



but even then by following a few simple steps below we can help to stop laptop overheating to a large degree.






What tasks is it being used for -

The harder a laptop is working the hotter the processor will become, this does not necessarily mean that the computer is overheating though.



What is connected to it? -

Did you know plugging in USB devices such as external hard drive and network dongles puts a small load on the processor,



So if your computer is getting hot only connect USB devices when required, or purchase alternative equipment with different connection types.



Laptop hot or actually over heating? - It’s a common misconception that if a laptop gets hot it is overheating, If you think your laptop is actually overheating there are a few symptoms to look out for such as system crashes, sluggishness or slowness, are some parts of it too hot to touch?




A good way to test if a laptop is over heating is to use some CPU temperature monitoring software, many of these packages are free for both Intel and AMD processors then check to see what the normal temperature is for your computer type, it’s also worth checking the recommended processor temperature from the manufactures website or one of the many user groups/forums.



What can be done if a computer is overheating - Always use a hard cool surface to allow air to circulate under the laptop. Many laptops have cooling vents underneath and obstructing these will make a laptop overheat very quickly.

One of our clients had a problem with an Acer laptop over heating, after checking this it was found have an asset label covering the air vents directly where the processor fan expelled hot air.



If a laptop is starting to overheat all of a sudden check the CPU fan, you should be able to hear it running, also check the thermal paste which helps transfer heat from the processor to the heatsink as it can lose efficiency and will need to be replaced.



Keep all vents clear of dirt or dust, a build up will cause over heating

Maybe purchase a laptop cooler which is basically a plate with multiple fans that sits under the laptop, helping to circulate air.



Applying the power saving functions of a laptop will make a it run much cooler, plus increase it’s battery life.



If you’re looking for a new laptop and are concerned about excess heat or over heating, check on website of your preferred manufacturer, checking their forums on which laptops fall into this category and which don’t.