Laptop Overheat Problem...

[slipd]

Hi guys,

A mate of mine has a bit of a laptop problem on atm…

And I think I’ve traced it to this



Basically, he’s complaining of constant shutdowns and frequent rebooting – usually if he’s using something like Norton AV, Adaware or Windows Defender. And this happens mainly in the day.

Today the CPU got up to 80 degrees and the case was red-hot!

It’s a Mesh laptop, about 2 years old, with a P4 3GHz.

I just want someone else to confirm this really, before he spends the cash to get the thing off back to Mesh

Cheers,

SW.

 

[Corasik]

Does he use it on a desk, or on his lap... Believe it or not, a lot of laptops are designed to transfer their heat onto the desk, using it as a giant heatsink.

Does the laptop have a little fan anywhere, and is it coming on when the system is hot etc.

Having seen a nice little photo of a laptop exploding, I dont think I would ever trust one on my lap again.

 

[slipd]

It's on a table atm, mate.

He has it raised slightly by a couple of books, in the hopes that it might aid airflow.

The fan at the back does seem to be on almost all of the time actually

He's mentioned that before thinking about it?

I'm putting money on it now that the reason it's unstable is because of faulty cooling!

Cheers,

SW.

 

[Corasik]

Sometimes laptops have kinda miniture wind tunnel/heatpipe, can you see any air intakes near the fan's exhaust anywhere, if the heatsink inside is filled with dust, that could block good airflow/cooling.

I have a dell laptop that I use sometimes, and it got bad once, I used an airduster and cleaned out the cooling on it, worked much better after.

If you cant see anything, then either back to the makers, or strip it down yourself.

 

[TheVoice]

I know that the Pentium-Ms can reduce their clockspeed to reduce temperature (mine is running at 800MHz at the moment), I wonder if the P4s in notebooks can?

Check the power settings profile and make sure it's set to Portable/Laptop - usually that's what forces Windows to reduce the clockspeed. Might also need a driver from the Intel site though.

If he runs it plugged into the wall, try taking the battery out, as it can help reduce temps a bit.