HOT laptop

Discussion in 'Notebooks & Mobile Devices' started by belikethat, Nov 14, 2011.

  1. belikethat

    belikethat Just Started

    Hi guys :wave:

    A friend of mine gave me his laptop for formating and i found out that it overheats easily, idle temp is 55 celcius.
    If it runs a movie it could reach 70-80 celcius! and the fan is moving.

    What possible could cause laptop to overheat? I just formated and suspect it's hardware related. If don`t dare|know to disemable this laptop. it's an old dell inspiron 700m

    I think i gonna bring it to a shop to check on the fan and apply
    new thermal paste on the CPU?
     
  2. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Hmm.. Usually that's because the fan has failed. You may feel a hot exhaust - because the hot air has nowhere to go but out the vents. However, the fan may not be working at all.

    If the fan is still running, then the heatsink may be clogged with dust. I would take it apart and clean the heatsink.
     
  3. zy

    zy zynine.com Staff Member

    This. All the laptops I encountered with heat problem are due to dust. Inexperience users will not know how to see this dust.

    I usually use compressed air and shoot into the vents of the heatsink. (with laptop turn off)

    Prolonged used with clogged heatsink may lead to hardware failure (one of my friend's toshiba had this)
     
  4. belikethat

    belikethat Just Started

    you are right. i took the trouble to dissemble into piece just to take out the fan and heatsink. the dust is like cotton size!

    funny thing is that the CPU attached to the heatsink surface is only a small rectangular and there were thermal pad around it. look like this

    --------
    |..._....| ------> CPU HOLDER
    |..|_|..| -------> small rectangular
    |.........| ... represent existing thermal pad
    --------

    so what i did was i apply very little amount of thermal paste to
    that small rectangular.

    now the idle temp is 48-55. but playing video could reach 65 Celsius.. i reckon it's still hot.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2011
  5. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    Inspiron 700m is based on the first gen Pentium-M, and they can get very hot.
     
  6. zy

    zy zynine.com Staff Member

    And Its a 12.1" laptop as well, so heatsink would be smaller than those found in bigger laptops.
     
  7. belikethat

    belikethat Just Started

    i notice it behavior from 48 it gradually goes up to 60 ish then the fan start spinning faster and it goes down to 50...

    repeat this loop. lol
     
  8. lee_what2004

    lee_what2004 Just Started

    Undervolt the processor ?
     
  9. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Yes, I can attest to that. I still have a first-gen Pentium M notebook and it's VERY hot to touch even when it idles! I really need to take some time to open it up and replace the dead fan... :(
     

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