Major overheating - solutions anyone?

The Astroman

The Astroman

Active Member
Hey! This problem annoys me deeply and frustrates me so any answers would be VERY appreciated. My Dell Inspiron 5150 is overheating to the point it crashes, because the cooling system doesn't evacuate enough heat. Indeed, there is one hole under the laptop (which lies on a flat surface, so the heat stays stuck) and a hole on the side, which isn't enough. I have tried loading heavy programs, and it made the computer crash. When I put piles of blank CDs under the computer, effectively lifting it and giving it space under it, the PC doesn't crash, although the fan still works full duty. Is there anything I can do to make the cooling better, without necessarily buying a laptop cooler? Do they even work? I was looking at this one, sleek, silent; http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=224&code=030

But I would prefer a solution involving me spending little to no money :)
And no, I don't think keeping it balanced on CDs is a good idea, it's not convenient.
Thanks! ;)
 
are you sure the fans are in good condition, are they sounding load like they are not spinning up enough
Sometim lappy fans get bogged down and lose rpm
 
My wife's 8200 had that problem a while back. Upon inspection, I found that there was a massive buildup of dust on the fan/cooling fin array. I took a q-tip and some compressed air and got it all out and it ran *much* cooler afterwards.

It's easy to do, but you'll have to be gentle and be able to put things back properly afterwards.

Laptop coolers are hit or miss, but really you just need to keep it raised a bit and you should be fine.
 
Also having a heat problem

oscaryu1 said:
I'd recommend lapping the CPU and cooler... also get some Arctic Silver 5...
Click to expand...

You mentioned Arctic Solver 5.. I take it is a thermal grease? Why this brand and does a particular brand or quality of the brand make a difference? I am asking because I built by 8th computer, this time for myself. And it has a high heat output that makes me sweat , literally, when I am next to it. None of the other computers I have built do that. This one has a case with a clear plexiglass side with a cooling fan, 3.2 GHZ CPU, 2 hard drives, 2 burners,
1 120 mm fan in the rear and another 80mm fan in the lower front. I thought that I had one of the fans reversed, so I turned it around. But the temp is still high. I use an external temperature probe with the sensor placed inside the case near the motherboard. It typically reads 88-96 F.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Here are the actual temperatures for my system. CPU temperature is 61 C or 141 F. The System temperature is 47 C or 116 F. These seem a bit high. As I said before, the computer makes me sweat just being next to it. It has 3 cooling fans: one in the front, one in the rear and one on the side. Perhaps I need to check the direction flow on the fans. I built this computer myself , but this was the first time I had done any mods to the box.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

RWB
 
DBMaSter said:
Here are the actual temperatures for my system. CPU temperature is 61 C or 141 F. The System temperature is 47 C or 116 F. These seem a bit high. As I said before, the computer makes me sweat just being next to it. It has 3 cooling fans: one in the front, one in the rear and one on the side. Perhaps I need to check the direction flow on the fans. I built this computer myself , but this was the first time I had done any mods to the box.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

RWB
Click to expand...


The fan in the front of the case should be sucking air into the case, and the rear fan should be pulling the air out of the case.

The Temps you listed are extreme. You are risking burning out your CPU at those temps.

Either add another fan to your case to help cool your system. Or get a new cpu fan!

If you replace your CPU fan, remember to clean all the old thermal paste off using some alcohol ( the best is denatured alcohol) and reapply new thermal paste per directions.

You should also start your own thread on your problem instead of hijacking this one.
 
I don't think the thermal paste is a problem, cause we already got Dell to replace the cooler once, cause it was doing the same thing (crashing cause of heat) and it was better after but now it's bad again. Dunno if he changed the paste though.
 
I really don't recommend trying to lap or even replace the thermal paste on a laptop. Even getting to the CPU is a reasonably involved process that will almost certainly void your warranty.

Here are the actual temperatures for my system. CPU temperature is 61 C or 141 F. The System temperature is 47 C or 116 F. These seem a bit high. As I said before, the computer makes me sweat just being next to it. It has 3 cooling fans: one in the front, one in the rear and one on the side. Perhaps I need to check the direction flow on the fans. I built this computer myself , but this was the first time I had done any mods to the box.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

RWB
Click to expand...
Please start your own thread, particularly as you are working with a desktop which makes cooling suggestions quite different to laptops.
 
Last edited:
When your using the latop do you have it on the carpet or your knee?

If so, it needs to be on a flat surface so that the fans on the bottom can suck in air...

Also, Yeah, like you said a laptop cooler may help...
 
The Astroman said:
lapping?
Click to expand...

lapping is when the surface of both the CPU heatshield and the HSF are sanded down to become very smooth. The result is better contact of the two, thus better heat transfer, thus better temps. I would *never* even attempt to lap anything in a laptop though!

Take a flashlight and look in the slatted area with the fan. If you see lots of gray dust, all you should need is a cleaning. I'm willing to bet that once the dust is gone and more air can flow you'll see temps drop.
 
Ehhh laptop is on a flat surface. Is it normal the dust can block the cooling system until it makes the system crash?

And what if I'm wrong? What if it's not the heat? I mean, it sure looks like it, it crashes when the fans have been running FULL power for 10 minutes on a heavy app. Actually, the fans always run full power, but the laptop only crashes after several minutes of heavy processing.

Could it be anything else?

And I am a guaranteed a 60$ laptop cooler will solve my problem cause it's non negligeable amount to shell out for something not normally needed :)

Thx for answers
 
The Astroman said:
Ehhh laptop is on a flat surface. Is it normal the dust can block the cooling system until it makes the system crash?
Click to expand...

Yes. Dust both limits airflow around the cooling fins AND acts as an insulator for the heat inside. Proper cleaning is a great help.
 
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