Hello,
Here's the story. I left my laptop (Dell Inspiron 9200) in the trunk of my car for about 8hrs in 20F degree temperature. I turned on my computer after it had been inside for about 30 minutes. There was a thin film of moisture on everything (probably condensation from the dramatic temperature shift). I should have turned it off right then and there but I decided to keep using it anyway. Worked for about 30 minutes, and then the screen went black and the CPU froze.
Turned it back on. The CPU fan was on full blast (louder than I've ever heard it before) and the battery died within a minute. Charged up the battery and tried using the computer about 12 hours later (after everything had a chance to dry). The CPU fan keep going full blast, the CPU is throttling down to about 600MHz (of 1.8GhZ) while plugged in and immediately upon booting up. The computer is operatable, but very slow and with loud fans blowing non-stop.
I downloaded a program that would let me monitor my CPU temp in Windows. Told me the temperature was 85C. Immediately upon seeing that, I shut down the computer, knowing that was more than twice the normal operating temperature.
At this point, I though maybe the moisture had separated the thermal pad from the heatsink. So then I took the laptop apart, removed the thermal pad, and applied thermal compound in its place. Turned it back on, and the problem persists. Upon boot up, the CPU temp reads 85C. It does not fluctuate from that, at all. This makes me think the thermal diode/whatever circuit measures the CPU temp is busted. The system thinks the CPU temperature is a constant 85C even though I'm sure it can't be nearly that temperature. This would explain why the system is constantly running the fan and the CPU speed is throttled.
Is this consistent with anything anyone else has experienced? Is there anything I can do to fix the problem?
Thanks for any help/advice.
Here's the story. I left my laptop (Dell Inspiron 9200) in the trunk of my car for about 8hrs in 20F degree temperature. I turned on my computer after it had been inside for about 30 minutes. There was a thin film of moisture on everything (probably condensation from the dramatic temperature shift). I should have turned it off right then and there but I decided to keep using it anyway. Worked for about 30 minutes, and then the screen went black and the CPU froze.
Turned it back on. The CPU fan was on full blast (louder than I've ever heard it before) and the battery died within a minute. Charged up the battery and tried using the computer about 12 hours later (after everything had a chance to dry). The CPU fan keep going full blast, the CPU is throttling down to about 600MHz (of 1.8GhZ) while plugged in and immediately upon booting up. The computer is operatable, but very slow and with loud fans blowing non-stop.
I downloaded a program that would let me monitor my CPU temp in Windows. Told me the temperature was 85C. Immediately upon seeing that, I shut down the computer, knowing that was more than twice the normal operating temperature.
At this point, I though maybe the moisture had separated the thermal pad from the heatsink. So then I took the laptop apart, removed the thermal pad, and applied thermal compound in its place. Turned it back on, and the problem persists. Upon boot up, the CPU temp reads 85C. It does not fluctuate from that, at all. This makes me think the thermal diode/whatever circuit measures the CPU temp is busted. The system thinks the CPU temperature is a constant 85C even though I'm sure it can't be nearly that temperature. This would explain why the system is constantly running the fan and the CPU speed is throttled.
Is this consistent with anything anyone else has experienced? Is there anything I can do to fix the problem?
Thanks for any help/advice.
