hi,

i mostly use a laptop, even for gaming, and have recently noticed that it shuts down earlier and earlier due to overheating. when touching the body it doesn't seem very hot though. what are chances that dust, etc, that collects inside can be the reason? the fan seemingly works (by the sound and feel of it). and if dust is a possibility how do i clean it? i have access to high pressure air.

cheers

Maybe the CPU fan has failed?, or the main exhaust fan even?, my laptop gets VERY hot when in use for a while.

What exactly is causing it to shutdown?, do you use something like MBM?.

Dan,

wonders of google hope this helps in some way http://www.smallbizpipeline.co ... cleId=60400545&pgno=1

5 pages to read so get to it

my guess is that the thermal paste they use to conduct heat from the cpu to the heatsink is crap.... i recommend slappin on some artic silver to aid in cpu cooling..... it is quite a tricky job but it will help a lot...

mad

LMAO, you following me?.

Dan,

Quote from BlueSkunk :

i have access to high pressure air.

I use high pressure air to clean PC's...only important thing is to make sure no fan's can rotate. If you use high pressure, fan's can rotate faster than they should and well...that might mean problems

In PC you can use different stuff to black fan's...fingers, screws etc.
In laptop...well, don't know how to do it But air is best way to clean

Just submerge the unit in water during use, guaranteed not to get hot.

High pressure air is OK if its "dry air" most high pressure air is full of water and can be very bad for electronic parts , the air duster spray cans are dry and safer for this purpose. I use a small soft paintbrush to remove the dust where I can reach with it . I think you can get a laptop cooler thingy that sits under laptop and blows extra air .


EDIT: Great link Madman just read it

SD.

Quote from OiKiN :

Are you maybe covering the fan vent underneath? My cosin fried his cpu by setting his laptop on the couch. Or maybe its on your lap? thats all i know

if its on his lap cpu isnt the only thing he is frying :rolleyes:

Most laptops overheat just because of their design for airflow.

I have a laptop, and game on it all the time, doesn't overheat. My friend had a similar spec laptop, and it overheated all the time. His airflow was designed differently, and quite poorly designed I might add.

Basically if your laptop expenses air out the sides, or the rear (WHERE THE FANS ARE BLOWING AIR OUT), then that is a good design. Your laptop should stay pretty cool.

But if you have a laptop that has airholes on the bottom (worst place to put one), then you have overheating problems without a doubt. This is why you see a lot of cooling pads for laptops such as this. The general idea with those is, that they supply cool air intakes or outtakes and they keep the laptop elevated. Keeping a laptop that has fans on the bottom elevated at all times is what you want to do. This is really a dumb idea that most manufacturers just don't seem to understand... because when someone uses the laptop on their lap, the fanhole is blocked and your laptop can get extremely hot. Enough to break it.

Also look for some fan speed control applications so you can keep the laptop running at full fan speed 24/7. That is what I have done.

The other possibility is that your laptop has been so hot recently, the CPU grease has been burnt to a crisp. I decided to put some new CPU grease on my laptop just because I wanted to maintain it. But my friend had to do that just because his was completely dry and the laptop was overheating all the time. This helps for the cpu to maintain a stable temperature, but the issues ultimately lies with how the cooling is built in the laptop.

thanks everybody for all the advice.

i already keep the whole thing elevated for better cooling (won't follow the wet cooling advice, though, even though there is plenty of water in my area) and will try to carefully clean with the airgun.

the thing is, that over the last 6-12 months the computer shuts down earlier and earlier and where i live there is no such thing as qualified help

Quote from BlueSkunk :

thanks everybody for all the advice.

i already keep the whole thing elevated for better cooling (won't follow the wet cooling advice, though, even though there is plenty of water in my area) and will try to carefully clean with the airgun.

the thing is, that over the last 6-12 months the computer shuts down earlier and earlier and where i live there is no such thing as qualified help

make sure you problem is not Software related. If you were to reinstall windows that would make sure it was not a software problem if it id not stop from shutting down. Also its just generally good to reinstall windows once a year or so just to get all the crap out of your system.

Also if you have warrenty still on the labtop take it in.

Ciao