computer heats up and content is not showing

tomchook · 10 Sep 2010

Hello,
My computer is getting really hot lately (CPU can get to 96C/~200F), and I have some weird bugs as well. I have an HP pavilion laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Some of the bugs are when SOMETIME I'm trying to delete a big file, it says "discovering..." but doesn't delete anything. When I open certain folders the green bar at the top just keeps on loading and loading even after all the previews of pictures/videos are done. Sometimes it doesn't even show the previews of some pictures/videos (and it did show without a problem in the past).
It also happened to me that I opened the control panel, and I couldn't see anything (usually when the temp are really high and the fan is on max). After restarting my computer everything turned back to normal, but then it happens again...

For an antivirus I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials and for anti-malware I'm using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

What could be the problem? I want to avoid formatting...

pjd · 10 Sep 2010

You probably need clean the fan exhaust.

An overheated disk drive will generate lots of interrupts that will cause lots of other problems, including frying your mobo and RAM.

If you dont want to take the laptop apart yourself then pay someone to do it, pronto.

It could be that the drives bearings have failed, if that's happened you'll need a new drive. You might be able to attach the old one via sata/USB for long enough to get your data off of it - but dont put it in the sata/USB housing, just leave it out in the open, preferably on an antistat mat, and throw it away when you've finished

pjd

richc46 · 10 Sep 2010

Agreed, correct the overheating problem as soon as possible.
Here are some additional tips
How to Prevent Desktop Computer Overheating | eHow.com
http://www.informationweek.com/news/...cleID=60300177

TVeblen · 10 Sep 2010

Hi tomchook and welcome to the Forum.

It would be helpful if you could fill out your "My System Specs" down in the bottom left corner there. At least, let us know the laptop make and model number.

Heat can cause the symptoms you are experiencing and can damage components. And 90C is very hot.

When is the last time you cleaned the laptop? Cleaning Your Notebook Guide Part 1: Cleaning the Air Vents

Test to see if the cooling system is working by taking a small 1 inch corner of a tissue and placing it over the round fan vent on the bottom. If it sticks with the bottom pointing down the air ifs flowing well. If it falls off you've got a blockage or a dead fan.

EDIT: Gah! Last place in the typing contest - again!

Pusspa · 10 Sep 2010

finally i understand how annoying it is when the computer specs arent filled out! i have an HP laptop too, but i bet it isnt the same as yours. when my laptop was overheating i had to learn how to strip the whole thing down (not for the faint hearted!) and clean the dust out reapply heatsink compound, and now my lappy is running at 10c above ambient temp... some lappys have easy access to the heatsink, but not the dv6519tx.

tomchook · 10 Sep 2010

Thank you for all the replies! Before I start dissecting my laptop, could it be perhaps a software problem? Because right now I'm surfing the internet for 2 hours (with firefox 3.6.9 which is known for hogging the memory) and the temperature of the CPU is kept on 52C. I'm almost sure that once I'll start opening and closing folders the fan will start to work.
Another thing that lead me to think it's a software problem is that when I'm working with Photoshop or Illustrator CS5 which are quite heavy program, my fan is still relatively silent. The problem starts when I'm accessing my folders/trasnferring files. It also happened to me that I received an error message that explorer.exe has stopped working and has to be restarted.

By the way, so far no BSOD or shutting down...

I'm attaching pictures of my Task Manager and my startup applications

Rhammstein · 10 Sep 2010

I can assure you there's no way any software can cause those temperatures, you either have a failed fan, or bad airflow from dust. Try your best to clean it, otherwise have a professional look at it ASAP.

I would do this right away, I wouldn't run the system that hot, it's very risky.

pjd · 10 Sep 2010

@ tomchook - apps like web browsers are normally not disk i/o intensive if your not doing lots of downloads, same with photoshop & illustrator - so the hard disk will power down to a sleep state, but when you start moving folders around then the disk will power up.

If you must have further proof, download process explorer (procexp) from Microsoft. When you run it whilst moving folders around you'll probably see that Interrupts are using most of the processor resources - this is normally about 2-8%

Everything leads me to conclude that your disk has a stuffed bearing, please heed our collective advice and take it to the repair shop - continuing to use it is like driving your car with no oil in the sump.

pjd

Keiichi25 · 10 Sep 2010

Agreed with most people here... You should also be looking at your system itself. All computers have indicator lights, one of them for Disk Activity. Unless you are suffering really low memory, your laptop should be barely accessing the hard drive that much with regards to applications. Web browsing should use the disk only slightly for the caching of data it downloads, but again, should not be heavily accessing it.

Exploring your system's files and folders, on the other hand, you are actively accessing the disk to get information.

Also, you can, technically, clear the vents of your laptop without having to 'take it apart' by shutting it down, unplugging it and using some compressed air or using a vacuum to help force airflow and dislodge dust that might have cluttered up in there.

What you should seriously consider looking at, however is how actively the fans are running when it is on. Low air flow or lack of spinning is a serious problem for Laptops as it is the only way it can stay cool. If the laptop is only a few years old, HP needs to do a service repair on it.