Windows 7: Overheating Laptop and New Laptop advice?

Hey, just a quick thread about my current laptops cooling problems because it constantly rises to 90C Degrees, when doing the simplest of tasks such as web browsing. I have a cooling stand for it, and it hardly ever is moved because I know how hot it gets - its more like a desktop now.

I've heard it is because of a bad heat sink design in the DV6 Series, but was wondering whether replacing the current thermal compound with something such as Arctic Silver would help at all?

Also, I am buying a new laptop in the next few months, but I cannot decide on the best laptop to buy. I have been interested in a Dell XPS 15, which has the i3-2310m processor and the Nvidia 525M GPU. I don't playing any FPS games, but do play some browser games (or did play, but I would rather have the option there). Would this be adequate for games like RuneScape and such?

I'm not too fussed about the lack of turbo boost, since the clock rate on my current CPU is locked but performs fast enough, I am looking more for a cool system with a decent GPU which is somewhat power efficient (Hopefully 3 hours+ battery).

Any advice? I'm open to hearing about other laptops within my price range that you might recommend - Up to £550.

Thanks, Will.

Hello Willisme1. Welcome to the forum.

I'm sure you will get lots of advice about buying a new laptop here from others, but as for your overheating laptop - that is most often cause by dust clogging the heatsink and vents. Have you cleaned it?



Also check the heatsink fan to be sure it is blowing. These do start to fail after some time.

Hello willisme1 and welcome to Seven Forums.

In addition to checking for dust in the laptop, don't forget to check the fans on the cooling pad. They can also accumulate crud. If you use a can of compressed air to blow out the laptop vents and around the fan, I'd suggest you keep the fan from spinning by blocking one of the blades with a toothpick or something similar. Several folks on this Forum have said the spinning fan could build up a static charge and damage electrical components within the laptop. And it doesn't help anything if the fan spins in the wrong direction.

As far as replacing the thermal compound with Arctic Silver, it could make a difference. But a lot would depend on how comfortable you are in disassembling the laptop. See Section 5.21 in this service guide:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01035677.pdf

Thanks for the replies, but yes I have cleaned the dust out of the entire laptop in the last month. I did see a slight improvement, but the laptop is still noticeably hotter than the other three laptops we have in our family. Two of those don't have integrated graphics, which is understandable as to why they don't get too hot, but the other laptop has the same card as mine and remains quite a lot cooler. Another noticeable effect of these heat problems is that when it is running hot, the operating system becomes quite unstable, lots of program crashes and a general slowdown. I will try to restore my computer with a clean install of Vista, and see what effect that has.

One major problem I only realised earlier, was that after having a repair done last month, a screw on the WiFi card (At least I assume that is what it is - it has 2 small wires leading from it the screen) has been stripped, and will not turn. I'm hoping I can resolve this quickly without damage to the component itself, but this is now holding me back from replacing the thermal compound.

I'll update in a few hours, when I may have resolved the screw problem - and will check for any lint in the heatsink (Some other DV6 Owners have suggested the heat sink has a design flaw which allows lint to collect in a small gap).

Thanks again

Earlier this year I bought this Sony Vaio. It has an excellent ventilation and never runs hot. I also have a couple of Gateways that run cool, but my HP laptop ran hot too. Here I solved the problem by replacing the HDD with an SSD.

I was looking into Sony VAIO's, but they all seem out of my price range. The one that you bought seems like what I want, but for some reason I can't find a UK site with the same computer... and the sony website says anything in the F series starts much higher than my budget :/ I suppose I could wait a few months and invest in a really high end laptop - but I need one that works efficiently first :L Noteably the one with the terrible heat sink design -.-

Just to let you know, I've reinstalled vista so I have a fresh start (That is what the laptop came with), and I installed all of my AMD/ATI drivers, including extra ones such as the South Bridge driver, that I didn't even know I needed. I also installed OverDrive, and undervolted (very slightly) my processor, without any speed reduction or stability loss.

The computer seems a lot more reliable now, running at 40-50C idle and 60C whilst browsing internet etc.

I am still tempted to replace the thermal compound, because I have heard good things about MX-3, and also because the heatsink is terribly designed and needs all the help it can get.

What do you think? Should I put some new paste in?

It's a relatively big job for a potential gain, but if you got the time and skills then it's a can't hurt - might help situation.

Please let us know if you do it and if it makes a measurable difference!

I have taken my laptop apart before (The fan stopped spinning) with no problems at all, and have experience replacing different components in my families laptops. I know the exact process to get to the heatsink, and then how to apply the thermal paste (I'm thinking of using MX-3 because it is whatsoever capacitive, which makes be feel a bit more comfortable).

I haven't decided to go through with it yet, because at the moment the laptop is reaching a maximum of 57-58C when under stress, and averaging 50C. Ive seen lows of 38C which I didn't even get when the laptop was brand new... it turns out that not all of my chipset drivers were installed. Good job HP, thats like giving me a car with half a steering wheel

But if the situation changes, I will go ahead with the new thermal paste, and I will let you know how it went and what the results were!

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Glad to hear your lappy is running better. Here's hoping you don't need to take it apart.