laptop so hot could fry an egg

I am fixing friends laptop and have done so - but - it is insanely hot. I cleaned as much as I could using a vacuum cleaner to remove dust but it is still hot.

Any ideas of ways to cool the laptop?

Thanks!

ps i used vacuum gently to suck out the dust

lister remember Google is your friend when you have questions....
There are many good hints to be found including You Tube Videos to watch..

A hot laptop is often caused by dust clogging the heatsink and vents.
Use a can of compressed air to blow out the laptop vents and around the fan.

Links for you to peruse -

10 Ways to Cool Down Your Laptop - NYTimes.com

HowStuffWorks "How to Keep Your Laptop Cool"

Laptop cooler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

‪How to fix an overheating laptop : Clean your fans and heatsync with this procedure‬‏ - YouTube

3 Laptop Computer Temperature Monitor Apps That Could Save Your Hard Drive

How to clean your laptop of dust and dirt | News | TechRadar UK

After you pursue the links provided to you by JMH, then please let us know the status. Feedback helps to close the loop.

In addition to JMH's excellent suggestions above, a word of caution just in case you're not aware of this fact: If you're going to use a "vacuum" to suck the dust out of a system, be very, very careful that it's a special battery-powered handheld vacuum especially designed for computers. Do NOT use a regular, plugged-in vacuum cleaner, as that could seriously damage your system!!!

Having said that, if you are using a computer vacuum, you can even tape a straw to the end of your vacuum - it will drastically increase the sucking power, and give you more control/detail for the tight spaces.

Be sure, of course, to vacuum the vents. Get the wand and put it on each vent and create a seal with your hand around it and just suck the heck out of it. Also, block the other exhaust vent to create a vacuum inside to make sure you get everything out of there.​

If you're a computer guru and have the ability to remove the back to actually get inside and clean it, even better.​

The best is to open it and have it cleaned from the inside - by a professional if you are not familiar with it.

Then you can also stand it on a coolpad. That helps 5 to 10 degrees Celsius. Examples: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=52DE8767213709561818BF3A00F52212.bbolsp-app01-45?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=4256077699947347133&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=coolpad&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

The way I resolved the heat problem in one of my laptops is by replacing the HDD with an SSD.

Undervolt your computer. Re-apply thermal paste. Clean out the heatsink.

Slasher

slasher,

How does one undervolt a laptop?

I could explain it myself, but you'd probably understand better if you read these two guides.

The "Undervolting" Guide

Guide to Cooling Down Your Notebook Computer

Slasher

Have you, yourself, on your own laptop "undervolted" and if yes, then how?

Well, I was going to first do it on a Pentium 4 for laptop, with RMClock, but it wouldn't work because it doesn't support P-state transitions. "Intel(R) SpeedStep(tm) technology and the "old" vision of Enhanced Intel(R) SpeedStep(tm) technology found in mobile Pentium III-M and mobile Pentium 4 processors are not supported."

I then proceeded to try doing it on my Core i7 720QM 64 bit laptop with RMClock, but it wouldn't allow me to because 64 bit isn't supported under RMClock, and RMClock doesn't support Core i series CPU's (the program is getting old). I have another Core 2 Duo laptop that I have been meaning to undervolt when I have the time, which has a supported CPU and is 32 bit.

Following CPU's are supported:

AMD Athlon 64/FX/X2, Sempron, Turion 64/X2, mobile Athlon 64, Opteron and Dual-Core Opteron featuring AMD Cool`n'Quiet(tm) technology.

Mobile or Low-Power Desktop AMD Athlon XP featuring AMD PowerNow!(tm) technology.

Intel Pentium M, Intel Core Solo and Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme, Intel Xeon (Woodcrest and Clovertown cores) featuring Enhanced Intel(R) SpeedStep(tm) technology (EIST).

Intel Pentium 4 600 series (Prescott N0 core), Intel Xeon (Nocona, Cranford, Irwindale, Potomac, Paxville and Dempsey cores), Intel Pentium D 800/900 series (Presler core), Intel Pentium Extreme Edition (Smithfield, Presler and Cedar Mill cores) featuring Enhanced Intel(R) SpeedStep(tm) technology (also known as Demand-Based Switching).

Its safe, and in no way does it reduce speed or anything like that. I'll quite the reason as to why undervolting is done. "Not all processor chips are built equally. Each individual processor have different voltage tolerances. Instead of Intel tuning each chip's voltage individually for the lowest voltage possible and risking instability, they made a fully stable standard voltage for all chips to run on. The problem is this standard factory voltage they put is quite high. Undervolting takes advantage of this by reducing it to the right amount." I got this quote off 'The Undervolting Guide'.

Slasher

Never under, or over volt a laptop, they're VERY fragile compared to desktop Hardware, Most laptops, the Keyboard, or bottom (Bottom is most case for vaio's, Dells are keyboard, and HP's are usually impossible) can be rtemoved, and three or four screws will release the fan, pull that out,m and you'll find what looks like brown Lint, then make sure all vents are clean, new thermal paste (upgraded even) will also help, all of it breaks down though... what are the system specs of the laptop? model number?

@whitegangster - There is no harm in undervolting, if you do it the right way and reduce the voltage bit by bit, running Prime95 for an hour to check for stability, then continuing these steps until you get a BSOD. After you get a BSOD, that means the voltage is too low, so crank up the voltage higher a bit, then run a final Prime95 test for a couple of hours to make sure you are stable, then you're good. It won't damage your computer...

whitegangster said:

Never under, or over volt a laptop, they're VERY fragile compared to desktop Hardware, Most laptops, the Keyboard, or bottom (Bottom is most case for vaio's, Dells are keyboard, and HP's are usually impossible) can be rtemoved, and three or four screws will release the fan, pull that out,m and you'll find what looks like brown Lint, then make sure all vents are clean, new thermal paste (upgraded even) will also help, all of it breaks down though... what are the system specs of the laptop? model number?

Click to expand...

you are correct. Finding something in print does not make it correct.

I have never seen a laptop manufacturer recommending over- or under-volting. I don't really like to mention such things, but yes I'm an EE who has worked in design, selection, etc of processors.

Thanks for all replies so far - will try all suggestions (except for the undervolting) and let u all know how it comes along. Only reason I am not doing the undervolting is b/c I feel that that is too advanced for me at the moment.

Thanks

Well, undervolting is a precise thing that requires a lot of free time to do. If you don't have the time, or would rush the undervolting, it would be better not to do it.

Slasher