Laptop overheating: RESOLVED

[Calloutman]

So my laptop was shutting off periodically while playing bf3 as (I think) it was overheating. A bit of a nightmare when you're FCing . So I installed SpeedFan, after 10 minutes of bf3 my GPU is running at around 96C and my CPU at 89C I expect after an hour or so this temperature would creep up causing the laptop to shut down.

I've just ordered some cooling fans off ebay but does anyone know any other good methods for getting a laptop running colder?

[zorplex]

Laptops usually have a shared air flow path for GPU/CPU. I'd make sure this is clear of debris. The easiest way is to check the vents for blockages and get some compressed air and blow it into the vents. You may have to gain access to the fan itself to make sure it isn't clogged with dust. Some laptops are a pain, but you should be able to remove the bottom cover and access the cooling fan.

If your laptop is fairly old, your cooling fan may need to be replaced.

[RAGEFACE7]

Some thermal grease on the CPU and the GPU could help as well.

[.Sup]

Some thermal grease on the CPU and the GPU could help as well.

Yeah. I bought this last year for my sister: http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Pr ... me=Cooling

She had same issues but not anymore

[fawadforlan]

I've just ordered some cooling fans off ebay but does anyone know any other good methods for getting a laptop running colder?

Clean your laptop from the inside. You have no idea how much dust there can be inside a laptop. It's very easy to open a laptop, just open it and clean the heatsink and fans.

Your laptop heatsink will probably look like this.





You can clean it very easily with some cotton buds and cleaning alcohol.

Edit: And as RAGEFACE7 mentioned, you can also get some new thermal paste. Remove the fan and heatsink (clean the heatsink and the old thermal paste on your CPU/GPU and add a little bit of thermal paste between the chip and the fan.



Spread the thermal paste with an credit card or something else, don't touch it with your fingers.

[Calloutman]

Update.

It's very easy to open a laptop.

As I've just discovered, it's really not

Fix operation
So I opened up my laptop, this took about an hour and a half to do, and involved prying apart countless things, taking off the keyboard and unscrewing about 40 screws. Found that the front of the heatsink was seriously covered in dust and cleaned it off. I didn't use the cottonbuds and alcohol as I don't have any, but I still managed to get the majority of it out.

I then managed to put it all back together without breaking or losing anything No screws left over either!

Results
I can feel a lot of air coming out of the vents, before there wasn't that much.

Temperatures after an hour of BF3:
GPU: 60C
CPU: 55C

That's a 40 degree change for the GPU and 35 for the CPU! And no more shutting down

Thanks guys!

[wizekraker]

Update.

It's very easy to open a laptop.

As I've just discovered, it's really not

Fix operation
So I opened up my laptop, this took about an hour and a half to do, and involved prying apart countless things, taking off the keyboard and unscrewing about 40 screws. Found that the front of the heatsink was seriously covered in dust and cleaned it off. I didn't use the cottonbuds and alcohol as I don't have any, but I still managed to get the majority of it out.

I then managed to put it all back together without breaking or losing anything No screws left over either!

Results
I can feel a lot of air coming out of the vents, before there wasn't that much.

Temperatures after an hour of BF3:
GPU: 60C
CPU: 55C

That's a 40 degree change for the GPU and 35 for the CPU! And no more shutting down

Thanks guys!

Good job, Im sure If I were you, I would have misplaced some screw

[.Sup]

I still haven't reassembled and old Compaq laptop I dissasembled 3 years ago, just too lazy and some of the screws have probably already been lost or used on some other projects lol

[BlooDRaptoR1]

thank god we have still the FC with his working laptop