what to do when ... overheats?

[sak4kat]

A refurbished Dell laptop get's so stinken hot it would burn my skin if I were wearing shorts and rested it on my legs.  It overheats and just shuts down.  Has anyone had a laptop that does this?  What were your tricks in keeping t cool so you could work uninterrupted?

[6265AT99]

Well, first of all maybe the laptop is defective if it gets THAT HOT!!!!  If not, there are what are known as "cooling pads" for laptops.  They cost about $20-$25 and you put the laptop on top of it.  The "fan" helps keep the heat of the laptop to a minimum.   You might want to try that.  But, me, I would first want to determine if the laptop was defective before anything else.  Good luck!!!!

[minervaspirit]

My last laptop - a Toshiba would overheat as you describe.  I figured that the fan might not be working properly. Actually I hoped that was the problem because it was a quick fix.  I cleaned it out thoroughly with canned blow and brushes and it helped a LOT!

[kapeh12]

One thing I've learned with Dell laptops is sometimes the power settings are not optimal.  You could try going into your Control Panel, select the Power Options (typically under System and Security - depending on which OS you have).  Try using the "Power Saver" profile option.

What that will do is close down a lot of the background processes that are not really needed.  As a result, your power consumption is lower, due to less processes running, and that results in a cooler laptop.

If your fan is constantly running, that's probably one thing contributing to the high heat.

FYI - when your laptop shuts down, that's a common failsafe for the hardware, where when it gets too hot, an emergency shut down happens to try to preserve the hardware from frying.  Not very friendly for the OS (the hard shutdown), but it's best to keep your laptop from doing that as it's at least annoying if you are in the middle of something.


If that doesn't work, a cooling fan would be my next suggestion.  Research online and find one that has fairly high reviews, and it should help.

If it's still running too hot, you may want to take it back in to have the hardware checked.  Particularly to see if the thermal paste on your CPU chip is sufficient - that it's fully covered and not dried out.  If the thermal paste is not enough for your CPU or if it's dried out, that will cause your machine to overheat.  If you are comfortable with doing your own repairs, search out instructions for your laptop model, otherwise take it into a shop.

Hope this helps!

[sak4kat]

You guys are all so smart.  I knew posting a Question like this on the fc forum I'd get some quality answers.  I'm going to look into doing all of everything suggested...starting with cleaning out the fan.  When I had a tower I used to clean it and blow it out monthly.  I've never done that with a laptop though so I'll have to watch some youtube video's cause I have no clue how to even get to it.

Also someone recommended using q-tips and rubbing alcohol in cleaning teeny crevices I couldn't get to before - I thought that would do more damage than good?  Any thoughts on that?

[jmccaskill]

Do check and clean your ventilation grids, not a bad idea to do that on a regular basis. Very cheap 'help' can be found at some dollar store outlets, not sure which ones carry this little 'cradle' thing that my niece uses, but she thinks it really helps with her HP laptop that is prone to running hot. This is a plastic device that fold out to a large "X" shape that elevated your comp. so that air freely circulates under it. This is a huge help if your machine has missing 'feet' (little rubber strips) on the underside and the unit sits flush on a table... forget it if it sits on something soft like a pillow or cushion, no way any air is getting to it on a soft surface.

[gaylasue]

I run a cooling pad fan under my laptop and periodically clean it all out with canned air.

[minervaspirit]

….  When I had a tower I used to clean it and blow it out monthly.  I've never done that with a laptop though so I'll have to watch some youtube video's cause I have no clue how to even get to it.

Also someone recommended using q-tips and rubbing alcohol in cleaning teeny crevices I couldn't get to before - I thought that would do more damage than good?  Any thoughts on that?

I didn't have to take anything apart - just used a soft bristle brush to 'lift out' pieces of lint - no alcohol - and angled the canned air so that I wasn't blowing crap back into the laptop.  I really got out satisfying amounts of lint    made a huge difference.

[AJsGma]

My mother puts ice-packs under her laptop.  Crazy, huh?

[Liquidfire_43]

Never buy refurbished laptops... Although it passes manufacturing standards, it is still bad... Betteries, hardware, fans will go downhill pretty fast.. Even though it's cheap it's not worth it in a long run

To cool you laptop you can buy those fan stands for laptop (the bulky lap pads that have two fans underneath... not sure if those work), limit the amount of programs running in your computer (your cpu is doing all the workload so its going to be the most hottest), and make sure your air vents in you computer are clean

[Skyisbluetoday]

A cooling pad for a laptop helps! If it still get's to hot I would think about another laptop, just for safety reasons!