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Laptop Started Overheading

DharmaBumDharmaBum Registered User regular
edited March 2009 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
So today I was just wrapping up my Daily Quests on WoW and my computer decided to start overheading and shut itself down.

I've had this computer since Christmas, nothing really has changed on it, and today is the first time it overheated. Should I be concerned that all of a sudden its overheating? Or should I just go buy one of those cooling pads and stop worrying about it?

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Posts

  • ZackSchillingZackSchilling Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    What model laptop?

    Make sure all the fans are actually running. Get temperature monitoring software to make sure that it's actually overheating and not doing something else. Get a can of air and try blowing it out through its vents. A much better idea, if the top case comes off easily, is to open it up and then blow it out.

    ZackSchilling on
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  • DharmaBumDharmaBum Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Its a Dell XPS 1350.

    DharmaBum on
    Death Knight | Steam
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  • ZackSchillingZackSchilling Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    That has a GeForce 8600GT graphics chip? Those chips are faulty and can cause crashes. Is the screen getting garbled before the shutdown?

    ZackSchilling on
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  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    A lot of Dell machines have a reputation for overheating and shutting down or downclocking their processors to lower heat--then again, pretty much all gaming laptops will have heat troubles.

    I'd recommend using a can of compressed air, or if you're in a rush, just blow really hard into the exhaust vent (this works too, if not as well, just try not to spit into the thing too much).

    Synthesis on
  • fshavlakfshavlak Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    It's possible for computers to start overheating when they previously had no problems, and usually pretty easy to fix.

    Electronics attract insane amounts of dust, and this tends to plug the heatsinks, especially in a laptop where there is nowhere else for it t go.

    Open up the laptop (usually not too hard to figure out how to do this) and go nuts with a can of compressed air, especially on your heatsinks, re-assemble, and you should be good to go again.

    fshavlak on
  • Rigor MortisRigor Mortis Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    There's more cooling options than just fan pads, such as:

    Air vent fans

    PC Card slot fans

    Heat dissipators (good for travelling since no battery power is used)

    Or go lowtech like they do at this recording studio I visit (because fans cause too much noise).

    Of course you could ALSO be truly badass and use all of these and a fan pad, at the same time.

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