My laptop is getting stupidly hot!

payt20

I have had my dell laptop for over a year now, but just recently ( in the past 2 months ) it has been getting really hot and the fans come on quite a bit. I can no longer put the laptop on my lap as its just to hot.

Im worried that one day it will just overheat and blow up lol, so i now have my desktop fan blowing cold on air onto the back of the laptop.

Anyone know what could be causing this? Is it safe to open it up and see if a load of dust could be inside it?

Cheers

Little_John

If it is out of warrently you have no reason not to open it it up. just make sure it isnt plugged in a droped screw could cause problems. make sure any vents arnt blocked and any fans areas are clear of dust. The other thing is to make sure you dont use it in direct sunlight everything gets warm in sunlight so somthing that gets warm like a laptop will get even hotter.

The best surface to use a laptop on is open or made of metal to conduct the heat away from the laptop. so dont use it on your lap or the bed.

lee634

Presuming you haven't got an extended warranty,

switch off and remove the power and battery (to be on the safe side)
remove the cover and use some air duster to blow out any dust,

You should also get a cooling pad as these will ensure the Laptop stays sufficiently cool

lee634

Little_John wrote:

If it is out of warrently you have no reason not to open it it up. just make sure it isnt plugged in a droped screw could cause problems. make sure any vents arnt blocked and any fans areas are clear of dust. The other thing is to make sure you dont use it in direct sunlight everything gets warm in sunlight so somthing that gets warm like a laptop will get even hotter.

The best surface to use a laptop on is open or made of metal to conduct the heat away from the laptop. so dont use it on your lap or the bed.

beat me to it

payt20

It is out of warranty yeah. I will open it up tonight and hopefully clear it of dust

Seagull

After you've cleaned off the dust you might want to consider something like this.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0105013913.1150375817@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdkaddidggjldkcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=274708&category_oid=

payt20

Thanks for that seagull, didnt know those were available. Pretty cheap as well, i will pick one up at the weekend.

Seagull

I'll be interested to find out how you get on with it.

calleyw

payt20 wrote:

I have had my dell laptop for over a year now, but just recently ( in the past 2 months ) it has been getting really hot and the fans come on quite a bit. I can no longer put the laptop on my lap as its just to hot.

I would never put a laptop on my lap as they get to hot. There was a man who last year burnt his man hood through his trousers by having a laptop on his lap.

I personally don't believe they where really intended to be use on laps.

I only ever put mine on my lap if I have a book or folder on my lap.

My laptop is about 5 years old. At the moment fingers crossed it runs out ok. I have a desk which has top that is about half and inch thick and if I put my feet up and my knees touch the underside it is very hot.

But those cooling pads are suppose to be good. Don't have one myself as I am to tight to buy one



Yours


Calley

rrwfotr

May also be worth looking at the amount of RAM you have, if you have a low amount of RAM then your CPU and hard drive may be working harder than they need to as excess processing may be taking place as extra memory may be writhen to your hard disk cache. Thus creating excess heat on the mother board.

It may also be woth looking at your "task bar" ctrl, alt and del and then look at task manager and take a look at the performance tab. There may be rouge programs running on your PC. A good scan with a good anti virus program may be warrented, if that does not solve your problem then it may be worth a complete rebuild of your system to clean out all the rubblish/spyware etc.