I have a Dell 9300 Laptop and despite the fact that both Processor and Video cooling fans function (the Video fan rarely functions; it does so when watching videos only) the laptop seems to be running very hot. I have installed PC Wizard to monitor the CPU temperature but the temperature appears to be normal as well. The laptop case seems to get very hot, about 41-42 °C. We are now of course in the summer season and the ambient tmeperatures are higher. I am not sure that when the laptop was new it ran as hot as it does now. so far I have dismantled the computer more times than I care to remember cleaning the heat sinks (they were not that dirty either!) re-applying heat grease to the processor and video chips, checking the fans and finally changing the motherboard. The only thig that is left is the PROCESSOR!! Any ideas?? Hay anyone else with a similar laptop experienced similar problems?? Appreciate your input, Simon
Can a faulty processor cause overheating
- Thread starter Raihani
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Of course but I do not really want to schlep all cool pad as well! My Laptop bag with all the junk I need to carry weighs between 8-10 kg !! (17- 22 lb !!). I may have to look at your suggestion more seriously though.. do you know of any good cool pads?
sidewinderx2
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- Jul 19, 2010
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How do you know that the laptop is getting hot? is the wind blown out from the laptop hot? or is it just your palm rest/keyboard? If it's the ladder, maybe it's not that your cpu is getting hot, but more because the keyboard (which is often used as part of the heatsink in laptops) is conducting the heat away from the CPU, it just feels hot. There has been many anecdotal accounts of the aluminum macbooks feeling hotter than other laptops due to the all aluminum construction, making the whole laptop feel hotter (but in reality is probably cooler on the inside) than other laptops.
A faulty CPU generally does not malfunction in a way to cause overheating but at the same time still work properly. I don't know how old your CPU is, but have you checked if the CPU slows itself down when not in use, or is it working at max clock rates at all times?
I have PC Wizard installed (recomended) and through this program you can get all the relevant info that you need about the computer such as processor temperature, actual frequency, etc etc. So the program shows that the CPU temperature (even on a warm day.. 26°C about 80 F) fluctuating between 45 and 60 °C, which I believe is more or less normal. BUT, what I do not understand is why, when the computer has two healthy and funtioning fans, only one is really used and the other just comes on as I said before, very rarely .. is it the CPU that governs the switching on of the video cooling or is it a device, such as a temperature sensor in the video chip itself or inside the case that gives the start command to the video fan? What really bugs me is wy Dell would let the temperature inside the case go that high!! By the way, the CPU is about 5 years old now, i bought the computer in January 2005.
Not entirely! if the CPU could be causing this, then replacing the CPU might improve matters as far as getting the video fan to come on more often.. I experimented by driving the video fan from the processor fan (spliced some wires etc and diconnected the video fan from its own socket) this imporved things enormously because evertime the processor fan came on the video fan came on as well, but I was worried about causing damage due to excessive load (not likely I know but you never know..) on the processor fan power supply.. so I put everthing back as it was. The computer went back to "cooking nicely". Really my memory has faded as far as how hot the laptop ran when it was new. I have an impression that it might not have ran so so hot and having replaced everything bar the processor I am now thinking about doing just that, luckily you can pick them up for very little money.. I found them at under $10 example..
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