Notebook cooling problem

posted on June 8th, 2010, 12:30 pm

Hi all!
I have a huge problem. As outside temperatures rise now i get into trouble with my Notebook, which is running too hot. When the CPU reaches 80°C the graphics shut down (well, I expect it's the graphics card to get too hot and not really he CPU but since they are shring the same heatpipe, that makes no difference). My normal CPU temperature is already 59°C these days.

The effect ocurred seldomly, next to never last summer but this became annoing the last few days. The heatpipe and fan do not look too dusty, and cleaning them is next to impossible, as I can find no sensible way to remove the fan (it looks as if i had to tear out the whole mainboard to do so).

My notebook is an Fujitsu siemens - Amilo Xi1546 which was a medium to high end notebook 4 years ago: 2GB RAM, 2x1,83GHz CPU, ATI X1800 graphics with 256MB (dedicated) with factory setting 390MHz GPU and 460MHz memory. The amilos are being known as powerhorses with a tenency to overheat but I didn't care and it never was a problem till now.

Any ideas except playing inside the fridge?
Thanks a lot in advance
mime

posted on June 8th, 2010, 12:41 pm

have u got a cooling pad?

also when not playing games or doing video editing or other serious stuff etc. u can throttle down the power and it will cool down. vista/7 can do this natively. just click the battery icon then select power saver. if its not there on 7 go into more power options then find expand the section for show additional plans and power saver is there.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 12:42 pm

If you can run your CPU on lower frequencies, it should  decrease the amount of heat.

The fans and heatsinks can be cleaned with pressured air spray which is designed for electronics. I think that the best thing to reduce heating is probably cleaning the dust.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 2:52 pm

have u got a cooling pad?

I don't expect it to be that bag, you hold onto your sprained joints, right? Where to get such things? How much does it cost? Whow many degrees will it drop the temperature?

also when not playing games or doing video editing or other serious stuff etc. u can throttle down the power and it will cool down.

Well, i encoutered that problem whilest gaming, and well, that machine IS ma gaming machine.

If you can run your CPU on lower frequencies, it should  decrease the amount of heat.
The fans and heatsinks can be cleaned with pressured air spray which is designed for electronics. I think that the best thing to reduce heating is probably cleaning the dust.

Only as i decreased both, CPU and GPU and gfx-memory's frequencies the situation bettered. Bettered, but not resolved. The time, till the overheating is reached elonged up to an hour, but this is still a deterrent to starting Fleetops again this weekend

I'll buy such a preeured air spray.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 2:54 pm

Take the Anti-freeze line off of the back of a refrigerator and glue it to the bottom of your laptop. 

posted on June 8th, 2010, 3:05 pm

I don't expect it to be that bag, you hold onto your sprained joints, right?

what? could u rephrase that sentence?

Where to get such things? How much does it cost? Whow many degrees will it drop the temperature?

here is a bunch
Amazon.co.uk: Low Prices in Electronics, Books, Sports Equipment & more

dont know exactly how many degrees it will prevent lol.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 3:22 pm

what? could u rephrase that sentence?

Did I use a wrong expression? I meant that gel-filled things you put into the fridge and take them out when necessary - to chill injuries like a pilled ligament or strained ankles.

If you are irked by the phrase joint ... yes, my PC is obvoiusly trying to toast some green stuff, namly manly circuit boards

posted on June 8th, 2010, 3:24 pm

now i see lol

some cooling pads are gel based. but u probably want active ones with fans.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 3:28 pm

just blow compressed air into the vents their should be another way for it to get out. I do it on mine and the dust comes flying out.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 5:25 pm

I use a cooling fan and it works great.  Only 20-30 U.S. Dollars.  Make sure you get one that is USB powered, so you can just plug it into your laptop and be cool.

Otherwise, the biggest power and heat hog is the display itself, I find.  If you are able to turn down the brightness some, that will help as well.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 6:26 pm

hm
if your notebook is a bit older, i suggest u try to clean the notebook, especally every open hole for cooling air. Those crappy things collect dust like a miner dilithium. And that way alot ppl get overheating problems.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 6:52 pm

just blow compressed air into the vents their should be another way for it to get out. I do it on mine and the dust comes flying out.

That doesn't always work... I had this problem with my thrice damned acer a few months ago...

You may have to open the bottom of the case. Near the fan port on the back, where the heated air comes out, there's usually a little finned radiator and a ducted fan (looks like a cross section of a spiral sea shell). The radiator and fan opening can fill up with hair (human, cat, whatever) and dust, and drop the cooling efficiency 25-50%

Compressed air won't usually blow this free when sprayed from the outside, and may actually compact it more. (a lot of this depends on the design of your laptop, but newer thinner laptops made in the last three years are so are even more susceptible) and a cooling pad will only help so much because it is little more effective than blowing on the plastic bottom of your laptop yourself if that vent is indeed blocked.

of course, if you are brave enough to open the bottom of your laptop up, blowing any other dust that is inside out will always help cooing as well. Never use cloths inside a laptop to clean though, or chemicals, since any bit of lint of cleaner in the wrong space will kill your lappy.

it would help if we knew specifically the kind of computer you're using and what OS, because you may be able to "tune down" your graphics or CPU as mentioned above until you get a more permanent fix.

posted on June 8th, 2010, 7:59 pm

lol just check the top of the page in the google ads id buy one of them for a cooler. hehe

posted on June 9th, 2010, 2:39 am

This is a bit of a temporary "fix" and it doesn't really "solve" much, but...

If you use your laptop flat on the desk, you can help your cause by propping up the back with a book or something. This helps air circulate and creates a space for the hot air to radiate into. Unfortunately beyond creating some kind of liquid cooling pad, there won't be much you can do that will lower the unit's temperature by a significant amount if the room itself is quite hot. Laptops by design suffer from heat build up due to the close quarters.

posted on June 10th, 2010, 10:24 pm

Now my Hear sink is dust-free, i have a coolpad under my notebook (which just helps very little, as the downside of the notebook has not many air cirkulation slits) and reduced frequencies of the main components (CPU: 1833-->1200, GPU: 400-->250, gfx-mem: 450-->350). Result: 67°C CPU-temperature when playing FleetOps (still fluently), so it fullfills the purpose.

I'm not happy with the current solution, so I'm tankful for any suggestion.

I use ATI-Tool for the clock-changes. I noticed something strange. When i underclock the GPU and then start a game - as it changes video mode - the orignal clock for the GPU is being restored. If i then enter the desired frequencies again, they are kept. Any ideas why that happens, and how it can be changed?

Thanks
mimesot