My Laptop Heats Up Very Quickly

Hello, My laptop seems to heat up quite quickly when i play dvds or burn cds/dvds, etc. I don't why its heating up so quickly now because before it never heated up so quickly. When it heats up, it shuts down automatically. What can i do to get this fixed up??? Cheers Steve

Hi Steve8701, Blow out the Dustbunnies, if any have accumulated. Always use your Laptop on a flat, hard surface, and not on cluttered or soft surfaces. The name "lap-top" is really a misnomer, since resting on cloth material can insulate and block air intake/circulation. Get a corrugated/grilled type mat to step your machine on top of to promote cooling. ***Check your Battery against the Recall List for your Laptop manufacturer. When not using your Laptop in remote locations, "always" REMOVE your battery while using A/C power. (Acer brand laptops may not allow Battery removal) Except for the brief period necessary to charge the battery before remote use. Clean out Temporary Files and Temporary Internet files regularly. (at least weekly) Run Disk Error Checking once monthly Defrag the Hard Drive a couple of times per month (or more often in installing/uninstalling applications) Run you AntiMalware utilities at least weekly. Adjust settings for "Best Performance" instead of for "Best Appearance". Turn off Indexing Turn off “Advanced Text Services” Disable as many StartUp items as possible. Best Regards

Originally Posted by Doug
…"always" REMOVE your battery while using A/C power.

I am not having any overheating problems, but I have always been concerned about the possibility; some might say overly concerned or paranoid. Anyhow, this means that I always make sure not to block the vents or sit my laptop on anything other than a hard surface. In practice I usually have a small external fan focused on a running laptop. For instance, the xp sp2 Dell Inspiron 8500 that I use mostly usually has a 9 inch fan blowing on it. Even after I turn the machine off I try to leave the fan blowing for at least a few minutes before turning the fan off.

Sometimes I turn the external fan off while the machine is running because I "just want quiet" and the fan affects my concentration, but as soon as the Inspiron's internal fans come on I can not keep myself from turning the external fan back on. Paranoid I guess.

I know that my Compaq Presario 1247 98se will not run without the battery. In fact, that is now a problem, because a "component" that "bridges" the battery to the computer now needs to be replaced. The result is that the machine can not detect the battery/battery charging so, most but not all of the time, it will not power-up. At least a couple years ago I "researched" the issue online. When I found schematics diagrams online for my the Preario 1247 it was obvious, to me, that the aforementioned "component" needed to be replaced( I just looked on the schematics for whatever "replacebale" part of the battery circuit was "in between" the battery and the rest of the machine). Most online sources wanted about $70 if I recall correctly. I was going to buy the part from HP, but I just kept using the machine and never got around to it, because, if I left the machine on, it would usually run for weeks or months and I would only end up not being able to turn it back on under certain conditions. I am not really concerned that the particular issue I described here is anything other than that component, but the problem manifests more or less constantly now.

I ended up migrating from the Presario to a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4200 Series Windows 2000 Professional. I am not quite sure if it will run without the battery.

That brings us to the Dell that I am still in the process of switching to from the Toshiba:

I had never heard advice to run a laptop without the battery unless necessary, but I do know just enough to realize that the battery/charging system is responsible for a large part of the heat generated in a laptop. My Inspiron's battery and its battery compartment cover are one and the same; so, if I run without the battery there will be that opening under the machine. Should I be more concerned about dust, static charge, etc, getting into the machine if I run it without the battery/battery compartment cover? Is "run without the battery/battery compartment cover" still your advice given my Dell Inspiron setup?

Is "run without the battery/battery compartment cover" still your advice given my Dell Inspiron setup?

Your observation (open compartment when battery is removed) is accurate for many machines.
Your concern is also accurate.
The battery compartment should be inspected and cleaned with compressed air, before replacing the battery.

In older Inspirons, the battery removed from the front edge, leaving a huge "ugliness factor" when the battery was removed. (but that is a No-Big-Deal factor)
With newer Dell laptops, the battery easily drops out from the bottom. However, the battery compartment has various "openings" into the laptop case, especially around the plug/connector. These "openings" could be entry point for dust/debris being drawn into the machine's case. (thus a clean, flat, hard surface becomes an important consideration again)

Surprisingly (to me) large numbers of folks buy a laptop for its mobility convenience, but then place it on a desk or work area and never move it during its lifetime. Additionally, they don't think about the battery/heat factor, and just continue merrily using the machine, and mostly with good result.

Does "heat" really affect a computer and possibly reduce its lifespan? Yes, of course.
Does lint, dust and debris affect a computer and possibly reduce its lifespan? Yes, of course.
Do some batteries have greater risk of producing heat and even more severe risk? Yes, of course.
Is it a requirement to have a battery installed in all laptops when running on A/C adapter power? No.

So what is to be done?
The laptop owner/user should consciously and intentionally evaluate the cost/benefit circumstance of their own machine for removing or leaving in the battery.

What do I do with my Dell laptops?
I remove the batteries when running on A/C adapter….. always.

Should you?
I can't answer that question.
It's up to the owner/user to evaluate the cost/benefit factor.

Could I tolerate the use of a laptop with a battery installed all the time?…
My Son purchased a very nice Dell laptop.
He refuses to remove the battery, mostly as a matter of convenience.
He moves around alot, and switches from running on battery vs A/C adapter frequently.
It's up to him. He bought the machine. He maintains the machine. He'll buy the new one when necessary.
Did I require that he check his battery's serial number against the Recall List? Yes.

Best Regards

Problem: Your laptop is heating due to several problems listed below: 1- Your fan has either stopped functioning, or the air input is clogged with dust 2- Your processor needs to be re-insulated, it won't cost you much just a simple re-insertion of insulation fluid. 3- If you have an ATI or Nvidia display adapter then they are causing the heat - usually ATI and Nvidia adapter in a desktop have several fans connected to them to avoid this problem; however in a laptop such minor stuff are overlooked a small laptop fan cannot handle this heat especially if your laptop is a toshiba one. Solution: Provide a separate source of cooling 1- You could go fancy and buy yourself one of those cooling pads that go under the laptop OR.. 2- You could head up to Radioshack and buy a 19volts DC fan with it's outer enclosure (( or simply take one out from the power supply of an old desktop)) Your laptop charger should be a 19volts one, do some cutting and tapping on the end of the charger and you'll end up with two outputs one charging the laptop and the other cooling it. Make sure you place the fan right beside the air-output of the laptop fan. My laptop currently has two fan on both sides. My laptop temperature ranges from 20 to 23 at it's best performance. Don't forget the cooler the laptop the higher the performance. I hope it works for you!