Laptop keeps overheating and switching itself off, grrrrrr. Any troubleshooting tips?

[KitchenRollRocks]

Just that really. Switches itself right off with a sad little 'phew' noise, the bastard.

Seems to do it especially when handling any complex graphics like drawing packages or websites with games on like the ceebeebies one, but is doing it more and more often and it's driving me nuts...

Is there anything I can check for? I seem to remember there was a way of checking in the Control Panel for applications that were eating too much RAM, but can't find it. TIA.

[nannynick]

Overheating sounds possible. Is the fan kicking in like it did in the past? Are any air outlets/inlets looking blocked (hard to tell I know).

[KitchenRollRocks]

It does seem to get a lot hotter than it used to. It's on a flat surface with nothing blocking the vents that I can see. The fan just seems to be on all the time.

[nannynick]

If you can hear the fan all the time and you could not in the past, then I would suspect it's a heat issue. Not sure you can do anything about it apart from taking it to an engineer.

OpenHardwareMonitor (runs on Windows systems via Microsoft NET Framework) may be able to tell you the temp readings of some of the internals of your computer. Though what use that will be to you I am not sure - not sure it's any use to me either... been many years since I took laptops apart.
I've just tried it and my laptop is running at 68.3 C core though varies quite a lot (now at 60.0), and the harddrive is at a constant 36 C.

[KitchenRollRocks]

ooh thank you. I'm running it now - the GPU core is about 88 - 96 degrees C (yikes, that's nearly boiling point)

The other temp is 50 degrees.

I didn't know laptops had thermometers in them!

I suppose I need to be brave and try and get the back off to have a look, or be sensible and take it to be looked at somewhere.

[nannynick]

GPU core temp does sound high of thats the temp when it's only been on for a short time not doing much. 85 degrees or so I expect is when it's under high load such as processing graphics, like streaming video. I'm not sure running near 100 is good for it... no wonder the fan is running all the time.

I am not going to suggest you open it up!

[KitchenRollRocks]

Thank you. It is making some strange hot plastic smells too, sigh. I'll take it to have it looked at somewhere I think.

[mawbroon]

Try hoovering over the air intake at the fan, it might just be a bit dusty stopping the air getting in.

[KitchenRollRocks]

Thanks will give that a go.

[Saralyn]

Yes, definitely try hoovering, that solved the same kind of problem with my laptop.

[KitchenRollRocks]

As soon as I can bring myself to completely switch it off, I'll hoover, and pray for a large lump of fluffy insulation to come flying out of the vents...!

[lottie63]

I had the same problem. The advice I got was:

a) hoover vents
b) buy a spray which dislodges dust. This person advised against hoovering as it cd dislodge other parts
C) check battery status - the problem with mine as this effected the fan even tho I was using a socket power source

I bought a battery in the end. Expensive but now ok

[KitchenRollRocks]

Ah battery, that's interesting. I've killed a few batteries in the past as I'm v lazy about switching completely off...

[bunjies]

This is exactly happening to our laptop. Usually conks out during club penguin or YouTube. Fan going full pelt & very hot. Will try the hoover trick.

[Naoko]

Don't Hoover, it's too powerful and can damage things. Buy a can of compressed air and use that to clean fan outlets. If you're feeling brave, take the backplate off, you'll get at more of it that way.

Also, don't use them on soft surfaces. One of the main causes of overheating laptops is people using them in bed, sunk into the duvet. That blocks all the fan openings, there's no airflow, and it damages it.

90+ degrees is definitely far too hot for a gpu that's not even under load. Clean it as above. If that doesn't help, you could put it on a laptop cooler, they cost about 25quid and can really improve matters.