Computer overheating

Metalclay

Chocobo

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Computer overheating

« on: January 01, 2008, 07:12:24 pm »

I have a laptop with windows on it; 1gig of ram, 4000+ 2.6ghz processor, and 256mb video card (ati mobility radeon x600). I got a some years ago and put a warranty on it for three years I believe; expensive as hell ~300usds.

Like a year ago, when I started playing lots of pc fps' online, I noticed my computer would choke. Wasn't too bad, I couldn't play some maps, but...w/e. However a few months ago, I had to take it to geek squad to get it "repaired" cause one day it just wouldn't turn on. The technician there couldn't do anything and told me he would have to send it off. I was pissed, I was without a computer for about 2 weeks.

When I went back, the guy told me that when it arrived to their repair center, the computer turned on just fine. I found that really weird. I took it back home, then a few weeks later, the computer just turned off on me. I smelled that sort of burning smell you get from the hair dryer that exhausts from the back. As in, it's not actually burning, but...something's up. My first thought: overheating. I had notice this before when playing of my wasd keys. That the keys would be hot, in fact, If I had kept playing, my fingers would have burned up.

So then, my next thought...every time it turns off, nothing bad actually happens to my pc. I even covered the fan in order to see if there was some sort of mechanism that prevents the pc from actually overheating. After determining there was, I was pretty sure it has to be some sort of bios command telling it to turn off at a certain temperature.

Well I'm getting sick of this shit. I leave my computer on for the whole day ~12hrs, in case I need to look up anything or need to get on an im for any reason, and to check my college apps which require instant attention. So what I'm thinking is...is there any way to override that command from the bios to make my computer turn off? Thus, letting it overheat, and just getting a new pc?

I know laptops weren't meant to game but...this laptop was sold as a gaming machine back in the day. For it not to be able to withstand 6hrs of straight gaming is an insult.


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dan

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Mallard

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Re: Computer overheating

« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2008, 07:31:24 pm »

ok, i have a feeling i know what's going on. there's generally a simple way to fix this.
what you need to do, is acquire some cpu heat paste. then locate the cpu on the base of your laptop and take it apart (you'll know roughly where it is because of where the intakes are). once apart, you'll be greeted with a copper surface that makes physical contact with the cpu. clean it up and put some new heat paste on it. not too thick but not too thin. you get the idea. piece back together and switch on. should be ok.

you can't turn the overheat protection off. you can't generally increase the threshold either. this is there to stop the cpu and all components around the cpu (including the case) from melting away. melted electrolytic capacitors = mild but serious explosion. this caps have a combination of acid and salt water in them, to aid in the storage and regulation of electricity. much like a very short lasting battery. if these explode, it's not just like a small bomb in your pc, but the mixture of water and electricity will short out as well, thus ending up in long term irrepairable damage. have i put you off turning off overheat protection yet? shall i keep going? no? ok..

i had a laptop that overheated constantly. it was a p4, but this was a common fault with all p4 based laptops. they were desktop chips, consuming desktop amounts of power, in a laptop. needless to say they all had heat issues. i ended up seating it on a bag of frozen peas to restore it once, as it kept overheating and cutting out half way through. replacing the heat paste solved this for a short time, but it was a p4, and was never going to be totally fixed. amd are different though. is it a mobile chip or an athlon? the people at the shop *will* say it boots up fine, because it's been switched off and it's cold. cold = pc's best friend, and will love you for it. as you're suggesting that it only experiences heat issues under a constant load, the heat paste is probably the culprit. not enough contact (or bad contact) with the copper heat absorber is keeping the heat inside the chip, and the laptop's cutting out because of it. you said you smelled a slight sorta burning smell. that's probably what's burning/heating up.

how old is it? what make/model?
hope this helped


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Metalclay

Chocobo

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Posts: 396

Re: Computer overheating

« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2008, 07:51:06 pm »

Eh, truth be told a new pc would be nice

Plus, for those extra 300 I could have made my own desktop =(

Anyway, yes it's a mobile amd athlon:

http://assets.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Shadow/5964sp3.shtml

Uh...it's just so annoying. Plus, I don't want to use anything on it cause if then something DOES happen, that I didn't think would happen, they're probably gonna say something like "you messed it up by putting paste inside, we don't cover that; it was intentional". That's why I don't want to open it either.

About the "irrepairable damage" I want that. I was talking to my cousin about this, and went over lightly about bios and stuff, and well...I know there probably isn't an option in the bios that reads "autoshutdown: on off". I'm sure I'll need some app, but...the idea is, if my computer can't turn on, they couldn't possibly know what happened to it except that it simply overheated and for some reason didn't auto shutdown.

So...I would put paste in it or something (infact, that day I went to pest buy I had come from a session of black and white painting with acrylics, and I still had some on my hands, and the tech guy asked me if I had been using heat paste), but...don't want to do anything until my warranty expires.

And, ha, I don't care about my hdd, I reformat this computer every liek...5 months. All is stored on DVDs. So, if hdd goes, I'm quite alright with that. LOL, having the laptop explode in my room is worrying me though xD


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