Computer overheating/shutting down

[AgentPaper]

Recently, I've been having trouble with my computer getting too hot, and shutting down because of it. (at least I assume) It didn't used to get hot nearly this easily, and the fans seem to be working, but still if the temperature in the room goes above 50 or so, it just shuts down after a while, faster if I'm doing something CPU intensive, like playing a game. When this does happen, I've found that I have to let the computer cool down a bit before I can turn it on again, or else it will just shut down again.

The computer is an Alienware laptop, using Windows XP. I downloaded and ran the Advisor program in the sticky, but I'm not sure how I should be providing that. Just attach the file? Copy-paste the whole thing?

 

[ertaboy356b]

The problem is either:

-- a virus doing extensive CPU processing
-- accumulated dust
-- failing fan
-- dried thermal cooling

If it's the cause is not a virus, try cleaning up the inside of the laptop. If it doesn't work, try observing the fan. If it's failing, replace it. If all fails, unhook the processor from the motherboard and replace it's thermal cooling.. You can find videos in youtube on how to apply thermal pastes.

 

[Prometheus]

Erta, it's a friggin laptop...

Agent, I suggest buying a can of compressed air and spraying it into your machine.
If that fails, do you still have your warranty?

Have you recently dropped, hit, ect your laptop?

 

[AgentPaper]

Hmm, I was having some issues with viruses earlier this year, but I got some good help with that and it seems to be completely gone. Aside from that, the issue is a bit older than that, and has been getting slowly worse and worse, though it may have stabilized recently. It's hard to tell, but it pretty much only happens now when I try to play DoW II, which brings my computer to it's knees anyways. (can barely run on lowest settings, but it runs it)

If a virus or some corrupted code is using up more memory or CPU than it should, at the very least it's not showing up on task manager.

The fans seem to be working well enough, I can hear them running, and sometimes faster than others. (seems to be mostly when I start up a program) Is there some setting somewhere that I can use to increase the speed they run at? Perhaps one of those viruses I had before set my fans to not run as much as they should.

Dust doesn't seem to be the problem. I opened up my computer a few months ago to check, and there was hardly any dust in there at all, though I did clean out what little was there as best I can. I could try buying some bottled air to get it even cleaner, but I'd like to try other things first. (especially since I'd have to buy it online) I'll probably send it in for repairs after I try the canned air approach, but since that'd be exensive, I'd like to try some other things first.

I don't even know what the thermal cooling is, but it sounds promising, as this computer is almost a year old now, and I wouldn't be surprised if something is starting to fail.

Another thing I'd like to try is to check what temperature my computer is set to do it's auto-shutoff thing. I'd rather not disable it completely, but it does seem to kick in earlier than it used to. I tried looking for this setting in the control panel, but had no luck. (same with the fan settings)


Edit: I haven't dropped it, well, ever that I know of. And no, the warranty expired, since I just went for a single year. (and after that, I also opened it up, which would have made it expire anyways)

 

[Prometheus]

You have a laptop. Screwing with the internal components isn't the best thing to do, but I believe DDR may be able to walk you through it. To check the auto-shutoff temp, when your computer is booting go into the bios and peek around for power options. I highly suggest not changing anything but shutoff temp unless you're familiar with what it says.

Why do you have to mail-order compressed air?

 

[AgentPaper]

Because the only store near here that would have something like that, doesn't.

I'm not sure what you're talking about with the bios, though. Perhaps you could explain how to get to that real quick?

 

[Prometheus]

Restart your computer, and spam-press delete until something you don't recognize comes up. You navigate with arrow keys and enter. Plus and minus on the num pad is sometimes used to change values.

 

[AnthraxXx]

Edit: Some posts popped up before this post while I was typing which explained something, read on.

If you're 100% sure it's a temperature issue, then try looking at Laptop Coolers. They are sort of mats that you sit the laptop on and have fans on them that blow into the base of the laptop. I don't know which part of the world you live in, but I'm sure you'll find plenty on Newegg.com or TigerDirect.com (For US etc) else search up StaticIce.com.au (If you're Aus).

Your local computer store will probably have some as well.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Speaking of coolers, it looks something like this:

 

[Immolation]

Are you sure that you're not playing games that use too much memory for your laptop?

Your CPU might start to fry.
Same goes for your graphic card.
And for your room.
And for your house.

Scary, huh?

 

[Samael88]

http://www.memtest86.com/

1. Download the pre-built iso.
2. Brun it to a cd.
3. boot from the cd.
4. If the test never finishes it is one of your ram memories that is broken.

That can cause the exact same symptoms.
I had the exact same problem before.

Not sure how well it works for laptops tho, but since it is free it might be worth a try:thup: