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[Captain Oblivious]

The fan on my laptop gets really really hot and I'm quite worried about it because sometimes it makes my laptop shut off. Which is irritating but I would like to fix it. I have tried hoovering it, but that doesn't work. Does anyone know of any other way that I could make it be not so hot? Any and all help is much appreciated.

[Pope Totalfrog]

You could try a laptop cooling mat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop_cooler

I have friends who use them when they are playing games for hours to keep their laptops cool.

[CeeGBee]

...and make sure there's some airflow past the bottom of the machine, so no computing
on the bed with the compy sitting on the blankets...

[Captain Oblivious]

You could try a laptop cooling mat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop_cooler

I have friends who use them when they are playing games for hours to keep their laptops cool.

I am told that the reason it's overheating is cos there's a lot of dust in the fan.

...and make sure there's some airflow past the bottom of the machine, so no computing
on the bed with the compy sitting on the blankets...

haha even if I wanted to I couldn't use it in bed. It's usually on my knee, or on a table.

[Morpheus Laughing]

Is it working and running at the same speed as ever or does it sound like it's running slower? 

I've heard of people using a can of compressed air to unclog a laptop fan but if it is running at the same speed it might be a fan fault which would need to be repaired or replaced.

[Captain Oblivious]

I have heard the compressed air thing too. I was checking last night and apparently a cold hairdryer is useful, so I tried that and I'll see if that works. If not, I'll get the compressed air out and if it still doesn't work, I will take it to a technician or something.

Anyway, thank you all for your help.

[spider jerusalem]

1. Think positive: it may be annoying, but a computer that DOES turn off because of overheating is better than a computer with a  "lemme shutdown or else I will melt and make my owner angry." system that does not work and turns your computer into a pile of garbage.

2. What you said about dust is probably true. I could clean it for you (for a couple of beers, probably) if I lived near you. It would be cheaper than buying all those things. 

3. I don't know if you run Windows, Linux or Mac on your laptop, but there are programs that take cares of your fan speed, HD and processor temperatures. Try installing than and keep an eye on their values. Compare than with your laptop manufacture values (i.r: acer, sony, lenovo, apple values for "safe computing")

4. Think positive: it could not turn off and the heat would melt your computer.

5. You can check all this values at the BIOS of your laptop. I don't know how to enter into Apple's openfirwmare (their BIOS), but PC based laptops you just hit del as soon as you turn it on. There will be a field with these values (temperature and fan speeds).

Cheers!


 

[JohnnyDBBUK]

Roisin it sounds like you fan isn't working up to speed.
Spider is on the right track

Uni technicians - coughcough fixing a students laptop atm - are very helpful and could sort that shit out for you np.

[Captain Oblivious]

haha unfortunately I'm nowhere near a uni atm. Thanks for your help guys. Maybe my laptop just can't handle games.
Also, spider, I hadn't thought of it that way, so thank you. At least I still have a working laptop.

[JohnnyDBBUK]

haha unfortunately I'm nowhere near a uni atm. Thanks for your help guys. Maybe my laptop just can't handle games.
Also, spider, I hadn't thought of it that way, so thank you. At least I still have a working laptop.

depends on the game sometimes - Sims3 did a number on my PC when Audrey was playing it.
Upgraded/Tweaked my machine and now it's fine.
if you didn't live so far away I'd offer to sort it out.
What model/spec is the laptop and what game are you running when it happens

[Captain Oblivious]

haha unfortunately I'm nowhere near a uni atm. Thanks for your help guys. Maybe my laptop just can't handle games.
Also, spider, I hadn't thought of it that way, so thank you. At least I still have a working laptop.

depends on the game sometimes - Sims3 did a number on my PC when Audrey was playing it.
Upgraded/Tweaked my machine and now it's fine.
if you didn't live so far away I'd offer to sort it out.
What model/spec is the laptop and what game are you running when it happens

It's an Acer laptop, Aspire 5535, and I was running Sims 3 and Portal when it happened. Not at the same time haha.

[Agonistes]

i too have a problem with overheating laptops playing sims 3.  on the sims message board, i have seen many posts from most people who have played the sims on a laptop.  i myself have to prop the laptop up on two books and run a fan under it; there is a glitch in the game and a memory leak causing this.  this is why you can run a game more involved than sims and it wont shut you off, but the sims will.  several patches later, it's better, but still a problem; i have to shut the game off every couple of hours and cool down to prevent it shutting itself off (the game not the laptop).


e.a. has known about the memory leak for like two generations of sims, and hasnt fixed it yet.  sucks to them for making such a cool game but not worrying about their software enough to allow people to play it.  i guess they figure no one actually USES a laptop.

[Morpheus Laughing]

I just remembered that my sister’s BF has a laptop that turns itself off when he tries to watch Youtube videos. Maybe a similar thing is happening. I’m aware that people tinker with their computer settings to get more CPU power than the manufacturers are prepared to risk but until JohnnyDBBUK mentioned tweaking, it didn’t occur to me that the reverse situation might solve an overheating problem.

I need to investigate this now that I know it is doable.

[spider jerusalem]

haha unfortunately I'm nowhere near a uni atm. Thanks for your help guys. Maybe my laptop just can't handle games.
Also, spider, I hadn't thought of it that way, so thank you. At least I still have a working laptop.

You are welcome! 

It's an Acer laptop, Aspire 5535, and I was running Sims 3 and Portal when it happened. Not at the same time haha.

afaik, Portal is a demanding game in terms of video processing. Im not sure abour SIms 3. however, in general, those games will need 3d video processing and because common laptops have integrated video and not dedicated video, all the video processing is done on the main processor (cpu). because the cpu and the video card have to work much more than usual, they reach temperatures that usually they wouldn't and that may freeze or turn off your computer.

I just remembered that my sister’s BF has a laptop that turns itself off when he tries to watch Youtube videos. Maybe a similar thing is happening. I’m aware that people tinker with their computer settings to get more CPU power than the manufacturers are prepared to risk but until JohnnyDBBUK mentioned tweaking, it didn’t occur to me that the reverse situation might solve an overheating problem.

I need to investigate this now that I know it is doable.

I don't recommend tweaking nothing unless you know what you are doing. but you can go to the BIOS and check which is the temperature set for turning off. 

good luck! 

 

[Agonistes]

I just remembered that my sister’s BF has a laptop that turns itself off when he tries to watch Youtube videos. Maybe a similar thing is happening. I’m aware that people tinker with their computer settings to get more CPU power than the manufacturers are prepared to risk but until JohnnyDBBUK mentioned tweaking, it didn’t occur to me that the reverse situation might solve an overheating problem.

I need to investigate this now that I know it is doable.

does the guy with youtube problems have adobe?  sometimes when a flash player updates itself it conflicts with a video player and you get the turning off.  had that problem too, couldn't watch hulu without shutting down and it turned out to be a conflict with adobe flash player, i think.  i might have the name of the program wrong, but it was a flash player conflict with windows vista.

i've been using laptops instead of desktops for about four years now because it's so damn convenient, except for the seemingly constant programming conflicts, and overheating tendencies.