Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with overheating

The processor cost of upgrading

WhackyparseThis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:21:49 -0800

Upgrading from OS X 10.4 to 10.6: Does it use more CPU? I have a Mac Mini 1.66GHz that suffers from overheating problems when placed under stress. I'm looking at upgrading for the extra utilities such as Time Machine and Quicktime Pro, but i am concerned that a newer OS may place more pressure on my weakened computer. Does 10.6 run the computer harder than 10.4?

Help cool down my graphics card so I can get back to Dragon Age

penguinliz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:52:12 -0800

My graphics card is overheating. How can I make it stop, or alternatively turn off the warning message? I have a GeForce 7600GT in a system running Windows XP. Recently, while playing games, after 20 minutes or so it pops up warning messages saying "WARNING TEMPERATURE TOO HIGH!", which steals focus from the game and makes them tricky to play. The Nokia temperature monitoring software (NTune) tells me the temperature is getting up to 112C while gaming, and it's running at about 68C while web browsing.

I have checked that the fans are working and free from dust, everything looks connected and seated properly, and the drivers are up to date. What else can I try to get the temperature down? Is it possible that it's not really at 100+ degrees, and there's a fault in the temperature sensor? It doesn't feel like it's 100C in there, and I'm not having any problems except for the warning message. If anyone knows how I turn off the temperature warning that would be helpful to know as well. (I know it might get fried if it continues running at high temps, but I'm prepared to risk it since my only other solution right now is to change the card.)

what is wrong with my car?

A Terrible Llama — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:12:12 -0800

Why is my car overheating in traffic jams? My 96 Honda Civic (you're jealous, right?) overheats in traffic jams after ten, fifteen minutes.

The fans kick on for a while: the temperature will crawl upward as I sit there, fans kick in, temperature drops.That keeps happening until the upward creep exceeds the capacity of the fan to cool it. The temperature indicator crawls upward until it gets about 3/4 up and then I crank the heater to diffuse the problem.

I took it in last week and the mechanic could find nothing wrong. He ran it for a couple of hours, he said, checked all the fluids, monitored the temperature, and gave it a once over to be sure it would pass inspection (which is coming up.)

He kind of convinced me that I was imagining it, that it wasn't really unusually high, just maybe that I didn't notice it before. So yesterday I let it creep up to just a tick beneath the red zone, took a cell phone picture, and then cranked the heat. The picture I think will convey the urgency to him a little better, when I take it back to him.

Other maybe relevant details: as soon as the traffic jam ends and I speed off the engine cools down. I commute long distances routinely and have problems only sitting idle in traffic. Since he said he ran it for a couple of hours, I'm assuming he ran it in park. That's the main difference between my traffic jam experience -- in traffic, my foot's on the brake. We have a lot of construction going on around here and creep along at five miles an hour.

He's quite competent and a good guy who we know personally. Is there something I can tell him to look for?

Please note that I am really, really, really ignorant about cars and engines.

Freeing my games of artifacts

flatluigi — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:20:49 -0800

Help! My games are being plagued with screen artifacts. In several of the games I've been playing (Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Hitman: Blood Money) after a few minutes of gameplay "glitches" appear on the screen. These glitches look like small patches of green and sometimes purple that appear on the world geometry and disappear after a few milliseconds. If I keep playing, the glitches appear more and more frequent until I can't stand to play any more.

Interestingly enough, Source games like TF2, L4D, HL2, and Portal don't seem to be affected at all.

My system:

Manufacturer: VIAK8T
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7000) (7000.winmain_win7beta.081212-1400)

It's So Shiny, Now If Only It Worked

Ms. Saint — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:43:58 -0800

My Toshiba Satellite laptop has this problem. But, there's a catch: I'm pretty computer illiterate and don't know how to fix it. I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S206, which I bought about three and a half years ago. It seems to have the regular overheating problems. I've sent it in for repairs twice now. Each time, it came back and worked pretty well for about a year.. Then started overheating again. Sometimes, I can get it to stay on for a few hours, but sometimes it won't stay on for even five minutes.

External fans do not help. Propping it up so it has better air circulation does not work. Holding it over bags of ice does not work.

I've read online (particularly in the ask.me question I linked to) that changing the fan can sometimes help things out. I'm also pretty sure that the fan and heat sink (I don't even know what or where that is) could use a nice cleaning. I'd like to know how to take my laptop apart myself, so that I can clean it out whenever it needs being done. However, like I said, I'm pretty computer illiterate. So, here are my questions:

1) The best answer in the previous question alludes to "websites with walk-throughs" for various models. Can anyone link me to a good one?

2) Is dissembling my laptop and installing a new fan something I should even try to do, given that all of my computer hardware experience is installing a video card in a desktop computer?

3) If I shouldn't try doing it myself, how much can I expect it to cost me to get a fan professionally installed? If I just went someplace and said, "It overheats, known problem, fix it," would they know what to do?

4) Am I completely wrong that this might actually help my laptop? Is there anything else I could/should try? I'm so tired and frustrated with it not working -- it hasn't been reliable for about a year and a half now. It would be so nice if it could actually be even slightly reliable.

Why does my 12" Powerbook overheat so much?

DLWM — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:36:13 -0800

Why does my 12" Powerbook overheat so much? I recently bought a used 12" Powerbook G4, the 1.5 GHz model. It was in great physical shape when I bought it, so I have no reason to believe the previous owner was anything but kind to it. Immediately after buying it I ordered a new battery (previous owner had not taken advantage of the G4 battery recall), maxed out the RAM to 1.25 GB and replaced the internal 80 GB hard drive with a 160 GB drive (5400 RPM, Hitachi Travelstar).

Now the processor seems to overheat with annoying frequency. Normally -- like right now, when I have a half-dozen apps open but am not really doing anything intensive -- it hovers at around 45-50 deg C. But certain things seems to throw it into absolute fits, with a fairly rapid climb in temp often resulting in an emergency sleep when it hits about 80 deg C. The fan kicks in like crazy but that doesn't seem to help at all. It happens when I watch streaming video (Youtube, etc.) and when I am downloading large files from fast servers (Apple/MS/Adobe software updates, etc.). Doesn't seem to have a problem copying large files from one local drive to another.

I can't seem to remember having any of these problems before all the upgrades I put in. Is it possible that I, e.g., didn't tighten some screw properly before putting the computer back together again, and now the heatsink isn't doing its thing properly? Could the new RAM, hard drive or battery have anything to do with it? Strangely enough it's the processor that's overheating, which I didn't touch. And the battery is on the other side of the chassis, so I don't think that's it. The closest thing to the processor, I think, is the hard drive, but that never seems to exceed its specified upper limit of 59 deg C.

One final thing: I lost the little screws holding on the RAM door in place on the bottom of the laptop and used some scotch tape instead. As a result, the RAM door is maybe 1 mm lower than it should be, i.e., not flush with the bottom of the case. Could this be possibly messing up some super-delicate airflow thing on the underside of the case?

Help! I love love love this computer in every other way. And I'm trying to make it my main work machine, so I can't really have it doing this.

Laptop overheating

poweredbybeard — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:21:32 -0800

Please help me figure out how to access the heatsink on my laptop. My laptop is overheating regularly. I suppose I should take a look at the heatsink. Can anyone tell me where, in this picture, I should start? Is it by any chance that panel right below the fan?

Extremely hot laptop

jonathanbell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:12:40 -0800

I have a hot laptop. In fact, it's so hot that I can't even touch it. Is this normal? Or has the fan given up? I have an 18 month old Sony Vaio VGN-SZ1XP. Either the fan is incredibly quiet or it's broken. Regardless, if the laptop has been on all day, the temperatures on the underside, around the battery, are so high that it's painful to touch. I usually leave it plugged in with the battery installed, but make a point of not leaving it unattended on beds, carpets, etc. Is this normal? Is there a way of seeing if the fan is functioning normally, or does it need replacing? And can I do that myself?

Acer L100 overheating annoyingly

mateuslee — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 06:22:05 -0800

Can you help my ACER L100 stop over-heating? (Please say yes, I'm trying to write my thesis!) I have a new Acer L100. It worked like a dream for the first 4 months I had it. Now, although I haven't moved it, it started to act funny, like so:

1) Fans would start whirrling super-noisily and/or just shut off
2) The computer will freeze
3) Computer shuts down.

This is a relatively new thing. At first I thought it was some virus or sth, but no. I see many complaints about this online.

Incidentally, I find that by switching it from vertical to horizontal position once the fans turn off, it will work fine - but I'm afraid of losing my thesis.

Any other Acer users out there with this experience? How did you solve it? Ideas, suggestions, insight much appreciated. Don't want to send it back to Acer now (but maybe later, still under warranty I think).

Thanks!

PS. Using Windows XP

A quiet computer is a joy forever

melissam — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:16:36 -0800

Shut my computer up...what's the best way to stop making my computer's fans work so hard. About five months ago my computer started overheating. A nice technician opened it up and cleaned out all the dust. The result was amazing. The computer hardly had to use its fans anymore...it was cool and quiet.

Now I think more dust has accumulated and while it's not overheating, I loved not having my fans blowing all the time. I tried blowing compressed air, but I have a feeling that just moves it around.

What's the best way to get rid of dust without damaging the fans? Are there are precautions I should take if I end up opening up the fan area?

What is causing my laptop slowdown?

griphus — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:52:51 -0800

I'm having problems with my Dell laptop regularly overheating and causing everything to slowly freeze up, but I can't figure out the causality... I seem to be running into problems with my Dell Inspiron 6400/E1505. It's 1.6ghz Intel dual-core. I try my best to not block the areas with the most heat: I'm usually using it lying down on the couch with the laptop on my stomach or sandwiched between my knees when the temperature rises, but it never seems to drop under 113F. I've got a fan-powered cooler mat coming in the mail, but I wanted to make sure THIS was what was causing problems:

The problem is that everything seems to grind at a halt (emulators slow down to 10-15%, video stutters and loses track with audio, mouse becomes very slowly responsive) at random intervals, which is what I got a dual core to specifically prevent. I've been trying to replace my most frequently-used programs with similar ones that have hyperthreading (more on that below), but it doesn't seem to be much help.

Once in a while, if I'm running Firefox and vlc (which I downloaded specifically because it splits the decoding of the video onto two separate threads) or any other set of cpu-intensive programs, the temperature spikes and everything grinds to a halt. I'll use a 3rd party fan control program to raise them to max speed and either flip the laptop over or hold it up until processor usage drops, but I'm not sure about the causality: is the temperature spiking and slowing down the system because of the programs? or are the programs being slowed down because I happened to have blocked an air intake with my leg or because it's laying on the couch?

Help me avoid car overheating in my Subaru?

Kickstart70 — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:34:23 -0800

Help me with my Subaru Forester overheating problem? About a month ago, my wife, our baby, and I decided to take a trip in our new-to-us 1999 Subaru Forester. Very hot day, air-conditioning was cranked, and we were fine until we started to head into an area where it was more hilly (between Chilliwack and Hope in British Columbia).

As soon as we started climbing hills, the temperature guage climbed high...almost getting into the red. Immediately I put down all the windows, turned on the car heater, and bled off the heat (that worked very well for the car, not so well for wife and baby). It kept happening though, and we turned around and limped home. While we drove after this on the way home, on level ground, the heat did occasionally rise and I took it slow and careful until we were home. Through all of this, fluid amounts were fine, both front fans came on ok.

I took it to a recommended car repair place and they did as much testing as they could, and found no reason for it. There also appears to be no damage to head gaskets or block warping, as I've been warmed happens occasionally with aluminum blocks.

Since then we've done a lot of in-city driving, including a few multi-hour trips without incident. On Thursday this week, we are going to head on a road trip (9 hours of straight driving, but we'll take lots of breaks for the baby). The forecast is for 21C temperatures for Thursday (way down from the 32C we experienced on the overheating day).

Other than not running the air conditioning at full blast, what can we do to avoid this? Recommendations much appreciated, but abandoning the road trip plan is not an option.

2003 vw jetta overheating

specialk420 — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 11:07:13 -0800

favorite girls 2003 volkwagon jetta is over heating - low miles (30k) - she's semi-stranded in rapid city south dakota... anyone have any experience with similar problems with their late model vws? apparently started getting hot under load entering the black hills but now is getting a little worse (getting hot faster).

Peugeot 306 D Turbo overheating problems...

derbs — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 06:39:12 -0800

Peugeot 306 D Turbo overheating problems... My 1995 peugeot 306 has started overheating. The temperature gauge is shooting up to over 90, whereas it used to keep itself a constant 70-80. When it gets over 90, the thermostat obviously kicks in, some loud fans come on and the temperature goes down a little bit.

The other weird thing is, when I turn the heater up to max and turn the fan on, only cold air comes out the air vents, even if the engine temp is hot. It just doesn't seem to make sense.

I've checked the radiator, and it's full of water up to the MAX level... please hope me!

My computer tells me it's overheating, but I know that it's not.

Tawita — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 14:25:07 -0800

The temperature sensor on my motherboard is going haywire! With an ambient temperature of around 30° Celsius, Motherboard Monitor is telling me that case temperature is fluctuating between -50°C and 50°C, with CPU temperature fluctuating between -125°C and 110°C. The sensor is obviously fried, but what can I do about it? The computer is a 2.8gHz Pentium 4, about 18 months old, built for me with off-the-shelf components. Motherboard is a Gigabyte 8S648FX-RZ, with firmware updated. OS is XP Home sp2 (updated). I suspect that the sensor problem was causing random shutdowns. I've now stopped the automatic shutdown, which seems to have resolved this issue, but I suspect that this problem is why I frequently have trouble booting up (computer thinks that the CPU is overheating so refuses to boot up?). I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so service options and spare parts are a long, long way away. Grateful for any suggestions.

Does my laptop hate my table?

Ber — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:24:08 -0800

I have a laptop computer that is used almost exclusively on a glass table. It has had problems with overheating in the past; one the fans has gone out and had to be replaced. Does it make a difference what kind of surface I have the laptop on and is glass a poor choice for a its workspace?

Folding a laptop

knave — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:22:18 -0800

Is it a bad idea to run the Folding@Home client on a laptop? I have an 800MHz P3 laptop on which I want to run the Folding client. My question is... will it kill the computer? Is it safe to run a laptop at 100% constantly? I started it up an hour ago and the laptop is already very hot to the touch (bottom surface).

CPU Hogging

Saucy Intruder — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:04:18 -0800

Why do certain Windows applications eat up 100% of my CPU processing capacity, and what can I do about it? This just happened when I started up Zelda Classic, and happens with my SNES emulator. Additional clues and oddities under the fold, Cartalk-style. I'm running a Dell Inspiron 8500, WinXP, and using i8kfangui to regulate and monitor CPU temperature and CPU load. The overclocking occurs in a few other circumstances, such as:
- In Adobe Acrobat, from the mousedown until the mouseup when using the "hand" tool to navigate across continuous pages
- In certain games such as 100% Free Cribbage but only when there's a text entry prompt - otherwise it's normal
- In my SNES9x emulator, as noted above, but only during gameplay, not when paused or using the menus
- Chips Challenge - again only while playing, and not while paused

So what's going on? This can't be happening to everyone, can it? I'm at a loss and google is no help.

Are AMD CPUs prone to overheating?

knave — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 20:45:02 -0800

Are AMD CPUs prone to overheating? I have had one in the past (Athlon XP 2000+) whose temperature was uncontrollable, until it finally died. Now I have one (AMD XP 2600+ Barton) that is hitting 88C according to MBM5 (CPU diode temp). The computer shut down earlier today, probably because it has a thermal sensor that kills it before 90C, which is the temperature AMD claims will kill their CPUs.

I have not overclocked it. This computer is 2 years old and has worked fine the whole time. Using the stock heat sink and fan. What should I do?

laptop shuts off at random

Yelling At Nothing — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 19:33:00 -0800

My laptop is turning itself off at random [more inside] Twice over the last couple days, my laptop has decided to turn itself off. No prompt, no nothing, it just cold-boots. Both times it's happened, the laptop has been plugged into the wall. My battery has also been full (at least, according to it) both times.

It's a Gateway desktop-replacement job. 2002 model, P4M 2.0 Gig. Single battery, the wall socket is a standard 110 volt. Using the stock power adapter. Power settings are 'always on.' I ran adaware and spybot a couple hours ago; it hasn't shut down since then. I don't have the make and model of all the parts at hand, but I can certainly dig those up if people think it's important.

I haven't lost any critical data so far, but it's starting to worry me. Thoughts?