Laptop cooling

[george7378]

I got a new HP laptop a few months ago, and it seems to get dangerously hot sometimes - even when I'm just playing Orbiter, the fan starts working in overdrive and I can't put my hand on the fan outlet because it gets so hot. Anyone else had this? It seems to be a common problem with HPs.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

I had it with my old laptop so I took it in for a cleaning at Microcenter and they blew out all the dust and everything and it ran fine...till the processor failed but I'd like to believe that was unrelated.
NOTE: The only reason I didn't do the cleaning myself was I was having problems disassembling the heatsink components to get the nozzle of an air can in it.

 

[RisingFury]

Most laptops have warranties written so that if you open them, you null the warranty. Read your warranty before you do anything.

 

[Spacethingy]

You may already have it, but Speedfan can do custom fan settings. I'm not sure, 'cos it doesn't seem to recognize my fans...

 

[Fabri91]

From the laptops that I've seen, HPs tend to get quite hot if compared to other systems.
In theory the cooling system should be engineered so as to make it possible to have the laptop running at full load, continuously, without overheating the components.

Bear in mind that often mobile CPUs have a higher maximum temperature. If you run a 30 minute Orbiter session with HWmonitor (or any other tool) in the background, what maximum CPU temperature does it report?

 

[Mojave]

my laptop has HP Coolsense. I'm not sure if it is a downloadable, but look it up. If so, it keeps my fan cool.

 

[orb]

After only a few months there shouldn't be much dust in there. My laptop's first cleaning involving opening the case was after 2 years of usage, after the warranty period ended and I could break stickers without worrying.

If it seems to be too hot I'd get an active laptop cooler (cooler pad / chill mat).

 

[blixel]

I got a new HP laptop a few months ago, and it seems to get dangerously hot sometimes - even when I'm just playing Orbiter, the fan starts working in overdrive and I can't put my hand on the fan outlet because it gets so hot. Anyone else had this? It seems to be a common problem with HPs.

Yes. I have an HP Pavilion dv7t-3000. It was my main laptop until just last month. (Replaced with an ASUS G75VW-AS71.) I was generally happy with my HP, but I had always noticed that it ran very hot. I never had any problems with it overheating and shutting down or anything like that, but the heat was always a concern to me. My new ASUS laptop runs very cool at all times. The difference is night and day.

 

[Weirdo Earthtorch]

I think most laptops will get pretty hot when you're thrashing 3D graphics of any sort. My old turbo-nutter laptop (a Clevo D900 chassis) died along with its dedicated replaceable NVidia Geforce G0 6800 graphics card. Replaceable? Yes. 550 Euros? No.

In short, I'd go with the advice for a cooler pad or equivalent. And don't use it with the vents blocked at all.

Cheers WE.

 

[Screamer7]

As Zatnikitelman and orb stated, dust is your biggest enemy. Over time the fan sucks in a lot of dust that act like a blanket.
It effectively decrease your lap top cooling system.
Just by blowing air into the vent ports help a lot to get rid of the dust.
Even desktop pc's are affected by dust.
And dust is everywhere, believe me.
Even in the cleanest house.

 

[Quick_Nick]

My HP is the same. Extreme heat from anything with any sort of graphics. Sometimes untouchable. I may get a cooling pad some day .

 

[jimblah]

I'm sorry you bought an HP Laptop...

My first laptop was an HP n5250 purchased in 2001. 700 Mhz PIII, 10 GB HDD, 256 MB of RAM. Including the 'Extended Warranty' from C*MP*SA I spent $2000. The TFT display necessitated shipment to the manufacturer four times. They never got it right. A technician at the store finally fixed that. Then the heating problems started... That burning sensation in your lap everytime you want to use the thing and you don't have a place to set it down. Finally, the thing suspended when I thought it was shut down. I put it into its carrying case. An hour later I'm in a coffee shop drinking a cup of joe and my laptop bag starts to SMOKE! I burned myself shutting it down (for good this time.)

Do yourself a favor. Sell yours, get your money back, anything... Listen to the guys that recommend ASUS! You can't go wrong with ASUS and you don't need their top of the line model to run Orbiter. If you ever decide to explore Linux/Opensource now or in the future you shouldn't have issues with driver support either. While I currently use and enjoy MSI, I've owned two ASUS laptops and built several computers with ASUS components with no complaints. I believe a laptop should provide virtually troublefree operation for up to five years. I've experienced that with ASUS before, twice.

 

[liber]

I got a new HP laptop a few months ago, and it seems to get dangerously hot sometimes - even when I'm just playing Orbiter, the fan starts working in overdrive and I can't put my hand on the fan outlet because it gets so hot. Anyone else had this? It seems to be a common problem with HPs.

Usualy Orbiter take 100% of CPU usage.
I use sometimes this program:

http://mion.faireal.net/BES/

to lower CPU usage for Orbiter or conversion program ,mainly those who take a lot's of time.

Well using this program Orbiter twitching sometimes but temperature stay in safe limits,in hot summer is most useful.
Easy to use and do not need installation.

 

[george7378]

Wow, there's a lot of things to try here - I'll see how they go. Meanwhile, I rested it on top of a few books around the edge, and it seems to help it quite a bit!

 

[Keatah]

Something I did with my system was Eco-Clocking.
I reduced the voltage and not only did I cut the heat by 21C, I also gained over 1.5 hours of battery life. All while maintaining full speed. System has been working like this for 3 years now.

 

[Tycho]

I have a three year-old HP laptop (a G60) and have similar heating problems, but find keeping the fan unblocked helps substantially. When I use mine, the fan is always unblocked (it works with my set-up), but if you want to put it on a desk or table, a cooling pad would probably be your best bet.