[Tfug] Dell Laptop & Thermal Shutdowns

[Christopher Robbins]

I had a similar problem with an Acer laptop (which I'm typing this reply
on).  Thing ran hotter than hell when I was pushing the system (Eclipse,
Firefox w/ multiple open tabs, etc).  I bought a cooling pad but I still had
shutdown problems.  At first I thought I had blown a fan, but I soon found
out that the problem was a HUGE layer of dust on the heatsink.  It had
decreased airflow to the point that the heatsink was useless.  I cleaned all
the dust out with some rubbing alcohol and a q-tip and it worked beautifully
after that.

I'd advise (if it's not a royal PITA) that you take it apart and check out
the fans and heatsink.  Yes, the Dells do seem to run a bit hotter (I've
seen two 5150s and I had a 600m that all ran hot) - check to make sure all
of your fans are working as well.  I've had a few Dells with busted fans
that I've fixed in the past.

Hope this helps.

-Chris

On 9/19/06, Bill M. <beelymagee at cox.net> wrote:
>
> My Dell Inspiron 5150 is my primary machine (P4 3.06, 512MB and 100GB
> HD, Broadcom wired and wireless builtin, Nvidia GeForce FX Go5200 w/32MB
> RAM, CD-RW/DVD drive)--a decent desktop replacement that I've been
> pretty happy with, especially using SuSE Linux 10.0.
> I'm having an issue with the system: in times of intense, heat-creating
> activity (running KDE or Gnome and loads of eye-candy and processes
> running, lots of hard drive activity, processor really cranking, WLAN
> interface active as primary network connection), I've experienced
> situations where the laptop does a preventative thermal shutdown with
> the briefest of warnings. I'm thankful that I'm not experiencing
> motherboard melt-down, but it's very annoying! I even use a laptop
> cooling fan base while at home--still happens.
> I've read that Dell laptops have been notorious for their overheating,
> but I never really had shutdowns when I originally ran Windows XP on
> this (since completely removed.)
> System runs in the mid-60s to low 70s normally with the thermal shutdown
> trigger at 78c. The exhaust vents look clean. I've read that it is
> sometimes necessary to remove the keyboard and check/clean out the heat
> sink and even reapply thermal grease between the processor and the heat
> sink. I haven't done this yet.
> I mostly use KDE and Gnome off/on, and have other desktops/window
> managers loaded on the drive: XFCE, FluxBox, BlackBox, IceWM. Any ideas
> or suggestions on avoiding the shutdowns? I'm most comfortable with KDE,
> but enjoy Gnome and XFCE and IceWM. Thanks in advance for your
> suggestions/comments.
>
> -*-Bill
>
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-- 
Chris Robbins
Dept. of English Technical Support
http://www.homerengineeringcorp.net