At my wits end (Latitude D630)

I have a D630 that is still under warranty, but I've been having huge overheating problems with it. (We're talking 160F+ under light load). This is the model with the Nvidia video card.

When I first called Dell, they sent someone to replace the fan and heatsink. That didn't solve the problem. I figured that I was suffering from the notorious Nvidia thermal issue, and they replaced the motherboard. The problem got worse, and they replaced the motherboard again, and the problem got slightly better.

The thing is, I don't actually need an Nvidia video card because I don't do much aside from internet browsing and copying files over the network. I was upset after the fourth time they sent a Dell technician, that I called them and demanded that they replace my Nvidia board with a standard Intel graphics board. They finally agreed.

Yesterday a technician came out with a new motherboard with an Intel video chipset rather than Nvidia, as well as a new heatsink and fan that matches the new board. Now the darn thing is running at 190F at light load!!! it's actually worse than the Nvidia one was!

Do any of you have any clue what the problem might be? I don't even want to use this thing anymore. What's even more interesting is that we've issued about 30+ Intel D630's out to our associates at work, and none of them have any issues. I wonder why it's just mine.

 

With that many services, I would ask for a system exchange. If you get any static over it, submit an escalation here: https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/outstanding_issues_tech?c=us&l=en&s=gen

 

I never knew about that site. I filled out that form as you suggested.

 

When they replaced the motherboard, did they apply any thermal grease? Sounds like they didn't...

 

Unfortunately I wasn't there, so I can only assume.

 

I would assume that they didn't, do you have any grease? Arctic Silver 5 is the best.

 

I have some artic silver (knock off brand) and two thermal sponges left over from this laptop from when it had an Nvidia card. Which should I use?

 

You should use the grease. It is in a tube, right?

First though, remove the CPU heatsink and inspect the condition of the grease. Clean it with rubbing alcohol before applying new grease.

 

Ok, I will use the tube when I get home later on this evening. Thanks.

Edit: Do I have to remove the palm rest and display assembly as well? I thought it was easier to get to underneath the keyboard but I may be thinking of a different model.

 

Cool, let us know what the temperatures are like afterwards. If it's still very warm, there might be something wrong with the CPU, which would be rare, but that seems to be the only possibility.