Acer Aspire 3810 TZ

Hello!

Lately I have been having some over heating on my Acer Aspire 3810TZ. I have had this computer since May 2010. I have tried putting a fan under it even put a cold pack under the fan that the laptop was on. The overheat happens mainly when I am watching video (like Netflix), video chatting with someone, and during video games. It just gets too hot and crashes. Is there anything else I can do to keep it cool?

Thanks,
Alli

 

Have you tried using canned air (gas-duster) to clean the vents?
There might be a lot of dust clogging up the radiator.

 

This may very well be the problem. Clean out the vents, paying close attention to the radiator fins near the vent exit. Be careful not to plast directly upwards into the vent. Clean with short bursts that are less than full power and angle the blast from the side a bit when you can. If that doesn't work, you may need new thermal paste on the heat sink between the CPU and the sink. Since you have a TZ, you don't have a dedicated GPU to worry about.

I'm wondering if the 1.3ghz Pentium SU2700 with its GMA4500 graphics are up to the paces you're putting it through. It should be, since the GMA4500 IGPU can handle HD video with no problem. My SU2300 1410T doesn't overheat in similar circumstances.

 

I have cleaned out the fans and everything... It really didn't make much of a difference. Also, as I was playing video games two nights ago, my computer crashed again. Would it be the video card as the problem? And if it is, is there a way to put in a different one so this stops happening?

 

If it's a TZ model it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card- it's an integrated one so it can't be a problem.

 

If you've cleaned your vents, thermal paste replacement is the next obvious step. It may not solve your problem as the heat sink or the integrated GPU may be damaged.