M17x R2 sudden temperature changes...

I have had my m17x sitting in the same spot for months, have not made any changes to the system in quite awhile, but a couple of days ago I noticed the fans blowing really hard.

What was weird was that initially GPU fan #2 was blowing hard. I am running a single gpu setup right now. There is not even a card in the dock.

Now the CPU fan is running all the time, even when the pc is sitting at the desktop with nothing running. Tray programs are minimal, virus scans are good. My HD is a bit full...23gb free of 120. This occurs after a clean boot and just sitting at the desktop.

I have verified the fans are blowing properly and the m17x sits on top of a zalman cooler.

I used HWiNFO64 which reports four cores of the cpu running at 70-80 degrees Celsius with nothing running...

My only idea is maybe my thermal paste went bad? I redid the core a few months ago and used top of the line stuff at the time, but now I'm out of ideas.

* - also, I have no overclocking beyond the 5% free with the 940xm bios tweak.

 

When was the last time you cleaned the heatsinks/fans, repasted/reapadded GPU's and CPU?

What RPM does HWINFO report for your fans?

Also, The three fans are tied together so if one goes up they all do.(Unless you use HWINFO to control them) That explains the GPU2 fan spinning up, but there is a problem with those CPU temps.

 

Repasted ram, GPU, and CPU 3-4 months ago.

The fans were going about 3200 rpm and didn't slow down at all. (assuming that HWiNFO is showing RPM's on the fan control)

 

They won't slow down if your CPU is idling @ 70-80 degrees. that would cook your laptop. You have to check your CPU paste job, heatsinks and fans. and clean them well. Repaste using a thick paste, I recommend TX-4 or MX-4 awesome products, and maybe even try adjusting the CPU screws while it is on to see if you can get better temps. DR650SE wrote a guide somewhere, but it's easy just leave the keyboard plugged in but unscrewed then run prime 95 and adjust screws while monitoring temps. Also, What are your GPU temps? What paste is "The top of the Line stuff"? Just so we have a complete picture.


EDIT: It is important to note that some TIM can bleed. Meaning that they spread overtime from the heat transfer and some can bleed a lot. Which will cause weak thermal transfer.

 

I followed DR650SE's guide when I did this actually, and used Tuniq TX-4. I just woke up and checked HWiNOFO and my GPU is showing 57 degrees (sitting overnight) and a high of 75 degrees at some point.

 

Hmmm... Are the fans still going full speed? If so I would open her up and check paste and heatsinks to make sure they are not dirty. Try turning off the 5% OC you have as well.

 

It seems to have stabilized. I turned the OC off and then on, and now the temperatures and fans have been normal. Weird-O