M18x R1 suddenly overheating.

I believe I'm having an overheat problem with my M18x R1 with a factory overclocked 2920xm processor. I have owned this laptop for around 2 years now and have not ever had any problem with it until recently. I'll be using it, and it usually happens when I'm playing Warcraft (at max settings) and it will just restart for no apparent reason. Other times, meaning just typical web browsing (I use an external monitor using the HDMI output) my external monitor will go black and I get a message saying "Cannot display this format", then I will have to do a hard reboot holding down the power button to get it back to normal. The reason I believe it's a cooling problem is because the problem goes away completely when I have an 18" fan pointing at the rear of the unit and then it works perfectly, so logic would dictate "cooling problem". The only Mod I have done is add a new 512 gig SSD C drive, but that was 8 months ago and had no problems until recently. I ran the Alienware F12 diagnostic, and it showed that the fans were fine and dandy (though I haven't actually peeled off the back and verified visually). I paid a little extra for the extended warranty which is still in effect, but I'm not sure I could handle a few weeks without my baby, but of course I will if absolutely necessary. So a couple questions.

1. Will the fact that I installed a new hard drive void my warranty? If I send it in, should I replace the SSD with my old HD?

2. I have read that sometimes the thermal grease between the CPU fan and Processor could be upgraded and could make a difference... any truth to that? And how difficult would that be to do?

3. Just gimme general ideas or if you have had this problem.

Here are my main system stats:

CPU:

Intel Core i7 Extreme Quad-core 2920XM Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz (8MB Cache)

RAM:

16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)

GPU:

Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled

Drives:

1TB RAID 0, 2x 500GB, 7200RPM Solid State Hybrid
Drive 0 upgraded to 512gb SSD 8 months ago

 

When was the last time you took can air to the back to clean the exhaust vents? I do mine once a month and you would not believe how much dust that will accumulate back there.

 

Pull the bottom cover, remove the fans and clean them and the heat sink radiators thoroughly. That will probably fix the problem without any need to repaste. Whether you use compressed air or a vacuum cleaner, hold the fan blades still to keep them from revving up to high speed. That can damage the fans. Blowing the junk around from the outside doesn't resolve the problem. The junk will end up clogging the heat sink radiators again because it was temporarily moved out of the way.

Changing drives does not void your warranty. You definitely want to keep original parts and put them back in place if you need to send in the system for depot repair.

 

I guess I should have mentioned that... I did remove the back and cleaned it with compressed air. I didn't hold the blades though, and it did go wwwwwWWWWWOOOOOOOO. lol I thought that was pretty cool that it was removing everything, and I'm damn well sure it did remove every speck of dust from every intake and exhaust from the unit. There wasn't really that much, but there was some. It did the exact same thing afterwards, so I doubt it made any difference. The only thing I didn't see or was sure I cleaned was the CPU fan, but when I did the diagnostic, it showed RPM's and gave it a check-mark that it was OK.

I didn't actually remove the fans for cleaning, so that may be my next step. I'm a smoker, so I'm sure my nasty habit isn't helping anything. Plus, I suppose it will give my greater access to the internal heat sinks. Ain't gonna do it tonight, but I'll try it tomorrow and let you know if any difference. The only thing that's throwing me off is that it kinda happened all of a sudden... not gradually. hmmmm

 

Have you monitored your temperatures with anything to see if you are overheating?

Install a program called HWInfo. While you've got the sensors displayed (a list of just about every component in your laptop), use the handy-dandy fan button to force the fans to full speed.



Then pull the slider(s) all the way to the right, and hit 'Set Manual'.



All of your fans should come on full blast, one on either side and one near the center. You should be able to feel a good stream of air coming out. If you can feel the stream of air coming from each vent, then your fans are operating correctly. If one of them isn't working at all, or is a turd, then you may have found your issue. And this all assuming that your fans/radiators are clean.

Depending on what you discover, it may be time to replace a fan or repaste.

 

I usually seems to happen suddenly even though the accumulation occurs over time. And, yeah, if you left the fans in you may find the radiator fins full of dust bunnies and dirt. You can use a soft bristled brush to knock the stuff loose if you need to, just don't press hard and bend the fins. I prefer using a vacuum cleaner versus compressed air because it prevents blowing dust around. It also seems to do a nice job of extracting the mess by pulling it out of the heat sink radiators from back side instead of trying to "push" the crud through and out the other side.

I helped a guy just last week with a similar problem. Not sure where he got my email, but he contacted me that way instead of through the forum. Anyhow, here are photos he sent back to me and after a good cleaning (no repaste) his M18x is purring like a kitten again.

 

I'm guilty of just using compressed air to blow the stuff around. In terms of vacuuming, can I just use my handheld dewalt and suck the stuff up? Maybe with the bristle attachment? It seems hard to clean out the fins with a brush since you're merely pushing it around unless you took it all apart and wiped it all down.

 

Sure, that should work fine. Just be gentle with the fins if you contact them with anything and hold the fan blades still to keep them from revving up at high RPM. If you bend the fins it will disrupt air flow. Generally, the stuff gets caked on the surface and doesn't get much junk build-up between the fins. Lint and hair lays across the top of the fins, dust starts to build up on top of that and blocks the air flow. You can sometimes take just the edge of your fingernail and peel off a strip of filth if it is an extreme example like the photos I posted above.

This is pretty much the same principle as your car radiator getting blocked by bugs or your home's central AC condenser unit getting clogged with dirt and leaves... overheating will occur due to no air flow. They need the same kind of periodic cleaning.

You could also leave the GPU/heat sink assembled and remove the two screws to lift them out of their PCIe slots and use compressed air to blow them out, but I am not a big fan of unseating the GPUs from their PCIe slot if that can be avoided. Chances of a problem are really slim, but having an issue with one of them not being seated correctly or being affected by static electricity is just an extra hassle that can be easily avoided by leaving them in place.

 

Ok, here's the update. I pulled out all 3 fans one by one and the outflow vents were clean and open, as well as the intakes. The fan blades were clean from my blowout with the compressed air. There was nothing close to the pics you posted mr. fox. Fired it up again after reassembly and same problems. Then I tried the HWinfo program suggested by TurbodTalon. I manually set all 3 fans to max rpm and all 3 were hummin' along. I fired up Warcraft and it went a good 20-25 mins and I thought that was gonna work. Then it shut down again. Back to the 18" fan (set on high) blowing at the rear of the computer, with the screen tilted back 45 degrees to channel the airflow into the back of the computer, and it works fine again. One other thing I should mention... It's been a hot summer here in Seattle, and have had an unusual amount of 80+ degree days. But we had quite a few 80+ degree days last summer and it was never an issue, so I dunno. Maybe time to look into the thermal grease option? What ya think?

 

It might be time to re-paste, but the stock dell paste does last a really long time. That being said the hot summer would not be a reason to have to re-paste. I live in Florida and we almost are always above 80 degrees and my house is kept at 76. The fact, though, that you have cleaned out the system and there has been no change then I would lean towards the re-paste. The fact of the matter is there really is not much else you can do other than re-paste at this point as far as I know.

 

I think the repaste is inevitable at this point since the heat sinks were clean. That should fix you up. Did you observe what your max temps were? If it was only the CPU, I would leave the GPUs alone. If they are not overheating, don't repaste them, just the CPU. If you did not look, I would check with HWiNFO64. You can look at the HWiNFO64 sensor window or have it log the temps to a CSV. If it shuts down, reboot and open the CSV to see what the maximum CPU and GPU temps were.

 

I have the 64 bit version of HWinfo. What are the temps, in Fahrenheit, that are the normal limits, and what are the temps that would indicate overheat in CPU and GPU? I'm off to bed right now... You know, that annoying work crap, so I'll check YouTube tomorrow for instructions for repasting an M18x, and what the best grease is. In the meantime, you guys can probably point me in the right direction for those two things. Thanks TONS for your help so far guys. This forum rocks! Bill

 

I don't ever check in Fahrenheit. Set HWiNFO64 to use Celcius instead. Your going to experience thermal throttling around 90-95°C and shutdown at 100°C with the Sandy Bridge CPU, about 105°C with Ivy Bridge. GPU needs to stay under 90°C for the best results. That is a good target for max temp for both unless you are doing some extreme overclocking. I recommend IC Diamond for the thermal paste.

If you need to convert the temps: Celsius to Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit to Celsius