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    M11x R3 History of Overheating

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by bryharr, Feb 1, 2012.

  1. bryharr

    bryharr Newbie

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    I received an M11x R3 from Dell after my R2 died. From day one I've had issues including a faulty hard drive, fan, motherboard, and an intense overheating problem where my CPU was reaching about 92C and the bottom of my laptop was literally scorching.

    Dell's been sending techs out of a regular basis, and the last one replaced a few parts to fix my overheating issue, including my heat sink and fan, but not my CPU. Unfortunately, I'm still seeing an average of 86C on my CPU when playing games. Is this expected?

    I can't get a direct answer from Dell's customer support representatives, but they have been helpful in sending techs out to fix the problems. I just want to know how to identify what's causing all of this heat so I can stop playing guess and check with the Dell reps.

    Help! :[
     
    bryharr, Feb 1, 2012
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  2. Makubexs

    Makubexs Newbie

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    Thermal paste
     
    Makubexs, Feb 1, 2012
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  3. un4tural

    un4tural Notebook Evangelist

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    well, try shining a bright flashlight at the fan from the bottom and look from the back of the laptop to see if theres a lot of dust, could just need a good clean.

    Tough, even before the clean mine did heat a fair bit, replacing thermal paste helped a fair lot, also which CPU did you get? mines 2537, so it heats a bit more than the more recent I5's they're stuffing in there...

    but yeah sort of 75 degrees is normalish... 80 still high, but from my experience it still is within... erm norm i guess...
     
    un4tural, Feb 1, 2012
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  4. bryharr

    bryharr Newbie

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    Thanks for the tips! I'll grab some thermal paste on newegg tonight. Any recommendations?

    My CPU is the i7 2617M, but I'm going to be completely honest and tell you that everything after i7 is martian to me.
     
    bryharr, Feb 1, 2012
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  5. deadboy90

    deadboy90 Notebook Evangelist

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    I use arctic silver on everything, not my r1 yet though, but i used it on my friends laptop (with half the fan blades missing lol) and my PS3. No issues to report and you can get it at Radioshack. But yea, 86 is kindof high, when you put the new paste on use some canned air to blow out the dust from the fan.
     
    deadboy90, Feb 2, 2012
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  6. Jironmonger

    Jironmonger Notebook Enthusiast

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    Got an R3 few weeks back, while gaming on AC the based above the battery gets ridiculously hot. Considering a change for that reason alone.
     
    Jironmonger, Feb 2, 2012
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  7. darkdomino

    darkdomino Notebook Deity

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    I don't mean to stray too far off topic...

    but does that mean Dell doesn't replace R2's anymore? If my R2 kicks the bucket they'll give me an R3?
     
    darkdomino, Feb 2, 2012
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  8. Intangble

    Intangble Notebook Consultant

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    no -

    they got tons of refurbished ones for u - just got one myself 2 weeks ago. i was hoping for a 'oops we are out of r2s, here is an r3'
     
    Intangble, Feb 2, 2012
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  9. un4tural

    un4tural Notebook Evangelist

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    well if you're opening it up and replacing paste, while you take off the heatsink, just undo the few screws covering the fan and clean it up with a brush... if theres more than little dust all it'll do it flop it around, clogged my fan on other lappy. NOT A GOOD IDEA if theres a lot of dust.

    again, if you're opening it up anyway, just open the fan cover and brush the crap out.

    Cheers
     
    un4tural, Feb 3, 2012
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  10. Nightrider

    Nightrider Notebook Geek

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    My R3 supply get ridiculously hot too , is there any recall for those?
     
    Nightrider, Feb 3, 2012
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  11. un4tural

    un4tural Notebook Evangelist

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    how hot is that? mine gets quite hot when charging+gaming, but it isn't set my house on fire hot... it is warm on normal use as well... it just is what it is, kind of doubles as a foot warmer or something, never gets too hot to touch, hot but you can still use it to warm your hands.

    If it gets hot enough to boil some water for tea... yeah thats bad. Dibs on the tea.
     
    un4tural, Feb 8, 2012
    #11