Overheating quickly?

So I've recently purchased a used m11x, and i used to have an alienware a few years back and i figured i'd give it another go.

Anyways, I've played a few games so far [Transformers/HoN/SC2] and the laptop would overheat each time after ~5-10 minutes of play. i thought it was just 1 game at first but i tried with the others and the same result occured.
Not sure if anyone else has this issue but it's making me >:[
What would you guys suggest I should do? I called their tech support but unfortunately the warranty transfer hasn't gone through yet so i'm stuck until it does.

I think i can fry an egg on the laptop if i flip it over when it overheats =/

My idle temps are in the low 60 when first turned on btw. Thanks in advance for anyone's miraculous help!

 

What version do you have r1, r2, or r3?

 

hmm having the same problem, although my idle temps are around 46.

 

I have the R2, sorry i forgot to mention that, also with the i7 640 if that helps

 

Unfortunately, mine does this with some games, no overclock.

i ended up getting a laptop cooler, which solved this issue. NC-1000 from Zalman.

when i travel, i notice it unfortunately!

 

Try replacing the thermal paste on the cpu and gpu. Mine started getting warm after a year of owning it. I replaced the paste (takes about an hour to do) and now it runs cool and solid. Then I modded the heat sinks and it runs even cooler.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll probably look into getting a cooler + reapplying the thermal paste, is it complicated taking apart the laptop? i've never really opened one up before

 

Just mentioned this in the other thread but replace the thermal paste (The ideal being MX-4) or if you have warranty get Dell to send you a replacement motherboard (gpu and processor are soldered to it)

Thermal paste sorted mine right out from 92 'C on GPU and 101 'C on CPU! down to mid 70's to 80's

I also use a zalman 1500 (originally for my mb pro) and have the M11x r2 i7-640UM

 

Try blowing compressed air into the back exhaust. You'll be surprised at how much dust can build up in that area.

 

My R1 overheats without being overclocked playing l4d. I prop the back of it up on a notebook so it can suck in more air. That seems to work alright.

 

OK so i'm going to re post what i just wrote on another thread about this (you will need tech support):

This happened to me a few months ago. It is either a faulty fan or faulty graphics card. You need to get dell to replace the fan or the whole motherboard.

When it happened to me the temp would hit the mid 90's and then the machine would slow way down. This is because at this temp the cpu halves its output to stop any damage being done. I tried to force the cpu to stay at 100% with throttlestop but it reached 105 and crashed.

Ring dell and they will tell you to use gpuz and coretemp to find out the temps, then they will guide you through some diagnostics tests and possibly (they did it for me) an update of the bios. When that doesnt work they will have a tech guy come out and replace either the fan or the motherboard (they did the fan for me but it didnt work so they came out again and did the whole motherboard). The guy came out the day after i called and was very quick and professional (and free) so its not too much of a hassle.

Hope my ramblings will help.

 

first off i wanna thank everyone who helped, but to my surprise, blowing out the dust from the exhaust really saved the day ! haha temps are now back to normal, no more overheating =) but when i saw it work.. *face palm* thanks so much everyone! happy gaming!

 

I'll have to try that as well, mine is overheating when I play UT3 to the point that it shuts down.