M15x Laptop overheating?

Really sorry if there's other topics on this, but I haven't really found a fix. In the last couple of months my laptop has been getting REALLY hot. The fans seem to work same as usual but the metal on the sides (and underneath) will burn your hands if you touch it. Now, when I play games, the laptop will get too hot and it will overheat and crash without warning. Does anyone know what to do about this?

Stat crap: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/49978618/Untitled.png (M15x)

PS: I JUST updated BIOS last night because I heard it might cause the overheating, but it hasn't helped anything.

 

The overall WinSat score is not useful. Need to break it out for us... what is driving the low score? HDD, CPU, RAM, GPU? See attached.

Also need to quantify that feeling hot and being hot are the same. What are the actual CPU and GPU temps? The way it feels can often be deceiving.


(click thumbnail to display larger image)

 

I don't really know how to know what the temperatures are. And trust me man it literally burns your finger. It hurts soo bad after half a second of having your finger on the edges. The heat doesn't bother me because it doesn't come onto the top sections as much (where I keep my hands, keyboard, etc.) But it crashes from heat during certain games which is really annoying.
experience index crap: I guess the hard drive is so low because I don't have a SSD. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/49978618/Untitled1.png

 

Get HWMonitor from CPUID.

 

Also shouldget a laptop cooling fan to put under your laptop.

But it shouldn't crash even without it.

Do you clean your vents? Maybe they're filled with dust?

 

As far as a cooling fan, I have this. Speaker Lapdesk N700
I am very particular about this machine and have never misused it or put it in a situation where it would get damaged. Whenever I game it's on the logitech product linked above.
I have not "cleaned my vents." Not sure if they're filled with dust or not. Where would this dust come from? And how do I check for and remove dust keeping in mind both the safety of me and my laptop. (I've never messed with the inside of a computer before and it intimidates me as if threatening to a computer's functionality.)

 

If you haven't ever cleaned your vents, then that is where you should start. Use this as a guide. You can search for more just to see that guy hasn't missed anything. Dust is everywhere. It is particulate matter so you cannot see it but that don't mean it isn't there. Ideally, you should clean out your laptop every few months or at the most, once a year. You would be surprised how much dust can accumulate. Just open up the back.

 

There was a bunch of comments in that youtube video about how he was wrong though.

 

Here's a useful article on how to deal with overheating.

Alienware Laptops: Computer overheats

hope it helps!

 

Just crashed again while playing Prototype 2 for about 30 minutes on the LOWEST graphics settings.
The cores seem to be what's heating up. After about 2 minutes of rebooting the PC after it crashed, I opened up HWMonitor before anything else.
These were the stats it gave: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/49978618/Untitled2.png

You can see that under the cores' "max" column that they've gotten close to 80 degrees celsius. Is this normal? Either way, the outer-casing has never been as hot to touch as it is right now.

 

80°C is hotter than normal for GPUs. Sounds like you definitely need to do something.

Edit: I don't see the temps listed in the screen shot for your GPUs. The CPU temps are OK.

You may want to consider using HWiNFO64 instead of HWMonitor.

I have a lot of sensors turned off that produce information I don't care to see, but here is what the HWiNFO64 in my system is showing.

(The sidebar gadget is also from HWiNFO64, which I have tweaked to have my own heading and color scheme.)

 

Maybe I said something wrong. Not really sure. Look at this link again. I've circled what I was talking about. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/49978618/Untitled2.png
I wouldn't even know if those temperatures are normal or not but I really need some help because this is getting annoying. I've had 9 instant shutdowns without warning from overheating in the last 3 days.

And cleaning out any dust seems overly complicated with varying opinions on "how to do it without messing up your computer" all over the internet. I'm not just going to crack open my machine and start spraying stuff with compressed air without knowing what I'm doing.

 

Those temps circled are for your CPU and not the graphics card. Either one overheating can cause thermal shutdown, but the temps you have circled are not an issue if they are max load temps. If they are max temps while web browsing and doing simple things, then they are higher than they should be. The point of thermal shutdown is generally 100°C. The only reason I commented about your screen shot is because I don't see GPU temperatures listed.

Many of us here at NBR are geeks and do our own computer repairs. Taking the bottom cover off to clean out lint and dust bunnies is not a big deal to most of us, but we understand that for some folks it is a serious undertaking. With a little help from the folks here at NBR and by doing things cautiously and methodically, I suspect you can do a professional job of it and not have to pay someone else to do the work.

I believe you mentioned having an M15x. There are probably several threads in the M15x subforum with step-by-step instructions already to assist you. You can also follow the M15x Service Manual. Generally, you only need to remove the bottom cover (a simple task) and remove a few screws to move the fans out of the way to do a thorough cleaning of the heat sink radiators and fans. Simply blowing compressed air through vents is not effective and it can actually embed lint and other things in places rather than remove the debris. It is best to do some very basic parts removal to make sure everything is removed instead of shuffled around. You can also use a vacuum cleaner as effectively as compressed air. A soft bristled brush is helpful if there is a huge accumulation of lint in the fans or heat sink radiator fins. Just be sure to not allow the vacuum or compressed air to spin up the fans at high speeds or it can damage them.

You can search the NBR forums using Google very effectively. Use the syntax site:forum.notebookreview.com (or site:forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x to limit your search to the M15x) followed by key search words. For example, I searched Google using site:forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x clean fans heat sinks.

Here is the first link in a list of many thousands of hits: [TUTORIAL] Guide to COMPLETLY Cleaning Your Fans

 

Sir, you MUST occasionally clean the vents on a gaming laptop!! This is something you MUST get comfortable with doing too. Its VERY easy to do, even for someone who doesn't have alot of technical skills. Simply remove the sliding back cover, and using compressed air, blow those vents out! I usually start from the fan, and aim towards the vents. Dust can and WILL collect, no matter what enviornment you are in!! You must do this for your CPU and graphics card vents/fans.

If that doesn't get the temps down enough, you will have to reapply the thermal compound that goes on the CPU and GPU. It too, is very easy to do, and does not take long, or alot of mechanical skill.

Understand, that both desktop machines and laptops have to be cleaned every so often. It is a requirement of ownership for these machines! Further, laptops are built to handle higher heat than desktops, due to their confined dimensions. But, this also wears on the compounds that help keep them cool (like thermal compound), so it is something worth considering!

 

Mr. T is right. Listen to him, or he'll break your face, fool.

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

Damn straight!