Alienware m5550 overheating

So two years of having this laptop, I have finally got around to call alienware about the over heating issue. After testing the laptop, I told them while playing warcraft 3(not even an extensive game performance wise) the GPU would reach tempertures of 92C after just 11 minutes of play time. The guy agreed to send a thermal paste and new heat sink over to my place, as well as a on-site technician. My question is this, should I rely on myself to do the installing(i have no experience at all with opening up laptops, but a fast learner), or should I rely on the onsite technician? I'm afraid they'll do a **** job and I would continue having this over-heating issue. Another question is, are the thermal paste they send any good? Or should I buy artic silver 5 instead(would perfer not to, but if it really makes a differnce then I guess I will).


Last but not least, has anyone been through this before? And after the tech guy install your heatsink and thermal paste, does your system run MUCH cooler? I really would like to know. thanks.


EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it originally shipped with Windows XP. However, a year ago I switched to Vista ultimate, and 2 days ago I formatted and installed Vista again. If the tech guy comes to install the heatsink/thermal paste, will they look at my OS, and hassle me about alienware not covering Vista on the m5550 or something stupid like that?

 

You may do this with a technician on the phone, he can walk you through. This way if the issue is not resolved another solution can be provided. If you do not feel comfortable, you may wait for the onsite tech. Use this link to show you how to remove the video card. The thermal paste we send will do the job. Hope this helps.

 

If you are overheating... usually any temp over 90C degrees is bad.

when was the last time that you cleaned out the fans and vents thoroughly...?

if never, then thats why.

1) remove battery
2) remove/unscrew the panels on the bottom of the notebook to get to fans and vents ( if possible, if not its okay)
3) use flashlight to look through vents for the dust (if you cant see the light on the other end, then the vents are clogged up)
4) go outside, get some compressed air (cans or compressor @ 50 PSI) and give the vents a good airing out all directions ( concentrating on the vents)
.... you might want to brace the fan blade(s) when airing it out (with a toothpick or paperclip to prevent it from spinning out too much)
.... or use short bursts (1-2 secs) of air instead of bracing the fans.
5) go get some Q-tips and swab the fan blades and the area around it
6) then go do a second airing with compressed air (all directions again focusing on the fans and vents) to push out the dust that was dislodged from the Q-tips

7*) Now go use the flashlight again and look through the vents (shine the flashlight from the fan, you look through the other end) for anymore dust clogs.

8) Then start up the notebook... and let the fans cycle up (use the Fan Toggle at max speed if your system has it) to push out any other dust that might have been stuck.

If all goes well you should be able to close up the notebook and...

you're done.

*repeat this step until its cleaned out.

Thats pretty much it.

Just make sure to do this every two-three months... it should take about 15-20min per cleaning if you want to be thorough.

________________________

Gaming notebooks are a new thing, you must realize that you have to take some extra care of them over typical use notebooks:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time] by keeping it plugged into AC
- when it reaches 100% you should unplug it and let it discharge to 5-15%, then plug it back to power
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a clean, hard & flat surface
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000 or ZM-NC2000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month or two) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating by dust usually
(for Clevo notebooks) use the Fan Toggle to switch all fans to Max Speed when gaming and such.

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

My Alienware M5550 Ran at 80c. But I keep the fan clean and so on. If you have not clean the fan on the laptop. that could be the issue.

I also had a dual Boot on my laptop. Both vista and XP would run around the same temp.

 

I clean out my laptop for dust about every 3-4 months. Just checked the back and it is virturally dust free. So it's not the dust thats making my laptop over heat.

 

Question do you have a laptop cooler?

 

Why yes, I do. but even with it, I can't run on "full performance" for more than a few minutes on most First person shooters(even with all settings set to medium-low) since the GPU over heats the FPS suddenly drops to like 10. It's VERY furstrating.

The heat is such a problem that I even contemplate getting this: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/embarco/...rings-refrigeration-to-your-laptop-301601.php But I cant find any info on it.

 

are you sure the vents are cleaned out?

and you can check to see if the heatsink/pipes are secured onto the GPU... it might be loose and would need to be re-secured (after re-applying thermal compound... like Arctic Silver)

 

what are the specs. is it like the one I had

My last laptop was
M5550
core 2 2.33 ghz
2gb ram
Geforce go 7600
250gb hard drive

Even in a websites and Java base game it would run at 110c. Untel it was fix.

 

Yup, its the same as yours(every option maxed out). So how did you get yours fixed, and does it still overheat? Does your games play find for a few mintues, and suddenly drop a lot of FPS?


Gophn: Yes Im positive all the vents are cleared.

 

Let me start from the Beginning

This was the frist 2 weeks. Problem lasted about the frist 6 Months on a new laptop.
I sent it back They replaced the Heatsink and GPU.
Then 3 More Heatsink replacements
Then I started talking to people in the corp Office. They replaced the Motherboard.

Which fix the laptop overheating.

But still had sleep mode problems. When I exit out of sleep mode computer would turn on fine but would not reconnect to the isp.
So they tried a new WLan card then I tried one from the Acer Laptop and both had the same issue when exiting sleep mode Then they tried WLAN ABN card. Then a new Motherboard

Then upgraded to the M17X

 

What was wrong with the first few heatsink replacements? And if this keeps happening to me too, will alienware replace my motherboard as well? I have the sleep issue as well, but it doesnt matter as much since I don't really use sleep mode anyway.

And did you end up selling your m5550?

 

Hello All,

I had to take a moment and post this information after reading the thread here about the Alienware laptops overheating. My step son came to me last year with his Alienware Area-51m ( I believe that is right model, but not sure), completely bummed out because it kept overheating and shutting down after a short time of game play. He spent hours on the phone with Alienware, and wrote numerous e-mails and was pretty much just given the run-around for a month. It was hard watching him go through all this considering how anti-climatic it was for him thinking he had purchased one f the top-of-the-line laptops only to find he cannot use it. It was devastating for him to say the least. One of the computer technicians he spoke with had suggested that maybe the CPU fan was not functioning properly, so they purchased a new fan, which didn’t happen until after about a year of not being able to use his Alienware. Given the fact that Alienware commonly combined cooling pads to help with the heat issue it would appear that they have been aware, to some degree, of the overheating problem for some time. So here were are over a year later when he brings this issue to me, along with a new CPU fan/heat sink assembly and asked me if I could swap it out for him. I have personally built over 30 gaming PCs and completed hundreds of small upgrades on laptops, i.e. memory, HDD, replaced parts, etc. I decided to make it a learning lesson for him and we changed the fan together. This is where it gets interesting, because I didn’t expect to see what I saw when we cracked open the laptop and removed the existing CPU fan. I fully believe that what we found has caused hundreds if not thousands of Alienware customers to experience frustration and unnecessary expense. I wanted to inspect the old fan and see if I could identify any abnormalities. That’s when I noticed, that on the old heat sink of the fan, where it comes in contact with the CPU, someone at the Alienware factory had forgotten to remove the foil from the face of the heat sink prior to installing on the CPU. It also appeared that they used no additional thermal grease outside of the foil cover either. Once we PROPERLY installed the new CPU fan, and reloaded the OS we have had no problems with the laptop besides the keyboard randomly stops responding properly, ( L becomes 3 while typing something), but that’s another issue altogether, which I believe was tied to a dead CMOS battery. Well I hope this information was helpful, and it would be nice if Alienware stood behind their products and replaced the laptops that may have been damaged do to overheating, because of an assembly line mistake. The chipset on this laptop is having issues since the overheating and has not worked properly since, and since this isn’t the end users fault, the manufacturer should replace them to avoid a class action lawsuit. Who wants to shell out close to $4,000 for a machine Alienware can’t seem to engineer or manufacture properly?
If you have had the same issue, send me an e-mail so we can include you on our list of customers who have purchased a faulty Alienware laptop. I have an appointment with an attorney who specializes in such cases who might be interested in speaking with you. My e-mail is [email protected], my name is Damian. Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with others in our cyber community, and I hope it was helpful and I hope Alienware opts for customer satisfaction ( as they say is so extremely important to them in this thread) over company profits. I will keep you posted.

 

I have the same system like you guys have, and the overheating issue just killed my Go 7600 a couple weeks ago. I had to buy a new 8600M GT to replace it. At first, I couldn't find the new thermal pads anywhere, so I put the old original thermal pad back on the new GPU and AS5 on the CPU. The fan started to run right after I turn on the system because it was too hot. After a couple times searching in this forum, It's recommended to put a new thermal pad on the GPU and AS5 again the CPU. I did all that and now my AW is running much cooler than it was before.

 

When my laptop frist started the system would get up to 110c and shut off that was with websites. 110c. That was one problem. When I restarted it would work but fan would run at high all the time. That was a fan issue. So it was the motherboard issue.

When the system fix the sleep mode was problem. Exited out of sleep mode my internet would not connect. So my system was dead to the internet untel reboot. That where my M5550 ends and I went to a M17x. I still miss my old laptop.