Dell XPS L501x thermal shut down - GPU overheating

My sister bought a few XPS L501x laptops for her business last year. One of them had the issue I'm about to describe. At the time, she was pretty busy and it was not one of her priorities to deal with the return process.
Now, over a year later and past the warranty, I have been given the computer, which has been barely used.

The computer operates flawlessly until any demand is placed on the graphics processor, which is a GeForce GT 420M. As soon as any demand is placed on the GPU, its temperature skyrockets to 90C, the fan kicks in and the computer shuts off.

My first notion is that there is an inadequate amount of thermal paste between the GPU and its heat sink.

I'm wondering if my assessment of the issue is likely to be correct. I would also like to hear from anyone who has disassembled this model of computer and whether there are any notes of caution or encouragement I should hear before taking on the project. I've taken apart and reassembled a few Apple laptops with complete success.

It's a nice laptop. I'm nervous about messing it up, though I'm sure such concerns are unnecessary.

Thank you for your time!

Adam

 

I would be using Arctic Silver 5 to replace the factory thermal compound because it is what I have on hand.

 

Some advice:
Use the vacuum cleaner on all ventilating apertures. If the temperature remains high, look at air blows from a radiator at the working fan, it must be hot. If yes, heatsinks in normal condition and a problem can be in thermalcompaund or bad contact of the chip and heatsink.
I wouldn't advise to use AS as it has the big time of warming up
My choice OCZ Freeze Extreme
Probably as it is necessary to replace thermolinings on new/cooper and will update the driver on video and laptop bios
PS thermalcompaund on my new l502x is like the rock - verry bad. OCZ reduse it about 12C in rest and !!!23C!!! in furmark

 

Thanks for the reply.
The laptop came from the factory with this problem. I didn't bother vacuuming because it hasn't even been used for a day, so there wasn't an opportunity for dust or fuzz to accumulate.
The CPU runs at around 40C at idle, which is normal. The fact that the GPU is overheating while the CPU remains cool is why I suspect poor coupling between the GPU and its heat sink.

Was it much of a hassle getting your L502x apart and back together?

Adam

 

On my second HP lap, i dont have TK on videochip in general , they missed it)

Dont understand you q.
Maybe you ask about fan problem on l502x? I dont have it now after i change TK, remove dust filter and use last nvidia driver

 

Was it difficult to get to the heat sink on the L502x?

 

You can buy it on ebay/ l502x and l501x has different heatsink
To replece it you need to use manual on dell.com in support page.
its not difficult, but not so easy - aprox 2 hour
advice: you need to use thin credit or sale plastic card to open some parts))

 

it's really strange that your GPU is overheating and not your CPU. The CPU and GPU share the same heatsink and fan. I would just open up the computer. It's a little difficult and make sure you follow the manual.

Documentation

There are alot of screws and some parts like the palm rest assembly require some..force..to remove. I would make sure that the heatsink is actually attached / touching to the GPU. And maybe while you're at it, do a repaste on the CPU and GPU.

Btw, when applying the paste, you do not need a lot of thermal paste. Just a very very thin layer. The main purpose of paste is to fill in the tiny holes in the heatsink/GPU so that there is full contact between them. Having too much is actually bad too since thermal paste is not as good a conductor as the copper heat sink.

also try updating ur nvidia drivers.