The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Laptop overheats when left idle!!!

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by acrticflare, Jan 16, 2009.

  1. acrticflare

    acrticflare Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hi,
    My 1530 has recently been overheating when left idle for a while(30 min or so). When I come back I find that the fans stop working, the system overheats and the laptop restarts with blazing temperatures. In order to turn the fans back on, I have to shutdown the laptop and then switch it back on. Can anyone please let me know what the problem is and why is it happening when my laptop is left idle and not when I'm working on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks.
     
    acrticflare, Jan 16, 2009
    #1
  2. mystery905

    mystery905 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    224
    Messages:
    1,287
    Likes Received:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Something may be running in the background chewing up your CPU. Right click on the task bar, select Task Manager, and see which process(s) are using lots of CPU.

    I had a problem like this where Zone Alarm would start using lots of CPU if I left my notebook downloading a few torrents.
     
    mystery905, Jan 16, 2009
    #2
  3. mattireland

    mattireland It used to be the iLand..

    Reputations:
    261
    Messages:
    1,162
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    If the fans stop working, then this is a fault with the computer. Either contact Dell tech support and ask them the correct procedure for how to continue or take it back to the store you got it from for a check-up. Even just 12 seconds of overheating on the CPU can permanently damage it, so it's definitely an issue if the fans don't work.
     
    mattireland, Jan 16, 2009
    #3
  4. eleron911

    eleron911 HighSpeedFreak

    Reputations:
    3,886
    Messages:
    11,104
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    456
    Even at 100% usage, the fans should handle it.
    Sounds like an issue with the fan.
    Get Dell on it.
     
    eleron911, Jan 16, 2009
    #4
  5. acrticflare

    acrticflare Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    But this seems to happen only if the laptop is left idle for a period of time and it switches to the screensaver mode. Is this a hardware problem?
     
    acrticflare, Jan 16, 2009
    #5
  6. soliman15

    soliman15 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Some of the Vista Screen Savers over load the GPU and if the cooling system is not working the way it should that will lead to over heating, try to use blank screen as screen saver and see if you get the same
     
    soliman15, Jan 16, 2009
    #6
  7. mystery905

    mystery905 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    224
    Messages:
    1,287
    Likes Received:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Fan control is in the BIOS. Try flashing to latest BIOS or re-flashing to the one you have.
     
    mystery905, Jan 16, 2009
    #7
  8. acrticflare

    acrticflare Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    This particular problem started to appear when i upgraded my bios from A09 to A12. I then flashed my bios and reverted back to A09. But that problem has come back now..
     
    acrticflare, Jan 16, 2009
    #8