Overheating: XPS M1330

I own a three year old Dell XPS M1330 and recently the performance of my laptop has gone severely downhill; it is now at a point where it is almost unusable. I can use the laptop for about twenty or thirty minutes before it totally overheats and then I have to let it cool down for a long time before reusing it.

When I boot my computer up, it runs like normal. As long as it remains idle, there really isn't any problem. But if I start some web browsing, etc. as soon as my browsing starts to get even a little heavy (multiple windows + multiple tabs) the laptop starts heating up and the CPU usage starts spiking.

Laptop is nearly unable to handle any videos at all. If I try to play a Netlix / other type of video after about ten minutes (this time varies it can be less or more), it suddenly starts hanging. The video begins to lag to the point where its unwatchable, the cpu usage spikes to 100%, the computer starts overheating like crazy and it becomes loud.

The only thing I can really do at this point is force a shut down. Then, if I immediately start up my laptop again, it starts making the same noise and generates lots of heat. The only way I can use my laptop is if I let it cool off for a while before picking it up again.

Any idea what kind of problem I could be facing? Hardware issues? Software issues? Registry problems? I'm pretty sure I don't have a virus or anything.

Also, any suggestions for where else I could post this problems (other forums, etc.) where I may receive useful responses?

 

prob the GPU if you have a gt8400 or 8600. its just a matter of time before most go bad.

 

My computer has the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS.

 

I dont know about the m1330, but are the fans working?

Sounds like the same issue i have on the xps 1710 for the third time.

Same symptoms, browsing is slow and applications stops responding. Playing video is just stutter.

Run dell diagnostics to check if the fan is the problem.

 

This problem may also be caused by a driver issue. Have you checked in Task Manager/Performance/Resource Monitor to see what processes are using all the CPU resources?

I had this problem with my XPS M1730 a while ago and discovered that it was driver related. 98% of the CPU was being used by 'System Interrupts' and/or 'Deferred Procedure Calls'. The laptop also got really hot and would shutdown without warning when gaming sometimes. In my case I found out that it was drivers for my network card and my logitech LCD that were causing problems with Windows 7.

If this is the case with your machine, try this link:

How to get the cause of high CPU usage by DPC / Interrupt - MSFN Forum

This guy, Andre, walks you through the process of finding out exactly which piece of hardware or drivers are causing the problem.

Hope this helps

 

Your fan is not working.

 

Eoinmfoley, thanks very much for the link. It looks very promising; i'll give it a try and see what happens.

What processes are using the most system resources? Like I said, I mostly use my computer for browsing / watching video online and that's what causes the computer to hang. At this time, if I check on the task manager, naturally, it shows that the processes using the most memory are Chrome / Firefox. It shows the other processes to be using much smaller amounts of memory. The cpu usage, however, goes up to 100%.

Then, even if I manage to shut down my broswer(s) with end task, the computer still stays hot with the cpu usage peaked at 100%. On the processes tab, it shows very little memory usage (less than 100mb while I have a total of 2gb ram). Despite the fact that no processes are listed as consuming memory, cpu usage is spiked at 100% and the computer is unusable.

 

Did you check the resource monitor? 3rd tab in taskmgr, then bottom right there's a button for it (at least that's where it is in W7). If you follow the tutorial it will show you (if the problem is what i think it is) what's consuming all the CPU power. Good luck.

 

some info for you

All NVIDIA 8400M / 8600M chips faulty? -- Engadget

there have been lawsuits and settlements over this issue just do a little research.