XPS M1730 overheating after 8 months

Hi all,

I've had my M1730 for 8 months now. I've been extremely happy with it and not had any problems... until last week. My system is now overheating in games and shuts down/beeps black screens and locks. I install a few temp monitors (core temp with g15 display and i8kfangui. If they are correct, under load the processors are hitting 100-104C!!!

Here is my setup
Dell M1730
X9000 @ 3.4GHz *see notes*
Dual SLI 8800M GTX in SLI mode
Physix Processor
4GB RAM
RAID-0 dual 64GB SSD
External 30" Dell LCD @ 2560x1600
Laptop cooler (metal) with dual cooling fans (about 3" off desk in back and 1" in front)
Bios A09
Linux/WinXP

I've been running the same setup for 8 months without any problems. Then all of a sudden I'm having serious problems with cooling. Note, yes I was overclocking from 2.8 to 3.4. However, it has been rock hard stable for the last 8 months. I used it as a desktop replacement and it ran 24/7 at 3.4 also.

So with the overheats I tried going back to 2.8. However, the fans do not run full/high and then the system overheats even FASTER! At 3.4 I can get about 30 mins. But at 2.8, it overheats in 5-10 mins. From what I can tell the fans are not running enough and it overheats.

I've tried everything under the sun to get the temps down. I8kfangui doesn't seem able to control the fans. It does kick them on, but then the BIOS (I think), starts to turn them back down. You can hear them going high/low/high/low.

I usually take a can of compressed air and blow out all the vents on the laptop every month or so. Never taken it apart.

Any other advice before I call India and get some clueless idiot who can only read a cue-card and tells me I need to ship it back?

Thanks guys

 

You might want to take your fans apart to have a look.

 

My CPU did the same thing on my Toshiba, hit 101c, then I had it serviced.
They basically just cleaned out the vents for me and sent it back...
That is because I do not have any reach-able covers on the underside to clean them out myself as it needs the whole laptop to be dis-assembled to reach the vents. (while in warranty). (oh and this overheated within first 7 months)


Now its out of warranty, I'll end up having to clean the vents myself soon, as its been about 6 months since its went for service and I can see the temps slowly creeping back up. currenty changed from 78c max cpu temp to now max of 89c.

Basically, seeing as you clean out the vents with a can of compressed air, try re-new your thermal paste.

 

Will taking it apart and replacing the thermal paste void my warranty? I've got 4 months left...

My only concern is that if it doesn't fix it, I'll have to send it off. What kind of turn around do they have?

UPDATES:

I've re-checked the fans, they all look clear, looking inside with flashlight. I also turned off all my Dell "lights" keyboard/etc, disabled wireless and it still overheats under load. But with-in 10-20 seconds after I exit the game, the temps drop down to almost 50C. But under load it skyrockets to 100C+. Then locks and shuts down.

Dump from logs
CPU / Chipset / GPU / Mem / Speed / Load / Fan1 / Fan2
99 58 63 64 3400 92% 4391 4683
99 58 63 64 3400 94% 4391 4728
99 58 63 64 3400 92% 4683 4683
99 58 63 64 3400 94% 4430 4596
99 58 63 64 3400 93% 4391 4683
83 58 63 64 3400 71% 4683 4728
61 58 63 64 3400 27% 4639 4728
58 58 63 64 3400 8% 4391 4683
56 58 63 64 3400 9% 4391 4683
54 59 63 64 3400 1% 4639 4728

Maybe my processor is going bad...

 

What about your 8800M GTXes? Are they operating fine?

If I were you, I wouldn't just use a flashlight and check through the fans - that isn't enough. You'll have to take it a apart for the best dust cleaning essential. It's not that difficult to take it apart too. I don't know about you, but I care-less about warranty I modded from a crappy T8100 to an X9000.

Here are three things I would do for your X9000 processor:

1. Open your laptop, access the processor's fans. Remove the fans, clean it, wipe it from any dust.

2. Reapply any cooling paste such as AS5, MX Paste on the core of the X9000 processor. I applied AS5, my CPU temps dropped around by 5-6*C

3. Undervolt that X9000. Mine dropped from 90*C on full load (Rendering a 3ds Max scene for 10 hours) to just a mere 65-70*C @ 3.4GHz

Nevertheless, fan cleaning is a priority and its important for maintaining a laptop. I would usually open up my two laptops every 3 months (see sig), take apart all of their components and do a complete clean up. 8 months is pretty long though... Simple laptop maintenances can make them remain running healthily and top-notch.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=351569

Read the whole thread.

 

I took the entire laptop apart tonight, checked everything. It had no dust on the fans, and very little on the heat sink/heat pipe. Cleaned everything and tested.

97 47 56 71 3400 53% 4132 4031
97 47 56 71 3400 52% 4132 4132
89 47 55 71 3400 52% 4167 4132
93 47 55 71 3400 51% 4132 3998
95 47 55 71 3400 53% 4132 4031
96 47 55 71 3400 54% 3903 4132
95 47 56 71 3400 56% 4132 4031
89 47 56 71 3400 54% 3903 4132
98 47 56 71 3400 57% 3903 4132

And the other temp monitor reported 90/100C on the two cores. So the temp did not change. However, the system feels cooler to the touch and I am able to get at least 30 mins out of it. Getting late or I would test more. One thing I did note is the fan speed is lower now. (RPM)

My concern is that even if it can run at 100C, is that good for the system? I've not needed to monitor temps until I had it shutdown due to overheating this week. It's always stayed rather cool in the past.

 

Probably the paste has dried on the CPU.