HOT Pc ??

No, I don't mean Megan Fox hot, I mean temperature hot.

Been using my (relatively new) Inspiron 1545 today and it is hotter than I've ever felt it. Makes my hands sweat just resting on it while typing. Underneath is pretty hot/warm. I never noticed this before. And I have not heard the fan come on one time all day.

I don't have a cooling thingee, instead I've just been using the PC jacked up on erasers on each corner (poor man's fan I guess). I never noticed it getting this hot before so I am wondering if something is wacko with it. The only thing different about it today is that I've been using it with a non-priveleged user account (as opposed to my admin one) - and with that I do notice many annoyances as far as not being able to do things with power management - could using a nonpriveleged account have something to do with this? Or is this normal (and for some reason I've never noticed it before)?

What controls when the fan(s) come on? Is there anyway to check/adjust that? Is there anyway to electronically "take its temperature" so to speak?

Btw, my PC is running XP, not VISTA, and has all the necessary Dell drivers applied (as far as I know).

Thanks for any tips. If this means I need to buy a cooling pad then hit me with some recommendations (quiet? power efficient? options i need to know about that i am not familiar with???). Cheers.

 

Download a tool called HWMonitor; it will allow you to keep track of several internal component temperatures.

Generally, it is very possible for a laptop to be quite hot to the touch while still having safe temperatures.

 

Thanks "Froggy" (love your "feels good man" thing)!

I'm downloading that now. Once I have it running and keep track of the temperatures how do I know what is OK vs. too hot? What thresholds should I look for?

Also, I turned the PC off and let it cool down during a dinner break for an hour or so. Then when I powered back up I switched to my admin account and have been working that way the past couple hours and notice it getting just as hot as before, so I guess it doesn't have something to do with using a non-priv account. I've even had to put a small cloth over the edge of the keyboard where my hands rest because without it it is just too damn hot to even use :-(

 

For basic internet use, the CPU should ideally be below 50C, and the graphics should stay below 60C. These are general guidelines, of course; at full load, mobile CPUs and GPUs are rated to function at over 100C.

 

most intel mobile CPUs have a TJ max around 100C. So if your CPU hits that limit your notebook should turn off to protect itself.

Can you feel or hear the fan working?

 

Thanks.

I ran that tool last night while the kbd was still too warm to my liking and it showed:

i think this is the disk drive?
- ACPI hardware monitor - 50 C / 121 F

i think this is the (dual) processor(s)
- mobile core duo - sensor 0 - 55 C / 130 F
- mobile core duo - sensor 1 - 55 C / 130 F

i don't know what this is
- WDC WD32 - 42 C / 107F


So I guess that is OK as far as PC health goes, going by your guidelines. Still not that comfortable for the hands (I was doing non-stop typing / testing / documenting something all day/night). When it gets hot I'll continue to use a cloth over the part where my hands rest on the kdb & will research what a cooling thingee can do.




Checking stuff now after off all night I get these #s btw:

i think this is the disk drive?
- ACPI hardware monitor - 36 C / 95 F

i think this is the (dual) processor(s)?
- mobile core duo - sensor 0 - 43 C / 109 F
- mobile core duo - sensor 1 - 43 C / 109 F

i don't know what this is
- WDC WD32 - 30 C / 85F

Thanks again Mastershroom.

 

Thanks. It didn't get near 100C so I'm within fire limits I guess!

That's the main thing that made me wonder if something is wrong (in addition to the fact that it felt hotter to the touch than ever before). I've only had the laptop about a month but every time I've used it in the past at various points I can hear a fan starting up, running for a few seconds, then turning off, every so often.

But yesterday (and today) I have not heard the fan startup one single time.

Maybe my hearing is going though - is there any type of utility that tracks/shows when the fan is running? Or how about something that lets you turn it on/off when you want to try to cool things down????? Actually I think I may have read some comments about something like that up here at one time or another, but just can't recall the details now.

Danke.

 

For the record, that WDC thing is your hard drive. Your temps all look pretty reasonable, although maybe slightly on the warm side. Have you considered undervolting?

 

thanks! that makes sense - "Western Digital"!


i'm thinking now that ACPI is for the monitor - only because when looking at the program running (as opposed to looking in the saved TXT logs where i got the info that i posted above) it shows an icon that looks like a monitor (?)

No, I don't even know what that is. Just started looking into all this yesterday! Have a lot to learn I guess. I will try to read more threads up here....

 

Check out the Undervolting Guide in the Hardware section. It's pretty simple and easy, completely safe, and the worst that can happen is a blue screen crash. If you do it right, you'll save some heat and battery life.

 

Thanks, I will look into it!

EDIT: Found the thread here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5296472#post5296472

It is almost 400 pages long!!!!! Holy Crap.

Looks like another one of those very useful yet also very complicated full of technical issues/complications/questions/answers/debates type threads that I need a couple months to slowly wade through to figure out what is right for my PC as I can get some spare time. Sigh. "Cool" stuff though.

 

nope, the ACPI is the temperature of "thermal zone".
Depending on your dsdt it is usually a temp based on your CPU temp.

The ACPI in most systems determines when your fan comes on.
usually the fan has trigger points when the thermal zone hits specific values.

 

Thanks M.H.

 

If I may comment on the undervolting guide:

You don't need to test with ORTHOS for 2 hours every time you change the voltage.

What I do is keep orthos running, and every 10 secs I lower my voltage.
I do this untill orthos gives an error (or I get the BSOD), then I just increase my voltage a little.

After all of that ^, I then run orthos for half an hour.
I also stress the CPU with some games and other software to be sure that it's stable.

 

The only post you really need from that thread is the very first one, by flipfire. That's the actual guide itself, entire encompassed in that post. The rest of those 400 pages are just discussion.

 

Thanks.

From past experience with similar threads (not just stuff up here, other places, technical discussions, etc), a large # of ongoing discussions like that after the initial "how to do this" type guide indicates a LOT of controversy, suggestions, problems, better ways, other ideas, specific info for needed fine tuning, just many many things that could be helpful to read and digest before jumping in myself, and saving me some pain. I at least want to skip around it a bit & see what all the chatter is about b4 I try anything.

Thanks again.

 

Thanks. Am going to try to remember to refer back here to what yer saying b4 I try anything!

 

Also with regards to the warm palm rest; I believe there have been some discussions over the fact that the wireless card seems to heat that area up, especially around the touchpad. If you are using Windows 7 you can try to change the wireless power saving functions which will help cool things down.

 

Fragilexx, I remember reading how to change the wireless power saving functions somewhere but now I can't find them...do you remember where you saw them?

Also, when using HWMonitor it doesn't show any information for my GPU. Is there something special I need to do to show this information?

 

Nevermind. Fiddling around I stumbled upon the menu where I can set the power savings for the wifi. I have set it to medium savings for both on battery and while plugged it. Hopefully I won't see much of a performance hit.

 

Wow, now that you mention it - that is EXACTLY my problem!! It is the touchpad that is getting the hottest of all. I could fry an egg on the damn thing. I will have to research those other threads.

Since I am home now I am not even using my wireless connection. I wonder if there is something I can do to either disable it to cool things off, or maybe even completely remove it? (I am using Win XP)

 

Not sure if the power saving option for the wireless is available in Windows XP & Vista, but if you are not even using it then you could always turn it off in the BIOS

 

It's definitely available in Vista.

 

Thanks, I will look into that.

I have a business trip coming up this week so for the first time I'll actually need it, but I'll look into that after I get home. I've left it on all this time even though my 'net connection is hardwired not realizing the unused wireless was giving me this heat problem.

 

It might not be the only contributing element to the heat, but it's been noticed by many that it does generate a fair amount of heat, and people have tested turning it off and noticed vast improvement. I have also noticed this with my Inspiron 1545, which has the wireless card in the same place.

 

Thanks.

I haven't had time to look at any of the other heat threads - has Dell been made aware of this issue? And do you know if it affects both wireless cards they offer for the 1545 (I got the default "G" one, not the "N" one)?

 

It's not really an issue to be honest; it doesn't get so hot you can't use the notebook - the components generate heat through use. I do think it was daft to place the component where they have, but it's a design flaw not a technical one.

 

Mine is a real pain. I hate how hot it gets and how it makes my hands uncomfortable. I've been putting a cloth over the edge there in front of the keyboard to even stand it. I really was afraid something was physically wrong (why I started this thread, wondering if my fans had stopped working or something).

Alternatively though, since winter is coming I guess I can use it as a hand warmer ;-)

Cheers.

 

Just tried disabling the wireless in the BIOS. Has no effect on my heat problem :-(

The touchpad is still blazing. I will try searching the other threads up here for more info. Maybe my problem has nothing to do with the wireless card.