Compaq Presario V6211AU Heat issues

I purchased the Presario V6211AU on April 18th 2007. I was pretty impressed with the features I was getting for the price I was paying (INR 43000 ..about $1100) with the following configuration:
Processor : AMD Turion 64 x 2 (TL 50 ,1.6 GHz,512 KB L2)
OS : Vista Home Basic
HDD: 120 GB
RAM: 512 MB
Super Multi DVD etc.
But I wasn't too happy with the amount of heat being generated around the HD Bay and the left side palm rest that too within about 20 mins of booting up. It's just not possible to work with it on the lap.. I handed over the Laptop to an HP service center and they told me that "AMD PROCESSORS DO HAVE HEAT ISSUES AND THEY TEND TO GET HOTTER THAN INTEL ONES".. Now that's quite a shocker!

Has anyone of u owning this piece been through this situation?? I was told by my dealer that I can purchase a USB cooling pad. But then what's the point in having a Lappy that u can't actually use on your lap!

 

What is the average cpu temp?

 

52 deg C.. Is that normal?

 

Both my Intel cores hover around 29C and 33C with normal internet browsing if that helps you at all.

 

That is very low mines at idle is about 41c

 

Speedfan wouldn't install and so i installed hmonitor. Showed me a core0 temp of 52 after abt 30 mins of booting up and i was just browsing the internet. Tried monitoring HD temp using HDTune253 and HdThermometer1.3 but neither of them can detect my HDD which is a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 120 GB (ST 9120821AS).

 

Yep, that is about average. Mine is currently running at 55C. The 90nm AMD processors do throw some heat, but they are still cooler than the previous 130nm cpus.

As for the hard drive, I had a Seagate 5400.2 and did not notice any unusual warmth from that area of the laptop. In fact, it ran cooler than the Samsung that I have now.

 

All right so I guess it's not really the CPU that's causing this problem. The engineer from the service center told me that there wasn't any problem and that heating of the hard drive bay and palm rest is quite normal.. Whereas he told the retailer (since i asked him to look into the matter) that there was some prob with the fan and that it has been fixed. Yet I don't see any difference..So what would you suggest me to do? I guess I'll have to show it to their main service center here in India.

 

If you feel that it is too warm, I would show it to the service center and tell them you want it fixed or a replacement. There could still be a problem even though they say it has been fixed.

 

The guy at the service center who blamed AMD was an idiot for not knowing about the extremely common issue of HDs (which sit under the left palm rest) running noticeably hot. I wouldn't say that a majority of them do, I've yet to get stuck with one (and I usually get Seagate), but the subject comes up an awful lot here. I haven't figured out what the deal is with this yet.

Replacing the HD might help... but it's hardly a sure thing. HP really ought to put more thought into HD cooling, though I'm not sure what they could do within the constraints of a laptop chassis.

The CPU fan on HP AMD notebooks shuts down at 50C, so anywhere in the low 50C range is a good CPU temp.

 

i am also facing the same issue and i am taking my notebook to service center soon. The problem seems to be with the hard disk and not processor . If you see the user maintenance manual for this product on compaq site, you ll see that there is a vent below the hard disk section ar per manual, but in my note book the vent is shut, so i thought that might be the problem, but over the phone HP guys told me that vent is closed as design.Dont know why manual shows it open !!!!.
Secondly you will notice that the area (left palm rest+ touch pad) is heated more if u r using notebook while charging (which is often the case). if you use it on just batteries it doesnt heat much, wonder how this case is related, but i have observed this.
Let me visit service center once then will share the details.

 

Yeah I reckon it's gotta be a HD issue.. Havent really noticed much of a difference between the heat generated during charging and when on batteries. Anyway do let me know the outcome of ur visit. R u in India?

 

I have a presario V3000 that's smaller than your v6000 and my current cpu temp (sempron 3200+) is 37°C. The left palm rest area heats up because of the hdd, mine is a seagate and it's running at 50°C right now.

my brother has a dell c610 and his hdd runs at 54°C normally.

 

Yeah so I guess you don't really work with it on your lap do you? What about the touchpad?

 

you're right, I don't use it on my lap to work because: 1. the hdd heats up and 2. if you use it on your lap, you block the ventilation holes from the cpu.

I do use it on my lap but only on those cold winter days LOL.