burning smell on my dv2690

hi friends,
last week i noticed a burning smell as soon as i entered my room. i had kept my laptop on for a day as i was downloading few movies.
I couldn't figure it out where the smell is coming from but it was strong near my laptop but the m/c was running fine. even till today i have no problem with the laptop and there is no smell after that.
But now i am a bit worried and i want to make sure everything is fine.
The question is there any video or tutorial to help open up my m/c and check for myself whether everything is fine or not. i was able to open some section like memory /keypad etc but couldnt find anything.
Appreciate any help.

Zubair

 

Firstly..Download HWMonitor (google it) and check your HDD,GPU and CPU temps. If something smelled burnt then chances are its from something hot like above. Report back with your temps on idle and when on cpu load

Did it smell like burnt electronics? usually theres a nice magic puff of smoke..

 

Sometimes if you leave the system running and go away from it, many of "idle" processes will kick in. This is stuff like defrag, etc... It can cause the system to heat up and can cause that type of smell. Once in a while it's not really a bad thing, but if it goes on all the time, it could be a problem.

If you leave your system running for a while, make sure there is enough room around it for cooling, and it might even be a good idea to raise it off the desk an inch or so to get ventilation underneath.

 

thanks for the reply.
flipfire here is my temp readings.
at idle
-------
Hardware Monitor 1.0.7.1
-----------------------------------------------------
Mainboard Vendor Wistron
Mainboard Model 30CE (0xEB - 0x2348)


Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

ACPI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 44°C (111°F) [0xC64] (TZS0)
Temperature sensor 0 53°C (127°F) [0xCBE] (TZS1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7700 hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 45°C (112°F) [0x37] (core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 46°C (114°F) [0x36] (core #1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 8400M GS hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 56°C (132°F) [0x38] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

SAMSUNG HM250JI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 46°C (114°F) [0x2E] (HDD)

Dump hardware monitor


Processors Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 2

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0


Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 2 (max 2)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7700
Codename Merom
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7700 @ 2.40GHz
Package Socket P (478) (platform ID = 7h)
CPUID 6.F.B
Extended CPUID 6.F
Core Stepping G0
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 1596.4 MHz (8.0 x 199.5 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 798.2 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T
L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 12.0x
max VID 1.350 V
Features XD, VT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
at CPU load
-----------
ACPI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 51°C (123°F) [0xCAA] (TZS0)
Temperature sensor 0 54°C (129°F) [0xCC8] (TZS1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7700 hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 50°C (121°F) [0x32] (core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 51°C (123°F) [0x31] (core #1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 8400M GS hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 60°C (139°F) [0x3C] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

SAMSUNG HM250JI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 51°C (123°F) [0x33] (HDD)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didnt see any smoke but smell was there.

Orev thanks for your comment as well.

 

No abnormal temps there. I think the burning smell was an isolated incident.

 

Thanks guys,
I will monitor from now on...

 

I just checked my BIOS version its F.13, and on the hp site the latest is F.25.
Is the BIOS operating system dependent? as i have xp pro sp2 installed.
Is it a good move to upgrading to latest version?

 

I personally don't think that it is meant for XP Pro SP2. Let someone else stop by and comment on this. Besides there have been a number of posts recently here at NBR about people having issues with installing XP on newer BIOS. If you want to stay with SP2 do not upgrade in my opinion.

 

Thanks radopod for your quick response.
Appreciate if anybody else also wants to add his comments.

 

I sometimes notice a mild burning smell when I leave the room and then come back to it (with the laptop running). Nothing appears to be wrong, and the fan is idling quietly......