Averatec 2370 - Extremely HOT, and not in a good way...

Hey all,
I'm new here, unfortunately due to the averatecforums meltdown. I'm really hoping someone can help me out here!

I got one of the BF 2370's from OM last year. It's been a pretty good laptop, but over the last few months it's started to get really, really hot, even when it's only been used for email/internet for an hour or so. Hot enough that there's not way I can use it on my lap, and the heat even radiates out through the palm pad area of the keyboard (mostly on the right side) so that my right hand gets sweaty when it sits on it.

I've tried the 'S' button that supposedly lowers the CPU speed, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference. The weird thing is I don't ever remember it getting hot like this early on, it seems like it's progressively getting hotter over the months.

I've run the fan speed thing in the bios a few times, but wish there was a way to just tell it to crank the fan up to high all the time. I can hear the fan on very low speed if I hold it up to my ear, but it never seems to get any faster/louder.

Is there ANY way I can control this? I don't mind having a loud fan, or sacrificing speed, or anything else at this point if it will cool this thing down!

Thanks for any suggestions you guys have at all - 3rd party programs, BIOS updates, anything else!

 

I'd use RMClock to force the computer to run at 800 mhz.

I'd also check the fan for dust.

If you're up for it, replace the thermal paste on your CPU, preferably with AS5.

I've done all those and my 2370 still runs warm with Vista on a hot California day. However, not as hot as you described.

 

Definitely clean out ur fans of dust. If you say this problem wasn't there in the beginning, and lately it has, then that is what's causing the overheating.

There have been many threads on this, and they all were solved by cleaning out the excessive dust that will deposit on ur fans.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. How difficult is it to clean out the fan, and also how difficult to get to the CPU to apply the thermal grease? I've built desktops from scratch, so I'm not scared of the process, but I've always been pretty wary of prying open laptops because they often make them so difficult to get open (and maybe more importantly closed again!)

I'd assume there were probably guides of some kind on averatecforums, but obviously that's not available anymore. I haven't had much luck finding other good averatec info on the web...

 

Also, I've installed RMClock, but was hoping it'd be a little simpler to use than it looks at first glance. How complicated is it to lock it at 800mhz? (It's currently showing my system at 1600...)

Thanks again.

 

on the 2370, you can get to the heatsink, fan, memory, wireless card and hard drive by just removing the panel underneath that's held in place with 6 screws. go from there...the heatsink is held to the motherboard with 4 screws.

 

Excellent. I'll give it all a whirl. Thank you...

 

running non-stop at 1600 is going to heat up your notebook in a hurry!

In addition to the preceding suggestions, you mention using this unit on your lap. No way. A lot of the smaller portable PCs are no longer 'laptops' - that's why the term is shifting to 'notebook'.

All your cooling air intakes on the 2370 are on the bottom of the case. Never put a running 2370 on a surface that blocks these vents or restricts air intake. In fact, if you are running continuously at full processor speed, I would recommend using a cooling pad that forces additional airflow below the unit.

You don't mention whether you are running XP or Vista on this unit. If XP, I recommend going to AMD's site and installing the CPU optimization tool OR going to Microsoft's site and making the recommended changes to optimize XP for your CPU. The dual core CPU is capable of automatically ramping its output up or down as needed (so called 'Cool & Quiet'). However, as shipped, this functionality is not installed.

My experience under Vista is just the opposite. Supposedly Microsoft built the optimization into the OS, but it is darn near impossible to get the CPU cores to run automatically faster than 800MHz (I have seen as low as 500MHz). After talking with several parties (AMD, Microsoft and the BIOS developer), it looks like Vista will do the job, but there are BIOS deficiencies and Averatec has not released the firmware upgrade to fix this.

Jim Johnson
Serenity Consulting