1 Month Old Sony Vaio Overheating

Hello everyone. This is my first post on this forum. Basically I bought my Sony Vaio FW21L boxing day from PC World and everyday the laptop has become increasingly hotter. When I watched a film the other day the laptop was actually burning me. I installed speedfan and it said the temperature was 74c

I thought well to stop it burning me I could plug it into my HDTV only to receive a BSOD 20 mins into the film claiming a video card failure. It still boots up fine but even on desktop idiling its still at 60cand gets hotter still when doing basic tasks.

Ive tried returning it but they have stopped stocking this laptop. Funny enough the bloke behind me was having the exact same problem with the same laptop. They've offered me a refund but there are no other laptops available with the same spec as this one. There's not much point buying a lower spec laptop.

So i was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to stop it overheating. Would sony replace it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jay.

 

You could try undervolting... if someone with the same laptop has the same problem it could be a problem with the basic design (undersized cooling system, inadequate ventilation, etc) and simply exchanging it may not solve the problem.

If you don't care about the warranty there are more extreme measures that you could do to cool it down.

 

Cheers for the reply. Ermm ye could be a design fault. Is undervolting complicated? I'm willing to give tht s try. I'm not too confident about voiding the warrenty yet. Laptop is still a bit too new

 

Why dont you send it to sony under warranty?

 

I'd replace it if possible and if not send it in under warranty. Sounds like there is something wrong with the cooling system and it could have a severely shortened life span if you don't have it fixed or replaced. If it's overheating from simply watching a video than altering the voltage is not going to help much if at all and could in fact make things worse. Could be as simple as a fan that came unplugged or the GPU's heat sink is not properly mounted to the chip.

Doug

 

get it replaced, it should not bee heating up so much, I can easily watch a movie on mine, with it on my legs for over 2 hours. It only gets warm and not hot.

 

This seems to be a new trend around here... look, the reviews of the FW, particularly on NBR say it gets HOT. All sony notebooks have loud fans...and push out lots of heat. It's pretty much a trait of their machines, but this overactive fan helps preserve the lifespan of the computer.

I'm not suggesting that you didn't get a faulty unit, it is fully possible. But my friends FW heats up...my SR heats up, etc. Powerful machines in small form factors heat up...pretty simple. Macbooks heat up, macs heat up, all thin laptops heat up...its a result of alot of power in a small case.

NBR said that this computer gives you "sweaty legs" if you use it on your lap...its common knowledge.

 

Actually there is one test you can do.

Run prime or anyother CPU stress software and if computer shuts down, then its overheating too much and CPU itself turned down the system.

Saw this happen on two CR sony vaio and both were repaired at sony under warranty.

 

Cheers for all the replies. Ermmm yee I'm thinking of sending it to Sony. Only problem is I need this laptop for 6 form. That's why I was kinda hoping for a straight swap. Do you know if sony would replace it or will they just repair it. If so how long would it take to repair?

Jay

 

Really? Because my FW is running cool and quiet. I attached a picture and this is in a room at room temperature and normal browsing. I'll do some gaming and see what the temperatures reach.