Help, my VAIO is burning!

Hi,

I bought a Sony VAIO VGN-BX297XP a month ago (beginning of September, 2007). It is an old model w.o. Dual Core, but I wanted the big screen with the wonderful resolution of 1920x1200 and didn't care about the lack of Dual Core. Another positive thing was that the OS is Windows XP Pro, as I really dislike Vista, which I think is pure bloatware.

I also got it really cheap (to be in Sweden), 10000 SEK (1600USD) instead of 22500 SEK (3500USD), which was the normal price.

I mainly use it as a DTR and I like it a lot, but there is one really annoying thing with this notebook: the CPU fan is blowing constantly and it's burning hot!
Idle in the Windows desktop the CPU temperature is around 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit), and when running some applications it can reach up to 85 degrees C (185 degrees F)!
Even at 70 degrees, the fan blowing sound is very high, and at 85 degrees the fan really revs up and the sound is ridiculously high, it feels like it's gonna break any minute (it hasn't, so far).

The specifications are:
CPU Pentium M 760 2.00 GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz
2x100GB HDD
DVD+-RW drive
ATI Mobility Radeon X700 graphics card
17.0" WUXGA 1920x1200 X-black LCD screen (wonderful!)

Has anyone else experienced unusually high temperatures on their VAIO(s)? Replies from people who has (or has had) any model of VAIO, or this model in particular, are welcome.

What could be a possible solution? Can my notebook be faulty? Could it just be bad mounting of the CPU cooler, or is my CPU faulty/of bad quality, or could it be that the CPU cooler is inadequate on this model?

As a side note, I think that the lack of a built-in microphone is really strange. How can a notebook with built-in web camera lack a built-in microphone? That's annoying but I can live with that. It's harder to live with the CPU fan blowing like crazy all the time.

Regards,

 

Hi, I have a VGN-A397XP with the same cpu / mem/video but just one drive :-(.
My machine is not running hot at all even at full power the fan sometimes kicks in. I suggest you contact vaio link for support.

 

I would get RMclock and try undervolting the CPU. The Pentium M CPUs used to undervolt well and if you can drop the peak voltage from (guess) 1.3V down to 1.1V then you will stop creating a lot of the heat.

It requires a little time to determine the safe voltage settings for your CPU, but it is worth the effort. There may be some guidance here.

John

 

Probably very dusty and dirty inside. Thats another reason why I don't like notebooks... they can get just as dusty as desktops but you can't easily open them to clean.

 

That may be true under some circumstances but the way I've used all my past and current laptops, they've collected a lot less dust than my desktop. Also, since pajala bought the laptop a month ago, I doubt it is all that dirty.

 

It was my impression he bought it used.

 

Hello

Try to clean the fan used a dust sprayer for electronic devices spray it on the fan vent.