Overheating issues

Hi there, I have a Sony Vaio VPCZ1 laptop. Looks like so:

Picture

It's been a great laptop and I have relatively few complaints about it, but one issue that's been getting worse is its tendency to overheat and it's now at a point where it turns itself off if I just plug it into the TV to watch a movie using the laptop and any sort of gaming is generally just something I can't do at the moment.

It didn't have this issue before. In fact one of the things I noticed early on is how remarkably cool it managed to be even under decent load. It's about two years old now and I'm thinking that perhaps it's the cooling paste that needs renewal or maybe something else that I can't think of that maybe someone can suggest a theory for?

I managed to get a look inside and there seems to be little dust. I couldn't get the keyboard part of the computer fully separated from the rest since the cable that runs from the keyboard/touchpad to the main board was fairly firmly attached and I was afraid to use too much force since I don't really know if I'm supposed to pull up or sideways to get it loose.

Anyways I'm wondering if anyone knows of some sort of guide on how to replace the cooling paste and anything specific I would need to know to do this. From what I could tell when I opened it up there seems to be some sort of covering over the CPU and/or GPU and I don't really know how to remove them to apply the actual paste.

I could send it in to repair, but that seems like such a waste of time to fix something so trivial. Any help on how to solve this would be nice.

EDIT: I should note that the laptop in the picture is similar to mine, but not the exact same model when I look at it more closely. My HDMI and USB ports are on the left side of the laptop with only one USB port on the right side as far removed from the power button as possible.

 

don't try redoing the paste. Just get compressed air and blow out all the dust bunnies you can. It can make a MASSIVE difference. Monitor your GPU/CPU temps also to make certain (although it does sound like it's the problem)

 

The exact same symptom initiated a chain of events that led me to write this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/672104-open-letter-sony.html

My advice to you: Get it fixed officially. (well, my actual advice is, sell it and be done with it )

 

Make sure you don't blow directly on the fans as it may damage it. If you do plan on using compressed air on the fans, make sure you hold it down.

 

I just read your post and I have to say: ouch! That sounds pretty horrible.

Funnily enough my fan started making weird noises too and my screen got a line of dead pixels on it once, however my experiences with Sony tech support differ vastly from yours. I live in Norway so maybe that's part of the reason? I called support, guy from UPS picked my machine up. Five days later I got it back. Screen fixed and no noise from the fan. Free of charge.

Sorry to hear about your issues. =(

 

Thank you!

This is very interesting. 3 errors on your computer that developed on their own exactly mirror the 3 errors on my computer that developed on their own (I created some extra ones myself by over-tweaking )

When I first saw the VPCZ1 series, I was amazed at how Sony was able to tuck so much into such little space. The resolution seemed revolutionary, the size/performance ratio amazing. It turns out the answer was that they couldn't! The screen is way too fragile and error-prone, the fan cannot keep up with the heat and gives in, and the motherboard burns a few capacitors under stress.

Although I really dislike Apple branding and philosophy, I am beginning to take their hardware as the benchmark of what is possible in performance-without-tears. Anything above it crammed to a space as compact simply breaks.

 

Before anything, it sounds too easy to do anything, but compressed air can work wonders. I once worked on a cousin's HP that kept shutting down from overheating. I expected the worst having dealt with crappy HP's in the past. I opened it up, shot some compressed air, wasn't even that dirty. temps went from shutdown range in the 90's down to never going past 60.


Did you notice the overheating problems before or after you got your fan fixed/replaced? Maybe they didn't set the HSF correctly.

 

Nah, it's not a fan issue (atleast I highly doubt it). Laptop has worked flawlessly after repair and it never had overheating issues before the repair either. The fan was simply noisy, not malfunctioning. When I opened it up last time there was hardly a dust mite to be seen so I don't see how compressed air would help out, but maybe there's like some sort of sneaky hidden dust?

 

Yeah, this really is the bane of performance with regards to laptops. Too little space and too much heat development with high level components. I yearn for the day when they figure out some awesome cooling solution for laptops.

 

sneaky dust is the worst dust.

 

my SVZ has a quad core and it runs so cool and quiet

 

Mine used to too! Ah, to have a new, shiny laptop again.

 

My Z1 is 2+ years old, doesn't over heat even with the nvidia GPU overclocked by 100mhz and gaming for over an hour. Temps are really good. The fan is loud once it ramps up, but otherwise it's not noisy. I think the cooling system works well in the Z1, so obviously something is amiss in your system. Hopefully you find out what ails it. It's still an amazing notebook.

 

Yeah, I agree. The laptop is awesome and it performs really well... It's just this overheating problem that is partially paralyzing it of late >__<

 

just to give you some numbers to base yours on.

I ran Furmark for 5 mins
330M clocked at 560mhz via Afterburner
CPU: 86C GPU: 81C

Ran Diablo 3 for 10 mins
CPU: 78C GPU: 75C

while running in dual monitor mode and the Z in it's docking station.

 

Could you tell me which program you use to measure these stats?

 

realtemp for the CPU, MSI Afterburner for the GPU

 

My CPU hit a whooping 104 C when I have it hooked up to my TV playing 720p media and general usage at the same time. Ouch!

EDIT: This is with one of those laptop cooler things doing its best to help cool the laptop.

 

Wow, 100C is the throttling temp, no wonder you're shutting down.

 

Yeah and I'm sure that two years ago this level of activity would've barely dented the 70 C mark. >_<

 

Huh I have a problem with not freezing but going high on temperatures nad fan speed because no serious reason. Described it here -> LINK

Maybe you have any idea? :/

 

I've been having the same issue and couldn't solve it. I tried one repair place and... well lets say it didn't go so great.
Going to try somewhere else and found these guys.
What do you think?