Sony Vaio Z overheating when connected to external display

Hi everyone!

First post here at nbr.

I've got a european Sony Vaio Z (first generation), which seems to have some major overheating issues, especially when it's connected to an external display.

Setup:
Sony Vaio Z11VN -> Docking station -> NEC2690WUXi (running at 1920x1200)


Here's a summary of temperatures when this machine is in SPEED mode (Nvidia 9300gs) in Windows XP (idle)

GPU: 92C (198F)
HD0: 41C (106F)
Temp1: 66C (151F)
Core0: 78C (172F)
Core1: 78C (172F)

Clearly, the temperature drops if I switch to STAMINA mode, or if I unplug the laptop from the docking station, however, in the latter case the temperature drops to perhaps 70C.. so that is without running it on the external 1920x1200 display.

Oh, and when running 3d applications or games, the laptop can simply shut itself off for no reason whatsoever (overheated?)


I've heard about overheating problems of the NVIDIA GPUs.. is this such a case? (NVIDIA 9300GS)

I'd like to know if anyone else have had this problem with their Vaio Z (i've seen ppl having problems with the FZ)


Thanks in advance!

PS. My model is a VGN-Z11VN (swedish, although distributed via the UK)

 

The "overheating issue" is a problem of GPUs failing due to heat cycles - that's different - they only overheat shortly before failure.

My first guesses would be:
Dust in vents, you may notice it in normal uses, or blocked vents due to the location of the laptop.

If you checked these and they aren't the case - the GPU will ge hot - my SZ is rather warm on Speed too compared to Stamina - but it shouldn't shut itself down.

Check for driver updates - although that will be complicated in your case...

Next, try, for a change, running the external display at some low resolution (less than 1600 wide) - 1920*1200 will also put a lot of strain on your laptop.

Gaming - is that gamin on the external screen or the internal one?

If its your 1920*1200 screen then I suspect its just too much to handle - if its the internal screen and the games are not too high spec you have a problem - but: the Z is by no means a gmaing laptop!

 

Hi

A few things we need to know to get going:

a) Ambients
b) applications
c) duration of use before issues manifest
d) photo of the area around your machine if poss. if not, a description of any items around the machine as well as the base.

The Z is not a gaming laptop but there's no reason why it should be having problems driving 1920 x 1200 screens even for mildly demanding 3D use (in context of the capabilities of the Z's GPU).

 

Hi again,

Thanks for the replies guys.

DetlevCM:
I've had the laptop for less than a year in a dust-free environment (office) - I'd rather not open the machine up to look for dust, there's nothing visible at the vent anyway (just a lot of hot air coming out).

When reading your reply yesterday night, running only firefox in winxp, my GPU exceeded 100C (106C something, which also made the CPU cores exceed 85C). By this time, the computer had been connected to the external display at 1920x1200 for approx 6hrs.

I've tried a different resolution on the external screen - doesn't decrease the temperture work at all. If I switch to the internal screen, while still running on SPEED mode, the GPU decreases to about 75C (NB this is idle temperature in winXP with 0% CPU load)

Actually, a common example of the machine shutting itself of is when I run a 3d game (NB a few years old, e.g. battle for middle-earth II from 2006!) at 800x600!

I don't play that many games, but if I do, it would be on the external screen (I'm not sure if the computer has turned off itself when I only used the internal screen).. I just think that the Z should be able to handle an external screen at 1920x1200 - even if I play a low spec 3d game.

Vogelbun:
a) It's connected to the vaio docking station on my desk, close to a window that's opened most of the time for cooling purposes =)
b) Mostly regular win apps (programmer), occasionally adobe and steinberg apps.
c) If I just start the computer after it's been shut down, it takes approx 10s before the GPU reaches 60C, and after an hour use with e.g. word processing, it reaches well above 80C (NB running on the external screen at 1920x1200. Please note that the increase in temperature will occur even if I don't run any demanding applications.
d) NOTHING around the computer, at the base is the sony docking station (which I assume should be designed properly to allow a cool surface?

By the way, the external display is connected via DVI-D connection rather than DVI-I, not sure if that would make a difference or not though. I could also try to unplug the computer from the docking station, and then test it with a HDMI-DVI converter instead (since there isn't a DVI connector on the machine itself, however, this would only give me DVI-I, oh well..

Thanks for helping me out!

 

Thanks for the comprehensive post - I think the GPU isn't able to handle the resolution.

Now why I don't know - maybe newer drivers can help - but the 9300GS also isn't a very powerful GPU.

If you compare a 1920*1200 screen to a 800*600 screen, it has more than 4 times as many pixels - so you increase the stress by at least 4 times.

 

Thanks!

But in case it cannot handle 1920x1200 on an external screen .. why is the computer shutting itself off when I'm running a 3d game from 2006 in 800x600? ... I might try to run 3dmark or similar software and compare the stability between external/internal displays and resolution differences.

I'll try new drivers and see if that changes anything as well.

If I boot the comp. in STAMINA mode instead, temperatures don't exceed 40C, so it's clearly the NVIDIA GPU causing everything.

I just think it sucks that this computer is not able to handle normal WinXP usage (Vista would probably melt this thing) on an external screen at high resolution, I mean, what's the point in the HDMI connector in that case? That would clearly be used for a 1080p screen (and 1920x1200 is only slightly higher compared to 1920x1080p).

 

Actually XP may be the problem

Drivers are nowadays developed for Vista - and on modern computers Vista can outperform XP in benchmarks - even if you think XP is faster.

But research the driver - that's possibly the problem.

 

That does not make much sense to me. Even X4500 should be fine handling 1900*1200. It will be slower, but it will handle the resolution fine. Without overheating. (of course X4500 in Z can not drive HDMI but that's not the point)

If the 9300 is not powerful enough it should just go slow, it should not overheat.

My guess is that she got a bad Z. In normal circumstances it may have gone unnoticed, but in her circumstances it shows. If a Vaio Z switches off in heavy 3d applications it should be returned for warranty.

 

More pixels more stress - simplest test - run the same game on 800*600 and 1024*768 and 1280*800 - you'll notice a difference (at least I do with an old game on an Intel X3100)

 

Of course I know more pixels cause more stress. But that's not a legitimate reason for overheating.

 

Unless its too much - but if you say the X4500 should handle the display, then true, it shouldn't.

 

Hey again,

Thanks for all the replies.

Regarding vista vs. xp: at least to knowledge (and experience from running these OS's on several other computers), I receive at least a 20% performance boost when running things in XP compared to Vista.. but the main reason for switching to XP on the Z was that my GPU went up to a 110C (!) while in this OS .. this has never happened with XP (although I miss the hybrid switching I could use with the drivers in vista..)

Is there any specific test/app I could run to test the stability of the system, i.e. to investigate under what conditions the laptop becomes overheated and turns itself off?

Clearly I could run the old 3d game at higher resolutions, although 800x600 at lowest quality seems to be enough, hah =)

 

Phil: thanks for your valuable input, I will be contacting the sony support (after finals are over) no matter what happens..

and btw, I'm a guy =)

 

If XP runs that much cooler, it may be interesting to disable some Vista 'features', first of all the Aero interface.

 

I suppose you could do benchmarking...

 

Phil: I turned off aero from day 1, what a true waste of system resources =)

but honestly, XP still runs cooler and faster than vista (at least for me)

 

Actually Aero should be more efficient, because its rendered by the GPU it takes load awy from the CPU.

In Full Screen games Vista should no longer keep the user interface "operational" like it does in XP.

 

.. if the GPU rendered the aero interface on my Z, it would probably catch fire =)

 

i would like to suggest you check on the nvidia driver. maybe the driver make the fan stop working properly..

because i use to update nvidia driver before for my nvidia 7300gt and notice that the temperature went up. when i open the mobo i notice the fan works for few mins then stop even i already enable the fan to work at certain threshold temperature. then, i rollback the driver to its original driver, and after that, no more overheating. the fans works normally.

just giving some hint

 

Try Passmark's Burnin' Test. (the name seems appropriate )

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

It's free to try for 30 days.

 

Miyabi
Thanks for you input.

It seems unlikely that the official drivers sony sent with the Z would not work appropriately, and given that the laptop (with official drivers, software etc) significantly overheated in vista, I'm not sure if the fan stopping is a driver related issue (moreover, I'm not sure how to check that the GPU fan is actually running, since I only got one vent on the side of the laptop).


Phil
I'll try the burn test, that'll be funny (will get back).

 

...the way you describe it, taking in Phil's statement it may be a hardware issue - just as an example no thermal paste...

Maybe yo should le Sony have a look at it?

 

Just wondering, are you running the laptop with the lid close or open?

 

Hey,

I'm running the laptop with the lid open at all times.

 

DetlevCM: I'll give Sony a call just after I've finished my finals, suboptimal cooling by thermal paste is probably the case.

Please note that the laptop didn't overheat the first couple of months (2-3), but has been doing it ever since it turned itself off the first time.

... I'm just thinking of a good way to explain/show that the computer runs far too hot for the sony support =)

 

Alright, doesn't matter then, when I run my laptop with the lid closed (connect through HDMI) the temps shoots up like 10c vs normal temps with the lid open.

 

OK - if it didn't happen immediately then soething ent wrong...

 

any update on this? i am having the same issues here

 

Hi there,

Nope, nothing yet. CPUs and GPU still running at 90-105C with random shutdowns.. will send my vaio in pretty soon. Since I'm still under warranty, I can't open up the thing and clean it myself, otherwise I would recommend doing so!

Interesting update: when running GPU-z, it seems as if the GPU is around 90C even though the gpu load is only around 3%.. so perhaps rather an overheating issue with the CPU?

Please post your specific vaio model and temperatures so we can compare them =)

 

All I can say is, at those temps, don't expect your notebook to last very much longer. The CPU will actually go into "self-protection" mode if it ever gets pushed much over 100c by the GPU... That's what's happening when you say it just shuts down, it's trying to not melt-down.

 

i have a z570n and am getting high temps (though not as high as yours it seems). my GPU is running at 75C right now, and the CPUs are at around 80.

This is under just a light browsing load. I never really looked into it before it started shutting down from thermal protection, so I'm not sure how long this has been going on. I'm unfortunately out of warranty (1 year sure isn't much) so I plan on redoing the thermal paste. I can't imagine it to reduce it by that much though? Otherwise I am aiming to get a new laptop in five months probably.

 

Good thermal paste might surprise you. It can bring the temps down a good 5c if not a little more.

 

so joanelf, whats the current progress now? D:
just now, trying on mine, without the NVIDIA System Tools, range temp is around 90.

 

a little disturbing that so many users are having this problem all of a sudden.

 

I'm having this problem, does anyone know of a solution
temps at 90C windows 7 pro x86, sony vaio vgn-z590, drivers from sony, dell lcd hdmi 1920x1200.

Thanks so much!

 

a friend of mine with the same laptop was able to get temperatures back to normal temperatures by cleaning out the fan since something was blocking it. this required some extensive disassembly which a Sony tech did for him.

i tried doing this on mine and it did not help at all however.

 

I'm having the same problem. My Z is guaranteed to shut down if it's connected to an external display and I do anything CPU intensive for a few minutes. But it also shuts down in Speed mode without an external display when I'm playing games.

Note that in my case it seems to be CPU related. If I try to watch a YouTube video in 1080p, I can watch the CPU temperature jump from 70 to around 98° C before shutting down. The GPU seems to be steady at around 82° C.

Z591U/B (with 9300M GS and [email protected]), Windows 7 premium 64bit, LG LCD @ 1920x1200, out of warranty. I have taken it apart and cleaned the fan with compressed air and it didn't help.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm still having the same issue - will send my laptop in within the next week or so, its still under warranty (2yr Sony europe warranty, got it in September 2008).

 

Yea I even had an X3100 laptop (far weaker than the X4500) connected to a 1920x1200 monitor. It could handle it w/ no overheating whatsoever. Obviously not playing games but web browsing and stuff.

 

i have the same issue of overheating when playing aion / not for connecting to ext device though.

went to the point of overheating and shutting down...

sent it for repair, and sony replaced

1. fan, dc part no.: 178776811
2. fpc-136 part no.: 187713911
3. hinge (L), cover part no.: 339821004

now when i play aion, the temp went down to 70 - 80+ degree
which is a significant decrease in temp.
even when i lift the laptop to touch the bottom casing, it changed from a scorching hot to a warm touch

 

Hi all,

Thanks for replies.

Quick update regarding my overheating problems.

Sent my laptop in for repair, got back the following:

Replaced noisy fan, CPU replaced due to overheating, loos cable replaced due to TP/KB freezing when unit is twisted, Laptop retested.

Laptop runs much cooler and quieter now. Unfortunately I cannot tell if the overheating issues were related to the fan or CPU(!) replacement, but given that they've replaced such an expensive part, they couldn't sort out the overheating issues simply by exchanging the fan.

Still haven't used the docking station or tested the laptop on 1900x1200 external screen, will update later.

 

Hi All.

I have overheating problem with my vaio z VGN-Z21XN when i using nVidia graphic is Speed mode.

If i use Intel graphic and external display, everithing work great with idle cpu teperature at 45°C and fan was silent.
If i switched to speed mode, everithings starts overheat.
Idle teperature of GPU is about 70°C in idle mode without external display.
With external display GPU teprerature grows to 80°C in idle mode.
While i watching film GPU temp is 90°C with loudy nioise of cooling fan(because of hight temperature, ofcourse). But there is one more disturbig fact, video sometimes freeze, propably because of cooling cycles.
while i plaing game, GPU temp is 103°C and CPU is 82°C whit or without eternal monitor.
Are there walues normal or there is something wrong with cooling (heat pipe, cooling paste, etc...)
I also looked inside for some dust, but there is nothing. I have my vaio stil in wariantly, so i hope, that i do not broke wariaty, while a open NB.
Could someone give me some advice, how to solve my problem?

Thanks a lot.

Btw, sorry for my english.

 

if have a warranty, why take any chances by opening yourself?? Send it to Sony for inspection. I know this is not ideal solution, but still better then ending up with dead laptop

btw, those numbers are rather high. Watching 720p mkv movie on external display takes my CPU to 75C but never above that value. Regular work, CPU at 39-46C. I did clean my vents and everything (full disassemble) few months ago, 2 years old Z590

Cheers,
Miki