VGN-Z HDMI overheating

Hi all,

I've got a VGN-Z555DN that I've had since late 2008 (brand new at the time), and I wanted to see if anyone has ideas on this problem.

Whenever I output via HDMI, if I'm outputting to 720p, I have to leave the laptop lid open, put it on those big black clips to allow more airflow beneath the laptop, in order to avoid it overheating - and even then, the fan is on full blast. If I shut the lid, it'll overheat and shut off.

If I'm outputting via HDMI to 1080p on my larger TV - I get about maybe... 25 minutes, and it overheats and shuts off.

I clean my laptop on a regular basis - full disassembly, dust removal, etc - but the nVidia card gets so hot that there's no point in using the HDMI output for me anymore.... is there *anything* I can do to alleviate this, or am I out of luck and just have to live with it for the rest of my Z's useful life?

Thanks!

 

What are temperatures according to HWMonitor for CPU and GPU?

 

edit: I just read your post better and noticed you clean the computer regularly, my bet is then the thermal paste on the CPU or GPU, but the computer is poorly designed in that the GPU is not well cooled.

See this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...rheating-when-connected-external-display.html

I bet the problem is that the fan is dirty. My VGN-Z was overheating and the dc-jack was broken so I sent it in for repair and they cleaned the fan and replaced the thermal paste on the CPU and now its fine!

If you take a can of dust-off/compressed air and blow into the vent you should be able to clean it out. If not you could send it in for repair or take it apart and clean it out.

Good luck!

 

I've had my VGN-Z for over 2 years and NEVER took out the CPU. Though I have gotten it to a point where the motherboard with its fan assembly (connected) was sitting in front of me. Thus, never personally changed out the thermal paste.

Connecting via 1080 HDMI, the nvidia idles at 70'C and the CPU at 50'C. Play a 1080p .mkv file, GPU peaks at around 85'C with the CPU at around 69-70'C. The same holds true when I play 1080p blu-rays.

All that said, I've had my fan changed a while back due to it making strange high-pitched sounds whenever the fan decided to start up (from a stopped state). It seems that the service involved thermal paste changes (or a lack of one), as my idle temperatures are higher than before. But despite that, as of yet, no overheating.

A thing to note though is I get a vacuum cleaner and suck out the dust from the fan once or twice every two months. And to top that off, I don't use my Z in a dusty environment, so I guess that's a factor.

...I'm more worried about my Z making the strange high-pitched sounds (it still does after the fan was replaced). That plus, recently, I can hear a short beep and a click (strong enough that you can feel it reverberating onto the palm-rest) coming from around the HDD. Though that's only happened to me three times during the 2 years I've owned the Z; the HDD still seems to work fine (ie, I took the OS through a defrag after the last click happened and it didn't go belly up, so not sure what the sound is actually; it most certainly was NOT the HDD protection as in all three cases the laptop was perfectly still and upright in the normal usage conditions).