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    Vaio Z (VGN-Z4) overheating

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by kavb, Jan 23, 2011.

  1. kavb

    kavb Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all,

    I've had my Vaio Z4 for about 18 months now and have been pleased with it so far. But recently I've noticed the fan has become a lot louder and the laptop runs much hotter, even when idle. For a while, I switched to "Silent Mode" in Vaio Power options, but this makes performance pathetic.

    On the normal (Balanced) mode, it's back to being unnaturally hot. I downloaded CPUID's PC Wizard 2010, which shows the CPU core 1 temp at about 90 degrees C even when completely idle. This can't be normal!

    So my question is: have any Vaio Z users had this problem before? If so, what to do? I'd rather not send it into Sony if it's something I could fix myself. Any help/ideas much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    kavb
     
    kavb, Jan 23, 2011
    #1
  2. beaups

    beaups New Jack Hustler

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    couple things.

    1.) check task manager to make sure no processes are pegged at 100%.
    2.) Make sure you can hear the fan (should be quite loud at 90c)

    If 1 and 2 are ok then it's time to open the laptop.

    Usually the cause is accumulation of dust on the inlets of the heatsink. Clean the heatsink. If the heatsink is clean then you could try to reseat the cooling system, bearing in mind you'd need to clean and reapply thermal grease.
     
    beaups, Jan 23, 2011
    #2
  3. kavb

    kavb Notebook Enthusiast

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    Fan's definitely going! Checking task manager, it seems there is one process stuck at 50% of CPU - PresentationFontCache.exe

    Quick google check shows a few people are having this issue, so I'll look for a solution to that as a first step.

    I did open the laptop, maybe 6 months ago, and it didn't have much dust. If fixing the stuck process doesn't work, I guess I will try the reseating the heatsink but I'd hope to keep that as a last resort!

    Thanks for your quick reply.
     
    kavb, Jan 23, 2011
    #3
  4. beaups

    beaups New Jack Hustler

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    Unseated heatsinks are VERY uncommon, unless you've dropped the laptop. Do you feel much air movement out of the exhaust vent when the fans are spinning high?
     
    beaups, Jan 23, 2011
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  5. kavb

    kavb Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yup that solved it! Fixing that process has got the CPU truly idle, the temp is down to 55 and the fan is back to normal. Thanks for the help.

    Is 55 a normal temp for an idle CPI?
     
    kavb, Jan 23, 2011
    #5
  6. pyr0

    pyr0 100% laptop dynamite

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    yes it is.
     
    pyr0, Jan 23, 2011
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  7. Achusaysblessyou

    Achusaysblessyou eecs geek ftw :D

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    Yeah PresentationFontCache.exe affects a few people (I had it affect my VPCZ... but it took only about 25% CPU) Here was the solution in this forum:
    PresentationFontCache hogging CPU

    That's for Win 7, maybe the same for Vista (if you're using Vista)
     
    Achusaysblessyou, Jan 23, 2011
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  8. kavb

    kavb Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, that's the solution I used and it's running great now. Thanks guys.
     
    kavb, Jan 23, 2011
    #8