Why is my SZ hot/noisy?

I've owned a sz120p for over a year now and have been wondering why it seems to get so hot and why the fan is almost always on. I run the system on stamina mode all the time but it doesn't seem to help much. The laptop seems to quickly get hot, especially on the bottom and you can start to feel it on the palm rests and keyboard a little. Usually the fan will kick in a few minutes after I turn the computer on and start surfing the web and won't stop after that. I've heard that these laptops generally run cool so I'm wondering what reasons there could be for mine running hot/noisy like this.

Note: I spilled a little juice on my sz awhile ago which causes the left mouse clicker to stick a little and fingerprint reader not work all the time. I am thinking of buying a new sz, but before I do I want to know if they all run hot like this or if there is something wrong with mine.

 

What are your CPU idle temps? What graphics card are you using? What is your GPU temp? If you can find that out, then we should be able to figure out if you're machines internals are running hotter than they're supposed to. Also, what are the specs for your system?

 

I had the same problem with my SZ - it used to run so cool and quiet and recently it had been running very hot. I just put it down to running many applications and having tens of tabs open in firefox.

The real answer came when opening the computer. There was a layer of dust several millimeters thick between the fan and the heatpipe grille. I can almost certainly guarantee you have the same problem.

Open the compartment at the bottom with 4 screws. After opening the 4 screws use a flat screw driver to lift the cover to enable it to slide open.

Underneath you will see the CPU heat pipe. Open the two screws inside to allow the heat pipe to life out. (It turns out so dont lift it vertically out but turn it instead with the pivot being the grille end near the fan).

Now clean out the notorious dust that i am willing to bet you will find.

Reverse the whole process. (except the dust ).

Come back and tell us all if that worked.

 

while you're in there...take the heat sink pipe/plate off of th processor and clean off the thermal compound. Then put a dab of Arctic Silver on there and that should help drop the average temp a few degrees.

 

Taking the heatsink and cooling system of will void your warranty. It is likely that if you hav had the notebook for quite a while, that dust build up is causing the problem. I wouldn't go as far as taking the cooling system off just yet. try and clean the obvious places where dust will get to, and see if that makes any difference.

 

Unless there are problems with the CPU I doubt Sony would even check that area when doing warranty repairs. Just in case they do, replace the AS5 or anything else you'll use with white thermal compound and you'll be safe.

Have you tried updating your bios? You might want to try that. Also measure the exact temperature with NHC or some other power management program and let us know the results. See if your CPU is running at maximum speed all the time, and if it is modify your power management settings. The CPU should throttle down to 1GHZ when idle.

 

Using Arctic Silver 5 and BIOS updates are fair suggestions, but trust me do not underestimate the dust layer that is in there. I was shocked at the thickess of the dust layer between the fan and the grille.

If you are worried about warranty then take the cover off and see if you can vacuum out the layer of dust without removing the heatsink. That way you do not affect the heat transfer wax between the CPU and the heatsink, thus leaving no evidence of opening that area. But I cannot stress this enough ... the dust is not just a possibility...it is an absolute guarantee that it is the culprit.

Coincidently I happened to clean mine out a day before you posted the question. I can honestly say it has made the SZ so much more comfortable to use. It was sooo hot all the time before that i was frequently annoyed. The last couple of days its been a joy, I cannot describe how much happier I am. Wish I'd thought of it before.

So excuse my potentially sounding arrogant but trust me, do as I have said carefully and there really ought not to be any warranty issues, nor do you need to tinker with the BIOS, just clean out that nice blanket thats keeping your laptop insulated at the moment.