Z Shuts Down When Connected to TV

My Z keeps shutting down when I'm connected to a TV through HDMI. It'll play a movie for maybe 30-45 minutes, then the power will cut out. I'm not sure if this is an overheating issue related to the graphics card or what... any ideas? Thanks guys!

 

Check temps with Core Temp and GPU-z, though I think only the CPU overheating can shut the computer off.

 

It looks like it shuts down when the CPUs gets to around 103 C and stays there for a few seconds. The GPU gets to around 85ish C at its worst but it doesn't seem to shut down the laptop like the CPU does (as you said). So I guess something is wrong with the CPU?

 

Check for dust in the left vent or if you have opened it before you might need to reapply thermal paste. 103C is very high. It will shut down at 105C.

The highest temps that I get are like 85C. At temps like yours, you could damage something.

 

Also run fan diagnostics from Vaio Care to make sure it's working fine.

Sent from my Galaxy Note

 

Check for dust, as mentioned above. Be very gentle with the fan blades - they are delicate and break rather easily. Vacuum cleaner recommended. Suck out as much dust as you can, then change to blower mode and get rid of the rest.

 

I've opened up this laptop so many times and have cleaned the fan blades. I've also reapplied thermal paste like four times. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

 

Does your fan sound loud?

 

It was, but I fixed it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/673349-vaio-z11-fan-part-number.html?highlight=

 

With the fan going full blast you should be able to just feel the hot air at least 6 inches away from the vent. If it is not pushing enough air (and the pathways are clean), you have either messed with the fan's temperature sensor, or the fan itself has grown weaker over time and needs to be replaced.

A workaround until you sort this out - if your TV supports DLNA/streaming, set that up and watch your movies that way. It uses a lot less horsepower, so the overheating problem should not manifest itself. Or you could transfer them to a USB drive and plug that into your TV instead.

 

Well, the problem now is that it shuts down even with semi-heavy use without the TV hooked up. Like when I'm exporting a video. And I can definitely feel the hot air further than six inches - there's no doubt the fan is working efficiently (though the air is hot). So maybe it is the censor - is there a way to replace that, or fix it, or something? I don't even know where the censor is when I open the laptop.

 

Fan blowing air. OK.
Air is hot. OK.

This suggests that the fan, fan sensor and heatsink are working correctly. So why is the CPU overheating? Can you check the CPU voltages and see that all is in order? Any overclocking options should be set back to stock values. Check the memory temperatures as well if possible.

Also see what applications are using the CPU (Task Manager - sort by CPU usage).

If all else fails, you might need to underclock the CPU (or limit the maximum CPU clock) so that the temperature doesn't get that high.

 

How do I check CPU voltages? And I've never done any overclocking (I don't know how ). As for the task manager, everything is the same as it usually is. Firefox is using 250,000K, Trillian is using 90,000, Dropbox 55,000, Explorer 37,000, etc.

Maybe I need to put more thermal paste on? I put a very thin layer on since I read that was the way to do it (cover the entire thing, but with a thin layer, and that glomping it on is bad).

BTW thanks for troubleshooting with me!

 

Try CPU-Z or Open Hardware Monitor. Everest free version is also adequate, but the trial version is better. Compare the voltage readings with the recommended voltages for your processor - Intel website should have the details, or someone with the same processor will post his values.

Thermal paste doesn't seem to be the issue here. If the air blowing out was relatively cool, then we could have gone there, but since you say the air is hot, the heat transfer from the CPU to the heatsink is good. Thin layer of paste is definitely the way to go - good job there.

Btw. sort the list in task manager by cpu usage (click the column header marked CPU). On my system, Firefox is using between 0 and 12% in spurts. Total CPU usage as I type this is about 5% (min 0%, max 25%). Check the history too - leave the graph running. Sometimes there are processes which only run during idle periods, i.e. when you're not looking.

 

Instead of spreading it thin, you could try put a bead of thermal paste int the center of the square CPU die, or if it's a rectangle, you could put a line of thermal paste across the long way of the die. Either way, if you decide to try repaste try let the thermal compound spread itself. Also try check that your heatsinks and heatpipes aren't bent out of shape.