How hot is TOO hot?

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 25

I was wondering how hot a normal laptop should be...

I have CPUID hardware moniter and my laptop goes from 27C through 47C sometimes.

is that normal?

how do i get it back down to normal? and is there a way to check to see if my fans are in working condition?

Werebo · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:41 am Post subject:

Allo again user266 Smile

The easiest way to discover if your fan(s) are working, is to hold your hand in front of the air-vent for a few seconds. You should feel the air blowing out. Some vents are at the back, some are underneath the laptop.

Failing that, hold something smouldering there - a cigarette (Sorry, I know they're taboo in lots of places, but some folks do still smoke 'em), a candle (look for the flame flickering with the air flow), a bit of smouldering paper/cardboard/string, anything smoking but not huge clouds.

27C-47C is 'normal' temperature range for a laptop, unfortunately, you can't easily remove the cover and touch the heatsink, like on a PC Sad

A handy little freeware indicator called 'Speedfan' (available from here) will display the temperature of any thermal sensors it finds, in the System Tray. It can also show you the fan(s) speeds too. The temperature display might be off by a few degrees though, it needs to be set-up to your specific motherboard for complete accuracy, but it's a good 'general indicator'.

Also, have you checked on the laptop's utilities CD? Quite often, the manufacturers include a little utility to monitor the temperature - fan-speed and so on. You can also check in the BIOS, most fairly new BIOS's have a temperature and fan-speed indicator built in and that's about the most accurate one - leave the laptop running for about 15-30 minutes, so everything is warmed up.

If you feel it's running hot, an 'active' laptop cooler can be obtained quite cheaply. It's an angled laptop stand that usually plugs into a spare USB socket to power 1 or 2 built-in fans to suck the hot air out. Another advantage to the stand is that it holds the laptop at an angle, making the keyboard a lot easier to type on. try Googling 'laptop coolers' for your area to see what's available where, and for what price Very Happy

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 975 Location: Central FL, USA

How are you determining the temperature, and just where is that temperature taken?
Knowing that is important if you're going to worry about it.

You could install thermocouples (temperature sensors) in a dozen different locations inside your laptop and every one could show a different temperature.

Just in the most general terms:
There are many mistakes that people make in operating their laptops.

Most all laptops today, draw fresh air into the unit through vents on the "Bottom" of the unit and expel the hot air through a vent on the side or back. So if you set your laptop on a rug, bed, couch or even your lap, those vents will usually be blocked and the laptop will overheat.

Always, sit your laptop on a clean, hard surface, like a table top.
Also, raising the back of the unit about 1" off of the surface will help in the cooling and give you a better angle on the keyboard as well.

Also, any dust or dirt, animal hair or even human hair on the surface under the laptop will be sucked into the internal heat sink, thus clogging it and diminishing its cooling efficiency.

Much of that dirt can be removed with a vacc. cleaner applied to the air intake on the bottom of the laptop, to draw out the dirt.

Keeping a laptop clean in the first place is much easier than trying to fix it after the heatsink has been jammed up with dirt.

Setting your HD to spin down after, like, 5 minutes of idle time, is another way to minimize overheating. Idea

Good Luck,
The Doctor Cool

goretsky

Hello,

Have you checked with your notebook computer's manufacturer to see what the "normal" range of temperatures should be for it?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 25

wahh!

sorry. im coming back to this tommrow i swear! i gotta finish doing all of my laptop do-dads updates and crap.

i still have to do my update problem thing that some of you helped me in. >_o

im terribley sorry im so behind! Crying or Very sad

I'll try to catch up. keeping my laptop in working condition is a new thing for me, so its taking a little getting used to...

Werebo

Hehehehehehe.... There's no need to apologise, User, there's no time limit on a forum, and we'll still be here when you're ready to carry on.

PC's are meant to be used for whatever, not permanently tinkered with (unless you're a 'tinkerer'), so use it! Wink

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 975 Location: Central FL, USA

I've said for 28 years, that every computer should come with a large sheet of paper, printed in bold type, in bright colors, with diagrams and pictures outlining all the DO's and DON'Ts of running a PC.

But alas, so far there is Nothing to tell the new user what NOT do to and what TO DO to keep the computer running smoothly and efficiently.

Like with the laptop..... just telling the user to NEVER sit the laptop on an insulating surface like a rug or bed, would go a long ways toward eliminating many overheating problems.

I've worked on computers several years old and the user never knew that there was a Disk Cleanup program or Defrag program on the PC. WHY?

It's like driving a car for several years and never changing the oil. Twisted Evil

As absolutely incredible as that sounds to me, there are actually people who have done just that. Crying or Very sad

Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?
The Doctor Cool