Laptop issues

[Katya]

My laptop seems to be overheating lately (based on the fan noise) and I've gotten the blue screen of death at least once in the last month. Any thoughts as to what could be wrong or how long I have before it dies? (It's between 3 and 4 years old, if that helps.)

[Digit]

Maybe to rule out whether it's a hardware or software issue, you could boot up Linux with a live cd (that won't affect your hard drive at all) and run it for a while. If it then works fine, it's something with software. If it still performs badly even when running as a Linux machine, it's likely something happened to the hardware.

[Dead Cat]

My old laptop, Rasputin, had an overheating problem that was promptly fixed when I got out the stuff clogging the cooling system. Even if that isn't the source of the problem, a clean internal system is still a good idea.

[Marduk]

Overheating issues are super common, especially in laptops. Dead Cat has a good suggestion; you honestly should be cleaning a ventilation system about every six months. Depending on how much you value the laptop, you can pinpoint where the heating problem comes from (assuming the ventilation proves to be working fine) but that can be fairly costly, as it could be a number of issues. My advice would be, after cleaning out the fans, use some sort of cooling pad until you can afford (or desire to) buy a new laptop. A cooling pad is cheap and can help mask whatever heating problems a laptop may have for years.

[UffishThought]

How DO you clean the ventilation system?

[bobtheenchantedone]

I have a cooling pad and it is wonderful. Not only does it do a really good job of cooling my laptop, it also simply raises the laptop so its own fans can do a better job, and is angled so it rests better on my lap.

With my old laptop, I used ice. Which was probably a really really bad idea. I am not so good with the common sense sometimes.

[Marduk]

How DO you clean the ventilation system?

Simplest and not as effective way: canned air and blow it through all open ports. More effective way: as long as it won't void the warranty (which is unlikely given the age of the laptop in question) unscrew the base and remove it, take canned air and blow on all exposed hardware, and take a lint free rag and wipe down all casing and fans. Don't use the rag on actual functioning components, just housing and fans.

[Architect]

I had an old HP laptop that was having a hard time cooling itself because the fan wouldn't speed itself up when it got hot. A cooling pad worked wonders for me.

[Digit]

The feedback from temperature sensor to fan speed controller, I wonder if that's just straight hardware control or if programming deep in the bowels of the OS is used.

[Fredjikrang]

Usually it is bios level control, but sometimes it is dynamically adjustable from the OS level.

[Digit]

Ah, if BIOS, then running another OS would make no difference in fan control then.

[Fredjikrang]

Probably. Though many OSs have hooks into BIOS that allows them to manipulate it.

[Katya]

I had an old HP laptop that was having a hard time cooling itself because the fan wouldn't speed itself up when it got hot. A cooling pad worked wonders for me.

I can hear the fan running faster, so I don't think that's my specific issue. (But a cooling pad might still help.)

[Katya]

How DO you clean the ventilation system?

Simplest and not as effective way: canned air and blow it through all open ports. More effective way: as long as it won't void the warranty (which is unlikely given the age of the laptop in question) unscrew the base and remove it, take canned air and blow on all exposed hardware, and take a lint free rag and wipe down all casing and fans. Don't use the rag on actual functioning components, just housing and fans.

Had another BSOD this morning. I couldn't get all of the base off, but I got part of it off and blew canned air into it. We'll see if that helps.

[Architect]

I had an old HP laptop that was having a hard time cooling itself because the fan wouldn't speed itself up when it got hot. A cooling pad worked wonders for me.

I can hear the fan running faster, so I don't think that's my specific issue. (But a cooling pad might still help.)

If it's worth $25-30 to you, this is the one I got. Works like a charm.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Not ... ooling+pad

[Katya]

I had an old HP laptop that was having a hard time cooling itself because the fan wouldn't speed itself up when it got hot. A cooling pad worked wonders for me.

I can hear the fan running faster, so I don't think that's my specific issue. (But a cooling pad might still help.)

If it's worth $25-30 to you, this is the one I got. Works like a charm.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Not ... ooling+pad

I bought one a couple of days ago and it seems to be working fairly well. (The base isn't getting as hot, although it's still hotter than I'd like.) I expect that my computer will still die on me some time in the near future, although maybe now it's in six months instead of six days.

(More importantly, I was in the middle of two very important and time-sensitive projects when it started having issues. Those are both finished, so now is a much more convenient time for it to die.)

[Laser Jock]

I bought one a couple of days ago and it seems to be working fairly well. (The base isn't getting as hot, although it's still hotter than I'd like.) I expect that my computer will still die on me some time in the near future, although maybe now it's in six months instead of six days.

(More importantly, I was in the middle of two very important and time-sensitive projects when it started having issues. Those are both finished, so now is a much more convenient time for it to die.)

Don't worry. It'll last until your next very important and time-sensitive project before dying. (On the upside, as long as you never need it for anything important, it'll probably last forever!)

[Katya]

I bought one a couple of days ago and it seems to be working fairly well. (The base isn't getting as hot, although it's still hotter than I'd like.) I expect that my computer will still die on me some time in the near future, although maybe now it's in six months instead of six days.

(More importantly, I was in the middle of two very important and time-sensitive projects when it started having issues. Those are both finished, so now is a much more convenient time for it to die.)

Don't worry. It'll last until your next very important and time-sensitive project before dying. (On the upside, as long as you never need it for anything important, it'll probably last forever!)

So true.

[Katya]

I kind of just wish my laptop would go ahead and die already, so that I'd know how much it's going to cost to fix it. (Even with the cooling pad, it's still overheating and seems to be getting worse.)

I don't suppose I can take it in for being about to die, can I?

[Digit]

You could get a hard drive enclosure, put your laptop's hard drive into it, and whenever you wanted to get something that was on your old computer, just connect the enclosure to a new computer via the USB cord connected to the enclosure. And later you could copy whatever was on the enclosure to the new computer as easily as copying anything else.
Don't pay some Geek Squad or whatever people $80 for the first however-many gigabytes to transfer to a new computer when you can (and they do) just use one of these $7.99-~$25.00 things. Plus, once you have one of your own, you can use it again in the future if the need ever arises because the thing will be yours.