Heat problems

[Meneldur]

Hi everyone,

Lately I've been having some trouble with my laptops heat (Using acer aspire 5755g for about 2 years old now).

For example, I could have my laptop idle (or just browsing on the internet using Firefox), and my CPU will still be at 50-ish celcius. If I run a game (such as dota2 or thief or whatever. What made me make this thread was when suddenly last night, my laptop couldn't handle Team Fortress 2 at low settings even though I always run it on high with no problems) and I do not have my cooling mat there, the temperature of my laptop goes extremely high making the game unplayable (fps too low).

In the past, just cleaning my laptop with compressed air would be okay, but I as I said, lately it is not enough (although so far I have just sprayed from the side grill, haven't opened the whole thing to clean it yet, so I guess I should do that too).
I was looking into buying thermal paste, but I have no idea if it is worth it, or if it is dangerous for someone with no experience of applying it, to apply it.
If getting thermal paste is a good idea, which brands would you guys suggest? And do you know of a good guide so that I won't mess up?

I've found this one on amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Silve...=thermal+paste , which seems to be good according to the reviews.
Would this do the trick to fix my heat problems?

[Meneldur]

No one able to help?

[Djinni]

Where did you get the thermal paste idea from? Generally the only real reason to re-apply new Thermal Paste is because you want to reseat a heatsink (which should always use fresh TIM on a clean surface)

I have to ask, have you been locking the fan down so it doesn't spin freely when blasting the air into the cooling vent? if not, that's probably your problem and your lucky it still works at all. It will likely need opening up and cleaning properly. Applying TIM only if you want to take the heatsink off a component that already has it applied.

In general TIM isn't "Dangerous" per say, but you can apply far too much which may cause problems down the road.

For your specific issue, you might be best taking it to a Computer repair store like Novatech (Portsmouth) or Aria (Manchester), (I can't remember any decent ones in Sheffield sorry) who will be able to safely open the laptop up and give it a good clean-out. If I recall correctly this is usually charged at between 1 and 1 and a half hours labour. (Approx £50-70 in most cases - I certainly charged in excess of £80 for a clean-out when I used to do it at Sheffield Uni).
If you are feeling adventurous, you can certainly have a look around online for guides on how to dismantle your laptop safely. (I wouldn't normally suggest this route for laptops becuase most people find them very difficult to put back together properly and often have issues with backlight bleeding afterwards)

[Meneldur]

I got the idea for thermal paste by doing a few searches on google on how to reduce the temperature of my cpu and it was the most common thing I saw.

You are right that I didn't lock my fans to stop them from spinning freely, never thought that would be a problem or heard that it could cause any problems but I'll keep that in mind though, thanks! Do you think this could have caused permanent damage, or will it be okay once it is cleaned? Also, is it possible to lock the fans down before using the compressed air without opening up my laptop? (I try to de-dust quite "often", since there is a lot of dust here where I live)

Do you know of any decent guides I could use for opening up and cleaning laptops? I am interested in learning how to do it since it is something I should learn to do at some point (Although I wouldn't do it before I go back home, where I have a backup computer).

[Basemath]

What I know about air-blowing to clean, is that it doesn't break your fans, even if they weren't locked. I know that from personal experience, and from a tutorial some technician made (he seemed to know his stuff, 20+ year experience in PC repairs). He used a leaf-blower to clean dust, and the pressure it would put out is a lot higher than any compressed air can would do. The fans basically spin at a rate higher than their maximum speed. Others suggested that even when the computer is off, having fans spin that fast may generate some voltage that can be damaging to components. According to the technician, they tested it and the voltage is very negligible, nothing nearly damaging. If the fans, however, are already busted, or of extremely low quality, air-blowing might not be safe.

That said, there are many guides/videos explaining how to clean your laptop. Nothing too complicated. Just a matter of opening the back-plate and using compressed air to clean the CPU fan, etc... Taking out the components for a more thorough cleaning would need more experience I guess, would also void the warranty if you have one. There are probably videos for that also.

[Djinni]

You are right that I didn't lock my fans to stop them from spinning freely, never thought that would be a problem or heard that it could cause any problems but I'll keep that in mind though, thanks! Do you think this could have caused permanent damage, or will it be okay once it is cleaned?

Usually if you've caused any damage in this manner you will need a replacement fan, if you are very unlucky you may need a new mainboard. Reasons explained below in answer to Basemath.

Also, is it possible to lock the fans down before using the compressed air without opening up my laptop? (I try to de-dust quite "often", since there is a lot of dust here where I live)

All you need to do is to stop the fan spinning, delicately put something long into the grill at an angle (with care and caution not to push too far) hold it with 1 hand and blast away. I tend to use chopsticks, non conductive, no static build up does the job, win win win.

The fans basically spin at a rate higher than their maximum speed.

Causing unnecessary wear on the bearings, so you will frequently find that the cheaper fans will give out years before they would normally.

Others suggested that even when the computer is off, having fans spin that fast may generate some voltage that can be damaging to components. According to the technician, they tested it and the voltage is very negligible, nothing nearly damaging. If the fans, however, are already busted, or of extremely low quality, air-blowing might not be safe.

Any electrical current if channelled improperly is damaging to many components on your machine, most notably the capacitors and diodes of which there are many on any given board. - Not going to say for sure that this is the specific problem at play here... but for the future, do you really want to risk potentially thousands of pounds worth of investment because you were too lazy to stop a fan spinning? (incidentally it is very rare that electrical damage caused while cleaning is covered by your warranty)

There is nothing wrong with using a leaf blower for example if you feel comfortable with the idea, but you will get static build up that if not discharged properly may cause problems, you won't get that from compressed air or a decent air compressor. Just because you've never seen a problem with a particular method doesn't mean it won't ever happen. Some people are just shall we say "more unlucky" than others.
It's not particularly difficult for example to put a chopstick between the blades and stop them spinning.

[Meneldur]

I'll keep those in mind, thank you for your help!