# [SOLVED] Laptop Overheating Quickly



## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

Hello all,

I bought a Sager gaming laptop about three years ago, and in the last year or so, my laptop has been overheating more rapidly. Yesterday I played Borderlands on the lowest settings, and made it maybe 20 minutes before my computer froze and the area housing the heat sinks was scalding to the touch. Is there some setting, or hardware that may have failed that could be causing this?

Here's my dxdiag, please let me know of any other diagnostics you'd like run!


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Hello wyvernfist and welcome to TSF,

First thing you need to do is to grab canned air dusters and completely evacuate the cooling vents and channels of your laptop.

Make sure the computer is off and unplugged and keep the can upright at all times. Aim the straw directly into the cooling vents, one by one. Keep going back and forth until all the dust is evacuated.


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Will do! I will update once that's been done.


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## spartann300 (Apr 16, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

If that does not work you may have to disassemble and thourghly clean the heatsink and fan. I have seen them clogged up with cat, dog hair and ALOT of dust. While you have it disaassembled that far try to put new thermal paste on the CPU and the GPU. I owuld recommend Arctic silver it can lower your laptop 5-15 C degrees cooler.


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Tonight I used compressed air to clean out the dust built up in the fans. Ick.

I will do some trial runs of Borderlands and see what happens.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

I take it there was a bit... There usually is :grin:

Depending on the environment, a laptop can "inhale" quite a bit of dust in a short period of time... It is best to perform regular cleanings as I described earlier to prevent excessive build up.


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Computer made it 10 minutes before locking up and very hot to the touch.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

The constant overheating over the past year or so could have caused a few issues.

Laptops rely on heat-pipe technology to keep the heat moving away from the CPU and GPU... Once past a certain temperature, the heatpipe ceases to function properly. It relies on convection (evaporating and condensing of a liquid inside the pipe). Once past temps, the medium remains in an evaporated state, therefore will not efficiently convey the heat to the heatsink fins. Also, the evaporated liquid can escape, rendering the heatsink broken.

Also, the thermal interface material may have baked which can insulate heat and keep it near the CPU.

Your fan could also not be operating properly, or the heatsink is still matted with dust, to a point where the duster will not remove it.

In all cases, you will need to disassemble the computer and remove the heatsink, clean the heatsink throughly, remove the old thermal paste (cleaning the mating surfaces fully with 90%+ denatured alcohol), testing the fan and then reassembling with fresh thermal interface material.

I have had no luck locating service documentation on Sager laptops.

Of course, in the worst-case scenario... The overheating could have damaged the GPU (or the circuitry leading to it) which can cause excessive overheating and instability.


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Update: I haven't yet redone the thermal paste, but I did some serious updating/cleaning of software/firmware. Tested on Borderlands for 45 minutes and while it did get hot, I had no lag/freezing.


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Update: I took off each heatsink and cleaned out a layer of dust that was blocking 90% of the airflow. Wow. I also did the thermal paste while I was in there, but I'm thinking the issue was airflow.

Thanks for all your help!


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Glad we could be of help! 

You wouldn't believe how many times I have opened up a laptop to find a sheet of dust and lint matted to the back side of the heatsink.

Reapplying the thermal paste was the right thing to do since you were already in the computer. It is better than having to tear it all apart again.

Let us know how you get on!


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## wyvernfist (Aug 23, 2011)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

I was able to play Borderlands for over an hour last night, and the computer was only warm to the touch. Definite improvement!


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: Laptop Overheating Quickly*

Glad to hear that! Great job on your part.

Keep up regular cleanings of the cooling system and you should be able to avoid that in the future. Good luck!


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