Dell Vostro, SERIOUS heat problems.

First things first, I need serious help! I cant game anymore, not longer than 10 minutes that is, and if anyone can figure out whats wrong with my Vostrie, will get 5$ Via Paypal!


Anyways, I had this Notebook for almost 1 year now, and I always loved it, awesome matte screen, nice gaming capabilitie, awesome batterylife.

But latey things have changed, it appears that my vostro gets VERY hot, and the game starts to stutter after playing 15-20 minutes I used to be able to play Cod4 at max settings with 2times AA for hours, and now I cant even play Far Cry for more than 15 minutes at medium quality.

I used to use the 196.04 driver if I recall it correct, but now I returned to the dell driver, but no use it still gets damn hot!!

And I dont even think that the fan turns on all the way, I can hardly hear the fan but its so hot! I can not keep the notebook on my stomach without burning myself!

I need help, I tried reinstalling all drivers, updated the bios a few times, but still cant figure out whats wrong!

thanks!

 

Have you tried cleaning the dust off the fan and surrounding areas?

 

I cant actually see any dust, even if I turn the notebook around, it seems quite clean, would u suggest me to open it up to get sure that it isnt dirt blocking the insides of it?

 

Yes, you have to open the notebook to see the fan. There's a guide on this subject around here somewhere...

 

yup, there might be dust buildup in your laptop.

 

I have kinda the feeling that it has something to do with the newest Bios, but I will try to open the notebook later, thanks for the suggestions so far!

 

If the dust removal doesn't help, welcome to the club. You have been ripped off by Dell and Nvidia (see many overheating posts on this forum). You can try to undervolt your cpu to keep the heat down a little (search for undervolting on this forum). I have also found a driver that reports lower temps and thus does not downclock (ie slowdowns): 167.45 Download these from laptopvideo2go.

 

First try to go back to an older bios, may I recommend A05. So far known to be the coolest as well as most stable. New bios seems to be causing everyone many issues.

Then get some compressed air, turn your notebook off, take battery/av out and hold power button for 10 seconds. Then blow air through the side exhaust vent and the lower vent. This will clean it enough to notice a difference if it is the fan clogged or not without having to open the notebook.


Also try driver 177.70 from www.laptopvideo2go.com (download both driver and modded inf, the newer drivers are in the forums section). It is a very popular driver that seems to have lower heat regardless of system.

There is also one thing that has still not been mentioned that I think is a MUST for any Dell system that is not XPS (due to compatibility with XPS). Download I8kfan (I have linked the word) it is a great piece of software which will allow you to control your fans.

If you want even more cooling I recommend the Zalman NC2000 which works great with the Vostro 1500, also check out cooling central for more cooling tips.

Good Luck!

EDIT: Also could you try to monitor your temps, see how high they go etc? your idle aswell and post them up. There is a small guide on this at cooling central

Cheers

 

Thanks for all your suggestions! I have also downloaded the I8kfanGUI and it definately seems cooler now at least during normal use!, next I will downgrade my Bios and upgrade my videocard drivers, then clean the fan.

Thanks for your help so far! :O

 

I noticed that you have the 8600M GT, might be something with the defective chip packaging: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=277746