Is this "too warm"?

I've been noticing that my computer's been running hot for some time now but am finally posting because I've been noticing that if the computer reaches a certain temp, it tends to throttle back which can be a bit annoying. My mouse will move stuttery/freeze for a few seconds when the CPU is pegged then work again.

Here's My Temps from I8KFANGUI: (click thumbnail to make larger)



Now i notice that my CPU gets pegged every so often, yet I can't seem to pin down a definitive cause. I changed my wallpaper rotation in Windows 7 from 5 min. to 30, in an attempt to pin it down, to no avail. Here are the programs I'm actively running at the moment:

Mozilla Firefox with 5 tabs (this can get up to 15+ tabs)
OneNote 07
Sticky Notes
WLM 09 with 3 convo's open (this can get up to 5-6+ during the day)

In the background: (Icons shown in Notification Area)
MSE - The same thing happened when I was on Avira so....
Last.FM Scrobbler-no music playing
NewsGator FeedDemon RSS Reader
Steam

The machine is idling at 62 ATM, it's not overly hot in my room, and the machine is sitting flat on a desk. All four feet on the bottom are in excellent condition.

Now my fan, while working, (I can clearly feel/hear air pushing out the back) has been acting odd. I'll hear a "metal ping" sound sometimes when it changes speed or starts. (it changed speed now while writing this post and nothing happened this time) A while before I could hear a "rattling" if i shook the machine but it hasn't occurred in a long time.

Is it normal for a D630 to run so warm? (you can feel the warmth underneath esp. because the bottom is mag. alloy...) Many say it's a cool running laptop esp. with integrated graphics, but right now... Also, how could I best pin down what's causing throttling, the heat? The CPU usage? Both? And how could I get this thing working back up to snuff? I love this laptop but hate using it when it's like this.

I know you guys will have some good ideas for me! Thanks for all the help you've given me over the years!

Ricky

EDIT: a "pegging" happened literally a few seconds after i typed this.... i'd say both cores were pegged for 5-10 seconds according to my Sidebar Gadget.

 

Cleaned your fan and heatsink lately? Sounds like you might have some debris built up in there...

 

Thanks, looks like I'll have to. How hard would that be, would I have to take apart the laptop, or would a can of compressed air work fine?


Also, I seem to have found the cause for my CPU spikes-apparently Windows has a service called "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service." It was causing the spikes (i watched task manager's process tab while looking at my usage sidebar gadget) and i disabled it. It's no major loss as the likelihood of me ever using features like "Play To" or accessing my WMP library over the internet is minuscule at best. Now the system's idling at 55-I'm still going to clean it as it should be lower me thinks.

Thanks,
Ricky

 

Compressed air usually gets a fair amount of junk out, but if you want to be thorough and really get at that heatsink, you'll need to dismantle the machine a fair bit:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd630/en/SM_EN/thermal.htm#wp1116667

 

I'd second the compressed air. That can work wonders on older systems.

In terms of temperature, it seems a little warmer than it should be, but it's not totally out of the question in terms of possibility. If you clean out the fan, and nothing happens, try to run the computer while looking at the exposed fan (if this is possible). That could help you identify any problems that would cause the rattling noise.

Again, from 70C, your CPU is not going to die, but it could be something worth looking into.

 

compressed air wont be very effective on the D630. Literally a carpet of dust builds up on the inside. If you want to be sure you've cleaned it, you'll have to open it up and clean it.

 

Interesting, i'll have to check out the pdf link then!

 

all compressed air can do sometimes is blow dust around the machine

anyone who has even the most basic skills should be able to dismantle a laptop enough to clean it properly if it needs it

there is plenty documentation for models if you are unsure there may even be video guides or something on youtube for some machines ...

the way i do it if im working on something with odd length screws is get a sheet of paper and take out the screws from left to right and then down to the next level of screws

and sit them on the paper in the order they came out the machine and keeping the machine in the same orientation all the time

 

with my m4400, a single screw pops off the entire bottom it's easy to blow it out with compressed air...what about that latitude?

 

latitude has a good few screws in it not as good a design as the m4400 , although its been a while since i saw my last d series laptop my e6500 wasnt bad for opening up

my studio xps thats in my sig however is a bit more of a pain to open but its a consumer machine which are probably upgraded/serviced less than buisness machines

all i had to do to the xps was add an ssd to it which involved about 10 screws to get the whole bottom off then another 4 to release the hard drive where as on a latitude 2 or 3 screws would have been it


you could always try putting the hoover with an attachment onto your machines vent , some say this can be dangerous due to possible static build up , i just made sure my machine was plugged in and turned it on and sat it on a radiator (to make sure it was grounded ) that was off and hoovered away

i have done that many times on many many machines