Dell Inspiron 1520 Overheating

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 model and it got VERY hot when I'd go on Facebook or just to go online with it. When I'd be online it would have a blue screen-- yes this is from overheating. We brought it a computer store Computer Zone to be exact and when the guy took a look at it he noticed the fan underneath the laptop wasn't even moving. It hasn't been able to have Internet for 8months and now we have to get a new hardrive for the laptop. Has there been other reviews of the 1520 series heating up and goin' crazy with blue screens? *I also used to play Roller Coaster Tycoon on it- the ancient version with the crappy graphics lol.

P.S. If you have utorrent on your laptop or desktop-- GET RID OF IT ASAP, don't leave it on for hours upon hours, and let the fan beneath the laptop have air to, in a sense, "breathe". I have learned the hard way that this laptop is very sensitive when it comes to heating up.

Please if anyone has any comments, concerns, or just would like to share their experiences with their Inspiron 1520, go for it!

 

I don't think uTorrent is part of the problem here... I know plenty of people (myself included) who leave it running close to 24/7/365 without any problems...

 

I know utorrent isn't part of the laptop's overheating issue, that's just for virus protection. I have utorrent on my laptop along with many other people I know but what I don't know is how long the laptop/pc will be secure with it on there. You can leave your laptop on for HOURS? Is it a Dell Inspiron 1520 though?

 

Not sure what utorrent has to do with viruses?

You should be able to leave your laptop on more or less permamently without it overheating. Have you tried running a program like speccy to measure the temperatures inside the machine to pin down the problem?

BTW BT programs won't cause overheating, but they do stress the hard drive, especially if pre-allocate is turned off.

 

Oh I know utorrent and other programs like that won't cause overheating-that's just a security thing I tossed out there. It causes stress on the Hardrive? Thankyou, I did not know that..I have to get a new hard drive for the Dell because it overheated and fried some of the insides of it (hard drive and motherboard). I'll have more information about it when I get the laptop back today. But no, I've never heard of Speccy, but what does it do though, just balances the temperature inside the laptop?

 

Speccy - System Information - Free Download It reports on the spec of your laptop including processor, GPU and hard drive temps. Might confirm the problems have been solved.

HD Tune website HDtune reports on the health of our hard drive.

 

Alright I'll check it out, thanks

 

I would recommend buying this and replacing your fan. If you feel as if you are not up to, you can take the part to computer repair guy and they'll do it for you, at most a charge for labor since you are supplying the part yourself. But if you feel up to changing it yourself, go ahead and print out the Dell Service Manual for the 1520 and attempt it that way. If you still have issues with overheating then you may want to look into replacing your Heatsink. They are relatively cheap but replacing them can be a bit of a hassle.

 

I've had my 1520 for almost 4 years and it has been running almost constant the entire time. I bought a spare fan when people said that leaving it on 24/7 would cause problems. Almost 4 years later and I don't have any problems with it.

As far as laptops go, the 1520 is a decently cool laptop. Espeially if you play around with the fan control utility ... I can get this thing cooler than most any other similarly spec'd laptop out there. Works great.

After a few years, no doubt your thermal compound is going to be dried up. Try replacing that when you replace the fan (if you can). Would help a lot.

The hard drive likely died because the entire laptop was overheating. It's a laptop and they rely heavily on that one fan. If you leave it on a carpet or a bed for extended periods of time it is going to get dust and crap and set up.

 

If you never clean the fans of your 1520, especially if you use it on beds/etc., it will eventually accumulate large amounts of dust and will occasionally overheat. Mine ran pretty hot after 2+ years of use before I disassembled it and cleaned it. I suppose with enough dust it could potentially stop working altogether, too.

But if it isn't clogged full of dust, the 1520 isn't that hot of a laptop considering the performance (for 2007) it packs in a 15.4-inch chassis. I've left mine on for days at 100% CPU usage (WorldCommunityGrid) and 100% GPU for parts of those days (when I'd play games), with no problems whatsoever, after I cleaned it out the first time. Even before I cleaned it out I could leave it at 100% CPU for days and it would be fine. When it's firing on all cylinders, the 1520 is pretty reliable. But the fan working is an essential part of firing on all cylinders.