My laptop runs very hot and eventually turns off or freezes – this is one of the most common complaints I have been receiving from my customer for many years. Why it’s happening? Is there an easy fix for that?
Most likely this problem is heat related. Take a look at the following picture.
Any laptop has a cooling module which consists of heatsink and cooling fan. When laptop is working, the processor (CPU) heats up and because of that the heatsink is getting hot too. At some temperature level, the fan kicks in and cools down the heatsink.
The problem starts when the laptop cooling module collects too much dust inside. Usually dust collects between the fan and heatsink. Dust clogs the heatsink and kills normal airflow inside the cooling module. Eventually, the processor gets very hot and the laptop turns off unexpectedly or freezes. This problem can be fixed by cleaning the laptop cooling module.
Cleaning laptop cooling module.
Some laptops give you an easy access to the heatsink and fan. In laptops like that you can access the cooling module through the bottom cover.
In my example I had to remove the cooling module. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to remove the fan and access the heatsink. In some laptops you can remove the fan without separating the heatsink from the CPU.
After I removed the fan, I found a thick layer of dust inside the heatsink. Cleaning the heatsink should fix any heat related problems.
Apply thermal paste on the processor.
If thermal paste on the processor dried out, you should replace it with fresh thermal paste.
Remove old thermal paste from the processor and heatsink using alcohol swab.
WARNING: In some laptops the heatsink also covers the graphics chip. The part of the heatsink which covers the graphics chip might have thermal pad on it instead of regular thermal paste. Do not replace thermal pad with thermal paste! Do not apply thermal paste on the thermal pad! Just leave thermal pad alone and apply thermal paste only on the processor.
I usually use Shin-Etsu thermal paste which is relatively cheap and performs well.
After applying new thermal paste, install the heatsink and fan back into the laptop. Do not forget to connect the fan cable to the motherboard!
What if cooling module cannot be accessed easily?
In some laptops the cooling module is buried deep inside the case and cannot be easily accessed and removed. In order to remove the cooling module it’s necessary to disassemble the whole laptop but it’s only for experienced users.
In laptops like that you can use the following technique:
Buy a can of computer compressed air.
1. Blow air into the fan grill on the bottom of the laptop.
2. Blow air into the grill on the side of the laptop.
Switch direction a few times until all dust is gone. Most likely this quick cleaning will fix your laptop overheating problem.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
January 11th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Hi there. Sadly my laptop is one of those where you cannot remove the heat sink without taking apart the whole thing. It’s an HP Pavilion dv9000 notebook. I already tried blowing air but it still feels hot. I want to try replacing thermal paste but don’t know how to remove the heat sink. Can you help?
January 11th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Michael,
You can find laptop disassembly instructions in the official HP service manual.
January 16th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Laptop’s are sometimes ignored when it comes to collecting dust and overheating. It’s always a good idea to keep the vents clear away from the mess that collects on an office desk. The laptop will last longer given adequate ventilation.
February 1st, 2011 at 2:38 am
thanks the same problem is happenning to my laptop is hp g series notbook once i turned it off the next day it wont turn on the light is blinking so i will try it out this way
February 1st, 2011 at 8:19 am
Trever alex,
I don’t think your problem is heat related.
You said the laptop will not start the next day. It means the laptop is not hot when it fails.
Something else is going on here. Could be memory failure.
Try reseating memory modules. Remove memory modules one by one. Test your laptop with each memory module separately.
February 1st, 2011 at 11:51 am
why if the laptop powered but not dispying what it may be the problem
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:58 am
oteniola,
There is no simple answer to this question.
Can you get image on the external monitor?
If both, the internal and external monitors have no image, check laptop memory. This could be memory failure.
Try reseating memory modules. Try removing them one by one.
February 10th, 2011 at 7:54 am
One thing you might try to prevent the collection of dust in the fins is cut a coffee filter the size of the air intake, which is usually on the bottom of the laptop, and using masking tape cover the intake. Make sure no tape covers the opening. this filters the air going into your laptop and shows dirt when it needs replacing.
February 10th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
My laptop have the same problem my laptop model is HP dv7-3160. When i’m using it regularly the numlock light(led) and capslock light(led) are blinking. I cannot type or move my mouse. It freezes and specially when im on the internet watching some video streams or watching dvd on my dvd drive. Then may battery doesn’t last long. What seems to be the problem with that..Pls help me
February 12th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Willie Stovall,
DO NOT DO THAT!
The coffee filter cannot pass enough air. If you cover the intake the laptop will overheat.
Again, do not cover the intake.
Instead, just buy compressed air and blow some air into the intake once in while.
February 12th, 2011 at 11:42 am
Leondro,
It’s hard to tell if you have a problem with the keyboard or motherboard.
You can try the following. Disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard and use your laptop with an external USB keyboard. If the laptop works fine when internal keyboard disconnected, it could be bad keyboard. Try replacing the keyboard.
This guide for HP Pavilion dv7 could be helpful: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/.....-notebook/
Try cleaning the cooling module. It’s possible the laptop freezes because of overheating. When you watching videos, the CPU and GPU heats up very quickly.
Most likely bad battery.
February 14th, 2011 at 4:32 am
my toshiba L300D laptop has the same problem, it shuts down within minuites it powers on, I removed the fan and heatsink and I found lots of dust covered the heat sink, I dint remove the CPU. After cleanning I put them back to gather and powered up but not boots up the laptop, I here the fan is working. Could you help me to figure out the problem.
thank you
February 15th, 2011 at 1:32 am
i have some problem in my sony vaio laptop cooling fan some time ok but after some time off how i can remove this problem, but i have installed new then fan same problem,
February 17th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Hi there!
I’m considering to write an article about RMClock undervolting,but I have nowhere to comment about it.. but if you can I would love to share this powerful tool with everyone to lower the heat generated by laptops. if you can help that’s great! thanks!
February 21st, 2011 at 5:42 pm
samith,
1. Check both memory modules. It’s possible one of the modules not seated correctly.
2. There is a chance that you pulled the CPU from the socket while removing the heat sink. Maybe the CPU has to be reseated.
February 21st, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Stan,
You can comment about this tool here.
February 23rd, 2011 at 2:05 am
Thank you, after swaping memory modules lap top starts, but it has the same problem as before. it keep cuting off after fiw minutes, only one accation it ran up to windows but only the curser on the screen, could you help me for this problem,
Thank you
samith
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:21 pm
samith,
Turn on the laptop and press F8 when logo appears on the screen.
From the menu select Last Known Good Configuration. This might help.
If it doesn’t help, it’s possible your Windows OS corrupted and has to be reinstalled.
Also, this could be hard drive problem. Run hard drive test. You can use Seatools from Seagate. It runs fine for most hard drives.
February 28th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Thank you very much for your instructions I managed to test the HDD and reinstalled the vista in my laptop. It boots up perfectly now, but my original problem is still there, it shuts down without a reason.I have cleaned the heatsink and put new thermal paste in the heatsink and CPU. (during the reinstallation process it did not cut off obout) as soon as vista started it cuts off with in 3 min so on. any idea where the problem is? (I suspect the fan) but i am not sure. your advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you
March 15th, 2011 at 4:26 am
Excellent guide. My laptop has been overheating and shutting down lately (it’s always running in a very dusty environment), and I have a laptop that requires me to detach the heatsink from the CPU. This helped me understand better what I need to do. Thank you.
March 24th, 2011 at 2:21 am
my toshiba laptop if you put chager than the chager light goes off, and i have try the chager and is working too.
March 31st, 2011 at 6:59 am
pls my dell latitude D600 refuses to come up. when i put it on, it just behaves as if it wants to load, but later on it goes off. pls what can i do it it. thanks.
March 31st, 2011 at 10:17 am
olorunfemi segun,
It’s not very clear what’s going on with the laptop.
Does it turn on at all? Can you see Dell logo on startup? Does it start loading Windows OS?
April 16th, 2011 at 6:49 am
Hey, thanks for the guide. I wanted to ask, is Dust Off Gaming Gear safe to blow on a laptop grill/vent the way you mentioned? Are there any precautions I need to take (other than for using Dust Off properly) e.g. with respect to static, or is that unlikely to be an issue? And do you know if Dust Off leaves any residue on the laptop keys that can cause skin damage (in its pure gas form)?
April 16th, 2011 at 6:53 am
Oh yeah I should add, though my laptop’s fan still works, the core often reaches 90 – 100 centigrade. Would dust in the fan/heatsink be attributable for that much heat build-up? I’m pretty sure it’s slowly fried my ram as the PC is much slower than it used to be, especially when performing graphics intensive functions like games.
April 18th, 2011 at 5:26 am
Hi
my lap top has gone in a unstoppable loop of “updating ” after u try to switch it off.
It shows “configuring 3 of 3 0% completed,do not switch off computer”
then it keeps on restarting endlessly and the same caption shows after every restarting.
Kindly help to stop this and get it started.
My laptop is Sony vaio cs 35gn
my operating sys is windows vista.
Thanx.
Gurjeet
May 1st, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Gurjeet malhi,
I don’t know if it’s going to help but you can try.
Turn on the laptop and press F8 as soon as Sony logo appears on the screen. From the next menu select Safe Mode and try turning it on.
Will it boot to the desktop in Safe Mode. If it does, you can try reverting Windows OS using system restore. Revert it back to the time when OS was working fine.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Anthony,
Yes, it should be safe if you use it properly.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Anthony,
Definitely.
If the laptop still turns on, most likely there is nothing wrong with the RAM. It runs much slower because of overheating. The CPU overheats and slows down.
Cleaning the cooling fan and heatsink should cure the problem.
May 4th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
My Hp Laptop it burnt and spilt some plastic when some part was melt as over heat, then shut down automatically. tried to turn on again power not supply.
Is that mean i has to change a whole mother board.
Thanks
May 4th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Tommy How,
Cannot tell. It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look at the motherboard.
May 6th, 2011 at 5:12 am
hi there
i have a dell inspiron 1545 it turns and works perfect for about 20 minutes then cuts out and it heats up i have tried to clean the fan and still no good what other options do i have
May 7th, 2011 at 9:55 am
jaffa,
Take a closer look at the cooling fan. Does it spin at all? Maybe the cooling fan is bad.
May 8th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
RE: Using Air-in-a-Can to get rid of dust.
This can spread dust t/o the laptop – which might be very bad idea.
What I’ve done instead is use a good strong vacuum cleaner!
The idea of alternating *where* you apply air pressure is excellent.
Cheers!
………. Rick
May 20th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
hi have laptop prob…my laptop fell down the power is still working but but nothing appeared on screen…all black….what would be the problem?
thank you n best regards!!!!!11
May 30th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
@ mac,
Check memory modules. It’s possible one of the memory modules got dislocated and the laptop doesn’t boot because of that.
June 21st, 2011 at 7:56 am
My laptop is compaq, it started to show white colour screen when i turn on, n power off after 10 second. Is it motherboard overheated?
June 21st, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Hi
yes my lap top must be full of dust too.it’s just started this overheating nd shutting off phase.but before this hppened something is mking the type disappear when we type out a letter or letters;as one word or letter is typed the cursur vanishes somewhere else and or deletes a different letter in nother sentence!!!OMG! is this frustrating as H***
My computer is an acer Aspire and the children were throwing a football in the aprtment nd it dislodged one key and half dislodged another …now we hve lost the 1st key but still hve the retainers nd yes it’s the Letter A (SIGH)!
July 1st, 2011 at 5:30 am
dear sir i have use wipro laptop my laptop cooling is not run who to repair this fan
July 15th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
my laptop hp x6310,get very hot,always tels me critical battery and then switches off within 20 mins.for now it doen’t come on again even when i changed the battery on the charging indicator light turns on.what do i do?
July 25th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
well do you have a insructional on how to replace the keys . my laptop has multiple keys missings and i cant find a cheap place to get them replaced . their cups are missing and some of the retainers are missing. cann you help PLLEAASSEE because i need it !
July 26th, 2011 at 9:49 am
I have an Acer Laptop which is 8 yrs old. It was working fine till date. But now the laptop is not starting up. I have cleaned the Dust and the fan. When I power on the fan will start and work for 15 seconds and then it will stop. Nothing will come on the screen. Moreover there was no indicator blinking light showing that the Hard Disk is working. I have removed the RAM and re-inserted the same, but no luck. It will be highly appreciated, if you can help me on this problem.
August 29th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Hi there I am not sure if this is the right spot to put this. I’m pretty sure ik what the problem is but how do you take the keyboard thing off the keyboard without breaking it? Is it because there is so much dirt there? would like some ideas on how to solve this
TY i would like to try and replace the part myself. And its an acer 5272Z series. the problem i’m having is the adapter plug isn’t holding a charge. the adapter works and the batrery is ok but i have to jiggle the adapter to get it to work 
would like to know if maybe replacing this part would solve the issue ty!
September 17th, 2011 at 1:10 am
I’m using a Fujitsu siemens AMILO PI 2515.For some days now it stoped to work,the power led turns on but the computer doesnt boot.Infact am worried cos am loosing all my assignment.Help me out
September 17th, 2011 at 6:46 am
@ AGES EVANS HILLS,
It’s hart to tell why your laptop is failing. Could be memory problem. Try reseating memory modules. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one.
As a last resort, you can remove the hard drive recovery your files using an external USB enclosure.
http://www.datarecoverytutoria.....-notebook/
September 28th, 2011 at 2:56 am
Dear Sir,
My Wipro Laptop turns on but no display h.d.d lcd blink ,after 1 minte leptop restart but no display, i am replace 3 rams.
Please help.
December 8th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
I have an acer laptop that will not boot. I turn on unit and the green light comes on for about 2 seconds and then shuts down and then tries again by it self and goes on and off by it self every 2-3 seconds until I remove the battery. Computer was getting hot on occasion before this started. Any ideas?
December 8th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
@ Mart,
I just mentioned this problem in this post:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....-problems/
Check out Problem 3.
Try reseating memory modules. If it doesn’t help, probably this is motherboard related failure.
December 18th, 2011 at 10:23 am
I Have Fujitsu siemens xi 2428
cooling is not run.
is cooling dead? or problem by 5+ volt mainboard????????????
December 26th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@ Aras,
Cannot tell without testing the laptop. Could be just failed cooling fan. Try replacing the fan first.
December 30th, 2011 at 3:29 am
Hello
If the thermal pad on the GPU is, or gets damaged in any dismantling or in any of your repairs, where can these be sourced from and are they all the same?? Thicknesses? Thermal properties? How would you know, which is which/ what is what? Is there a certain colour coding with different thermal pads denoting different thicknesses and different working temperatures? Any guidelines or advice would be greatly appreciated.
THANK YOU !! (I live in the UK)
docjab1
December 30th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
@ docjab1,
You can find new thermal pad on eBay. Let’s say you are working on a HP Pavilion dv9000 notebook and need a new replacement thermal pad for it.
Go to eBay and search for “dv9000 GPU thermal pad”.
Probably there are but I’m not sure 100%. I think if you get a thermal pad from another laptop but it has same size, most likely it will work just fine.
January 17th, 2012 at 6:09 am
I think the worst laptops are Toshiba for collecting the dust and burning up. Soon as it starts to feel hot and starts going weird do something about it dont wait till you melt the mother board and its to late.
January 20th, 2012 at 12:14 am
I have a laptop toshiba L500-1UU. When i turn on, power lights on then after few seconds it dies. I had tried removing battery then connecting using power cord, nothing happens. Please help me!!!!! Thanks
January 21st, 2012 at 12:00 am
@ mare oton,
Can you test the AC adapter with a voltmeter? It’s possible the AC adapter is dead and the battery doesn’t have enough charge to start the laptop.
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:26 am
my laptop is siemens fujitsu/amilo pro/my basic problem is my browser freezing…and i have to turn it off..when i try to turn it on…the screen still black i must try and try to works…
January 24th, 2012 at 3:47 am
AC adapter is ok. I cleaned heat sink then it works for 2 hours and it again dies of its own. I tried to use cooling fan, but all USB port are not functioning. I test the port using USB mouse (optical mouse), the mouse lights only but the mouse pointer does not move. Are the USB ports damaged? It can be repair? I need your help pls. Thank a lot…
January 24th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
@ mara oton,
Did you apply fresh thermal grease on the CPU? Can you see the colling fan working? Does it spin at all?
I cannot tell if this is hardware related failure or there is a problem with Windows OS.
Here’s what you can try to test USB ports. Boot your laptop from a live Linux CD (you can use Ubuntu OS). Test USB ports in Ubuntu.
If you can get USB optical mouse working in Ubuntu but not Windows, this is Windows OS related problem.
If mouse doesn’t work in Ubuntu and Windows, most likely this is hardware related issue.
I don’t think you can fix it because USB ports soldered to the motherboard and USB controller also integrated into the motherboard.
As a last resort, you can use a USB PC card.
Take a look at the second image in this post: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....rt-laptop/
January 24th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Yes the fan is spinning and i applied grease. I tried to open again and it operates for almost 5 hours without dying. USB ports did not function even though i used ubuntu. In windows it displayed message “USB Device Not Recognized”. Is this a driver problem? The sound also stops. “No audio device or headphone” display. Thank you so much for the help in advance. It helps a lot.
February 2nd, 2012 at 8:15 am
@ mara oton,
I don’t think this is driver related issue. If USB ports stopped working in Ubuntu and Windows, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.
February 6th, 2012 at 11:21 pm
hello…thank for the help. my laptop is now ok but the usb ports are still in trouble…my friend had also a problem. his laptop toshiba L300 won’t power on if the power cord is connected but the battery is charging. if the battery is remove, no power indication. if the battery is connected and the power cord is disconnected, it works as normal…pls help for the problem..
February 10th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
@ mara oton,
Did you try another AC adapter? Maybe it’s failing and screwing the whole system.
March 8th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
dear My Laptop having a problem from many days i am trying to install webcam driver but still not working . model is satellite L655-146 and Part number is PKS1JE ..
Let me know if you have any solution for webcam please sir.
March 12th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
The blowout technique works better if augmented with a vacuum cleaner nozzle held over the opposite port.
March 15th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
@ FAISAL,
Check your laptop device manager. Can you see the webcam in there? Probably it will be listed in the imaging devices as laptop integrated webcam or something similar.
April 5th, 2012 at 3:58 am
Please help me.
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ77ON that is heating up too much. How do an internal cleansing?
Francis
May 15th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
i found a simple solution for it ( the heat fan running fast ) go to task manager and under performance tab check which program is using the maximum porcent of CPU, then go back to processes tab and shut down that program. after this my CPU usage went down from 75% to 2% ( i was doing nothing no game no browsing ) and my heat fan which was running very fast, started running very very slowly that i could’nd even hear the sound of the fan when i went close to the heat sink at the left side of my laptop and after a while there was no hot air coming from the left upper side. So you can try because i found that was helpfull to me