Kfrisk

Thank you for posting.  I am sorry to read that the notebook is shutting down on itself.  Have you received any error messages?  How often does the notebook shut down and what programs or apps are running when it shuts down?

You may have seen this already, it is a basic troubleshooting guide for overheating systems

support.dell.com/.../document

Please be sure to run the fan tests to make sure the cooling fans are working correctly.

Start the notebook holding down the FN key or by tapping F12 and choose diagnostics.  Allow the PSA or basic tests to complete, choose no to running memory diagnostics, choose hardware diagnostics, symptom trees and look for fan noise or system running hot.  Please reply back here with the results.

TB

hi i believe this laptops overheating issue to be a design defect. i have come to notice that this laptop generally runs hot and when on a tilted surface does runs even hotter. thus so i have come to only use my laptop on a desk or other flat surface. i hate the fact that i can't go sit on the couch lie down and use my laptop at a 45 or 90 degree angle. i'm not asking yall to fix the heat pipes or even do anything about my out of warranty laptop.

my system

L591x

i5 460m

GT 420m

6-cell battery

toshiba in warranty replacement drive (i had a seagate if failed within a month) 500GB

now what i want to know outside of an aftermarket cooler that i don't want is there anyway to keep the laptop cool?

I have the same problem with my L501x i7.  It just started to become more of a problem.  The laptop has always been hot, however just over the past two weeks it has been freezing and shutting down.  I ran the diagnostics and the intake port for air to the CPU seems to be unblocked and feels like it flows the same amount of air as when I bought it new.  It seems like the ventilation just can't keep up.  Also it seems like the location where the video card is has also started to increase in temperature.  I am not sure why all this has transpired in the past few weeks.  Maybe updates to Windows, IE, Chrome, and Adobe Flash have pushed the heat changes?  I feel the most heat (and crashing) during video streaming or heavy video card usage.

I recently downloaded a program called Real TempGT that monitors the core temperatures on the i7 CPU and GPU-Z to monitor the video GPU.  I can see everything freezing as the temperatures reach 98 degrees C on the CPU and 85C on the GPU.  I don't know if why I am seeing is correct but when the CPU is cooler the Intel Turboboost kicks up the processing speed to about 2.2GHz, but as things heat up it throttles it back to 931 MHz (maybe to try to keep things cool).  I can also simultaneously see the GPU heat up and it starts to choke around 94C and cuts the GPU core clock, memory clock and shader clock to 10% versus the 100% they normally do at a regular temperature.

Clearly the CPU and GPU are trying to regulate their temperatures by reducing processing speed.  The next question is how to keep them cool to run the applications they are more than capable of running.  Time to start cutting bigger intake holes???

there is a known issue of these laptops overheating easily if they are at ANY angle. the heat pipes on these machines don't want to work at all sometimes, i would check the fins on your heatsink to see if they are hot to the touch, if they are then the heat pipes are working if not, adjust the angle of the machine to be perfectly flat on the surface you are using it on. if it is already flat, call dell and ask for their parts center, order the heatsink for YOUR build. if you still have the part list for your machine check that for the part number. when you are dealing with india its is easier to just talk part numbers. then just take the new part and the computer to a computer repair shop, not GeekSquad but an authorized dell repair center or a local computer store. don't want to deal with dell then just take it to the authorized dell repair center or your local computer repair store. tell them that your machine seems to have broken heat pipes and that you have been recommended to replace them, they can then deal with dell for you. though that would be my assumption and experience though i have not had to replace the heat pipes on my machine... yet. though i have had to deal with dells parts center to try to get the plastics and some brackets for my machine. it took a fall and the brackets that hold the monitor in place broke... twice the second time is when i decided to replace the plastics that were bent out of shape.

This morning I decided to undertake the pleasure of cleaning the heatsink of the laptop.  Thankfully when I first bought the computer, the Avermedia TV tuner antenna connector broke and I had it replaced by the Dell service person.  I watched how he took apart the laptop and reconstructed it.  That was 4 years ago, somehow I remembered.  It required almost complete disassembly.  If I could post a photo, it would be self explanitory why it was overheating.   I have taken this laptop all over the world and it showed.  Basically there was a layer of dust/film built up on the backside of the heatsink fins, fan, and fan duct completely preventing any airflow through the heatsink.  There was still airflow around the heatsink, because there is a gap below it.  I thought because I could still feel air blowing out the exhaust that it was unclogged.  I was wrong. 

Side note:  I always vacuumed the intake port and it has a filter screen, however I didn't realize that it didn't stop fine dust from entering and building up on the fan and heatsink.  The heat exhaust looked completely clean.   Also I tried compressed air, but nothing else came out of the exhaust, so I thought inside it was fine.  Again another assumption I had that was wrong.

I had to use a vacuum and brush to clean all the cooling fins.  Now that the laptop is back together I am monitoring the CPU/GPU speeds and temperatures and both have dropped in half during the intense sessions.  Now the Max temperature for the CPU/GPU from Real Temp GT and GPU-Z is now 60C/45C respectively.  This is a remarkable difference showing how heat was just not being transfered out of the heaksink and heat tubes.  Also there is noticeable increase in the exit velocity from the exhausts and decrease in the overall temperature of exiting air.  There was also a small increase in average clock speeds up from 930 MHz to 1100 MHz, but not exceeding 1300.  Earlier the clock cycles jumped to 2200 MHz early on and fell to 930 because of the high temperatures.  I don't know if Intel and nVidia really try and manage the temperature by dropping cycles or not, but this experience indicates that.

I am back in action!!!

Picture of dirty laptop internals showing heat pipes originating at the CPU and GPU then gathering at the heatsink.  

I too have the similar problem i bought the Dell Xps  with i7,8GB RAM . I am facing lot of hardware issues with this. Within a month Laptop started making  so much noise. Dell replaced the motherboard. Then it started with overheating . it will overheated within 5 min and will get shut down. 
Dell is not supporting by saying warranty expired. Its fine if there is a warranty issue. Looks like design issue. It is not worth to buy the Dell products. I am sick and tired of calling helpdesk with no answers for the issue.

Did you replace the Motherboard yourself, or did you send it off to dell to get fixed? 

if you replaced the motherboard yourself make sure you replaced all of the thermal paste (also known as thermal compound) when you replaced the MotherBoard. 

to do replace the thermal paste (if you replaced the motherboard yourself and did not have dell do it.)

1. grab some thermal paste, I recommend Arctic Silver 5, it is better than most stock thermal compound, and is not that expensive. (around 5 bucks)

2. grab some 75% or greater concentration of isopropyl alcohol (commonly known as Rubbing Alcohol), they make 99% concentrations specifically for computer use.

3. make sure you are grounded and take apart the computer, and to where you have the heatsinks and motherboard exposed, keep track of steps and screws, you can keep track of the steps by taking your camera phone and photographing the each piece you take out.  then storing your screws an a small cup or something like that.

4. once you get to the motherboard and heat sinks, make sure you HAVE the thermal compound, once you take them apart you have to replace the thermal paste.  also at this point it would be a good idea to check the heatsink for dust, dust can block airflow and prevent proper cooling.

5. to do this you unscrew the heatsink from the board, and wiggle the heatsink off, NEVER pull straight up. this can damage the pins on the processor/or socket.

6. take the isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth/paper towel/ q-tip and rub the thermal compound off the processor/gpu and the heatsink, using circular motions. repeat this step until all of the thermal compound and residue is removed.

7. next we apply the thermal compound, you don't want you use too much or too little, i recommend you make an "x" on all the major components that the heat sink touched, (cpu, gpu, NB, and SB). make sure you use a small amount, if you are not sure how much to use (or how to clean the heatsinks/cpu and other components) you can check youtube, a video is better than writing at times.  

8. refit the heatsink and screw it back on.

9. reassemble the computer.

If your computer still overheats, I can't help you, and you should probably take it to a professional. 

On a side note, did you just recently purchase this laptop? Is the laptop current, or second hand? If it is current, this thread does not apply to you. This thread applies to the XPS L501x and L502x systems that were manufactured between October 2010 and 2011-12. The L502x system is the second gen sandy bridge version of the L501x system. You would know you have one of these laptop or similar, because more current and earlier versions do not have JBL speakers.

Motherboard was replaced by Dell support engineer. it is new laptop it and got it  on Jan 27 2012. it has JBL speakers.

One thing specifically noticed is if connected to power it is getting overheated . if it is running through battery without connected to power it is perfectly fine.

the first thing i want you to do is go download and install 2 programs, HWmonitor and CPU-z, they are both from CPUID, and free. i will want screenshots of these programs during what i want you to do. HWMonitor pulls system information like temperatures on all system components. CPU-z tells us information about your Processor, like current clock, bus speed, and the multiplyer. then i want you to go download Prime95, this program tries to find prime numbers, but it is a memory and CPU hog, the reason why it is one of the best stress testing programs.

(also for screenshots there is a free and easy to use program called greenshot)

now i and to know what are your power setting like, specifically i want to know your processor throttle speeds. 

steps to change advanced power settings

1. go to the taskbar and open your power setting

2. on the plan you have selected click change plan settings

http://i.imgur.com/1JkGEGK.png

3. then go to change advances settings

http://i.imgur.com/SwHwUeJ.jpg

4.  under processor power management there should be setting that set the max and min processor state.  since i am currently on my desktop i can not take a screenshot of these setting for whatever reason. 

5. take note of these settings.

now I want you to find out the temperatures of your system with these settings

1. open HWMonitor and CPU-z. take screenshots of these at idle.

2. open prime95 watch the temps and see where they go, try to take a screenshot but if you can't get a screenshot, (like it crashes before you are able to grab one) just the temps are fine. also take note of the clock speeds this will be important later.

2.1. for prime95 you only need to open and run it, if you are presented with a "join GIMPS" message just select "just stress testing"

3.  Run it for an hour or until your system crashes, whichever comes first.

4.  in the end your windows should look like so (take note that i am on my desktop, not my XPS so the processor ram and board information WILL differ. also i am using the ROG edition of CPU-z, the actually edition does not matter, but you should use the standard version.)

http://i.imgur.com/w6SJIn3.png

post the screenshots and notes you got from this, i will tell you want to do next after that.