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Inspiron 5100 overheating problem
My Inspiron 5100 overheats and then shuts down randomly, like many other people's systems, as I have seen from some of the hundreds of posts on the topic. I used compressed air to blow out the dust in the fan in the back of the system, and I installed the fan GUI program to monitor the temperature. However, the program couldn't pick up the fan speed, so all it tells me is what temperature the hard drive is, which varies between 52 and 48 degrees Celsius, depending on what programs I'm running.
Another thing I noticed after I sprayed the fan with air was that my music that is stored on my computer was skipping a lot. I had no other programs running, and it had never done that before. Also, every week my anti-virus program is scheduled to run a virus scan, and it starts up but never finishes because the computer gets too hot and shuts off. I've had this laptop for going on three years now, so there's no warranty. If I have to send it into Dell, does anyone know how much it would cost, approximately to get fixed whatever needs to get fixed? Thanks.
daletoronto
70 Posts
213
0
Posted May 16th, 2006 18:00
Don't download bios A32... switch it (or leave it) at A31 only.
Second, clean it out from the inside and actually take out the heatsink fan (download the instructions for this from Dell on the technical service site) to remove all the dust.
Thirdly, buy some Arctic Silver 5 paste ($10) and use that instead of the cheap thermal pad that comes with every new Dell. Clean the heatsink and processor (according to the directions on the Arctic Silver website http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm and apply the paste (again, according to the website).
After doing this, you should notice your computer running smoother and the fans won't come on as much either. Buy a can of compressed air and use it once a week or so to blow out the fans and vents (just make sure you put a toothpick in the fan to keep it from spinning, while you apply the compressed air, or you may damage it).
You should notice a nice drop in temp if you do all this correctly... it worked wonders for me :)
-Dale
gabidospi
4 Posts
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Posted May 15th, 2006 09:00
Second, if your computer it is in guarantee period, you shoud ask to Dell to change the fan. Else you should take off the fan and clean it whith a brush (not a spray - could dammage it) and inside the fan chamber - You will be amazed by the quantity of dust that exist inside).
Third think an amount of memory. I have a memory slot problem (1 dead), so I made 1Go per slot and my computer works fine (download and playing game in the same time)