How to fix laptop overheating?

Question

sometimes when im on my laptop for like an hour or more, it gets real hot, and the light blinks constantly....even if im not on it, it gets real hot and the light continues to blink constanty...what should i do to fix the problem?

i have a toshiba

Answer 1

There are two ways you can tackle this problem.

One, prop the laptop up. More specifically the back of it. By allowing air flow to get under the laptop, and around the battery, you'll be able to cool it off. It won't completely chill it, but it should do enough to keep the battery from overheating the rest of the laptop.

There are stands made specifically for this.

Or, you can get a fan chilling mat. It lays completely flat, and with the two built in fans, can help vent hot air while circulating cooler air.

The following link will illustrate both types of stands.

http://targus.com/us/accessories_cooling...

If you don't feel like shelling out any cash, simply propping the back end of the laptop up will help keep the heat down.

Answer 2

All computers including laptops accumulate dust which can form a thick solid layer of grime. Laptop components operate in a confined space and air vents can become completely blocked and possibly cause the cooling fan to become inefficient, stop or fail completely. A charging battery generates heat too.

Overheating will cause many components to eventually fail – the CPU, memory, hard drive, CD read/writer etc.

Make sure the fan is working by listening as it starts up.

Clean the laptop as best you can. Use a blower or vacuum with a tiny nozzle on any vents you can see for a start; you may have to remove base panels or the keyboard to do this properly. Clean fan blades if you can get access to them using a cotton bud.

If the machine is clean and you still have a problem, use an accessory stand for laptops and notebooks which has its own fan(s), or anything that at least raises the machine a little to allow for better air circulation underneath. Always work on a hard surface so that air can circulate under the laptop.

Good luck – it may not be anything more serious than that.

Answer 3

Overheating can be caused by many reasons, usually the laptop is clogged up by dust, causing it to block airflow throughout the laptop.

The laptop can be cleaned, via opening it up and using compressed air to blow away the dust.

If problems persist, you may want to buy laptop cooling pads, which sit under your laptop. If you are into CPU cooling, you may want to consider applying/buying AS5 (Arctic Silver 5), or another cooling chemical grease.

Answer 4

Check to make sure your fan exhausts and intakes are not clogged up with dust, as well as your CPU fan and heatsink. Laptops should always be used on a hard, and clean surface without any obstructions to the fans. Also make sure the fans are spinning too, hot air getting trapped inside the case just makes things worse.

If everything seems clear on the inside with little dust build up, you may want to consider an external laptop cooler that plugs into your USB port. This will drain your battery a little more though, but if you plan on using a laptop for more than 30 minutes at a time, you might as well plug it into the wall outlet.

I don't know what you mean by light blinking, hard drive activity or display flickering? If the display is flickering, this could be caused by the GPU overheating, considering the problem at hand.  

Answer 5

Buy cooling stand or Chilling mat for your laptop.

They may come for a price around 100 to 500 Rs. depending on how many cooling fans you want and the looks.

Answer 6

Also make sure you're not placing it on a soft cloth surface.