Laptop Overheating?

[Publius Clodius Pulcher]

Hey there, I'm wondering if y'all could give me some advice. I've got a Dell Inspiron with a Core i3, 4 Gigs of RAM, and the onboard Intel graphics chip that comes with the i3s. [DXDIAG lists its info as Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator HD (Core i3)]

Over the last few months, I kept encountering this problem, and I've usually chalked it up to overheating, but if its a software issue or something, I'd be stoked (easier to fix) and I want some tech opinion.

The only game I really play on this computer is Europa Universalis 3 (Heir to the Throne) and for a few months when I first got the laptop it worked fine. Then after a few hours of playing, the screen would go all one color and I'd have to hard reboot. (Generally the color is the same of the nation I'm playing, so on a Spain game after a few hours the whole screen would turn yellow) Recently, this has begun to occur MUCH more quickly, to the point that playing the game is pointless because it'll happen within 20 minutes. I've always figured it must be the GPU overheating, especially since the laptop would get hot (as they tend to do when doing anything intensive). I've tried the general stuff like keeping the laptop on a hard flat surface, and then elevating the laptop to let the bottom fans vent more, but those haven't really stopped it. Is this definitely an overheating issue?

[PoleCat]

Could be. Have you looked at cooling mats for laptops? That may help.

Also look for Speedfan and tell us what your temps are. Good luck!

[karamazovmm]

hwmonitor is better suited for laptops, try this one

Here is the deal, if you have, as many do, put the laptop on top blankets or other things that have many loose threads (=dust), you are probably going to have to clean the fans, in laptops it means disassembling the heatsink and cleaning the fans and the heat fins that are connected to it, this is the only way that you can really clean it

I remember that an old lenovo that I had was having the same issues as yours, sent to several technicians and they couldnt discover what it was, one said that it was even the connector of the screen, however one day I was cleaning it, and voila discovered the heatsink thing, and guess what there was a lot of dust in there it was so thick that looked like cottom

[Shaio]

How long have you had your laptop? it probably just needs cleaning, as laptops are excellent at collecting dust and blocking there own cooling systems.

[Publius Clodius Pulcher]

I've had it about a year and a half or so. I'm betting (or hoping) that the problem is what MM said, as the panel underneath where the heat is (right below my trackpad) has a couple vents and is easily removed. Only problem is I don't have a screwdriver for the job, so I'm going to go to my college IT place and borrow one of theirs and check it out later today. It's also been getting pretty hot even surfing the internet, which it didn't use to. Really hoping its lint I can pull off and viola. We'll see tho

[♔hammeredalways♔]

I would also highly recommend a Cooler as well, when I play ETW you can feel the 2xGTX280m's start to heat (I use EVGA Precision to monitor temp.) - sometimes you just need a gap between the fans and the surface and the cooler tray provides that, even if not connected

[karamazovmm]

while there repaste the thing, since the heatsink assembly is connected directly to the cpu and sometimes the gpu, thus you would put some air bubbles when you remove it.

paste is quite cheap, I use ICD 27 or thermaltake (something something)

[CaptainMeows]

Did you clean it? laptops get full with dust pretty damn fast. i suggest, cleaning it it with a fan or a leafblower.