Looking for program/computer overheating.

[Manabi]

So, long story short. When I was in my dorm one night over a year ago my girlfriend and I were listening to music. I made it to where my laptop would play music while it was closed. The next day? Didn't think anything about it and stuck it in my bag, and it cooked the entire day - ruining the fan.

So, overheating problems began after that. I bought a laptop cooler, but it eventually went out - so here I am with this economy cooler that doesn't really do the trick. Is there any program that would notify me if my laptop began overheating? Sometimes - it'll simply crash - and that isn't doing anything for the life of this machine.

I have CPUID which gives me the temperature of everything - but I'm looking for something that will give me a pop-up notice when it gets so hot it's about to crash. Any advice?

[Jack Oat]

Get a new fan.

[The Rambling Midget]

And clean the duct. Laptops are notorious for collecting dust and hair, because their cooling channels are so narrow.

[Manabi]

I think it's a hardware problem. I've ran about half of a can of dust-remover-spray-stuff but it didn't do very much. I think it is generally shot. Getting a new fan - well - this laptop is about 4 years old and with it overheating as much as it has, I don't think it's worth spending the money on. I give it another 6 months of life before it finally poofs. It's having some serious issues lately - probably because of my stupidity.

[The Rambling Midget]

It's a hardware problem. The problem is that it's not being cooled properly. A new fan costs $5. A new laptop costs $500-2000. When you open up the laptop to replace the fan, you'll be able to clean out the cooling channels more thoroughly, and remove anything that's caked on and too stiff to remove with air.

Replace the fan. I have a laptop from 2006 that still runs like a dream, because I haven't consciously allowed it to deteriorate. If it goes poof in 6 months, it will be because you decided to let it go poof, not because of anything wrong with the laptop design.

[Manabi]

Yeah, it's my fault entirely. If it's running well right now, does that mean I would be ok with a new fan? I sort of feel it is on it's last legs. I thought it would be a lot to replace the fan.

I mean, it runs. It's still as quick as ever and I can still run all of my music software. It's just. . . having problems with overheating. I'll look into it and see how to replace it. I'm worried that I've fried everything though.

[The Rambling Midget]

Computers don't really have "last legs". The components either work or they don't. If any one part breaks, the whole thing stops working properly, but when you replace that broken part, it continues as normal. If you had "fried" anything in the computer, it simply wouldn't work.

I've been using the same system for the past three years, and most of the parts are almost eight years old, now. I've bought probably a half dozen fans over that time. Sometimes they burn out. It's normal.

What's the make and model number?

[Jack Oat]

A bit of advice: if you're expecting your computer to die, back up your important data-- including your NWN keys.

[Rystefn]

Yeah, seriously. Replace the fan; clean the vents and things really well. Even if that doesn't fix your crashing issue, you're out twenty minutes and ten bucks to find out what the problem isn't.. and your machine will run better anyway. That's not a bad deal.

And yes, back up everything. Do it regularly. Computers don't always give you warning.