Laptop owners - overheating problem, check your heatsink!

7 · n00b Joined: 06 Nov 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Chicago, IL

Recently, I have had problems running any type of Linux on my laptop (Compaq Presario 2100 US) due to overheating. XP wasn't that bad but still it would keep the fan on all the time. In some severe cases it shut down due to excessive heat. So I recompiled the kernel to enable cpu scalling etc and that didn't even help. As the last resort to save me from stopping using linux on the laptop I decided to take it apart and clean it out since it's been over a year since I got it. I'm glad I did it. Taking it apart was kind of troublesome since Compaq decided to use about 16,000 screws on it and used the 'puzzle' kind assembling where I had to take one thing apart in order to access that little screw holding the other part in order to unscrew something else. You get the idea.

After finally getting to the heatsink my worries went away when I saw how dust clogged the heat sink fins.

I include links to pictures I took just to give you an idea:
http://mariusz.homelinux.net/graphics/HPIM1415.jpg
http://mariusz.homelinux.net/graphics/HPIM1416.jpg
http://mariusz.homelinux.net/graphics/HPIM1417.jpg

Cleaning that mess up changed things 180 degrees around!
Utilizing CPU at 100% levels for hours (ie. compiling stuff) keeps the fan at the lowest speed and overall external temperature at very comfortable levels.

So, if you own a laptop with linux on it (preferably Gentoo

) and you experience above average overheating problems then it possibly is a stuffed heatsink.

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sapphirecat · Guru Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 376

Same applies for desktops. I was concerned about summer temperatures in my machine, so I took the side panel off. This dropped the temp 5 degrees, to 42 at idle and 63 under load. After taking a good look at the heatsink I pulled it out and cleaned it. It wasn't quite so bad as yours, but now it idles at 38 and only goes up to 53. (Ambient is about 27 in all cases.)
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Former Gentoo user; switched to Kubuntu 7.04 when I got sick of waiting on gcc. Chance of thread necro if you reply now approaching 100%...

Jake · Veteran Joined: 31 Jul 2003 Posts: 1132

One of my friends had an Athlon XP desktop running in the 70s C before I cleaned it out.