i7 laptop automatic overheat shut-down?

Question

I am using Asus N82JQ laptop with i7-720QM, 4GB RAM, 1GB nVidia GT335 and 5400rpm HDD. I am using cooling pad under the laptop. I live in Greece, where the temperature of the air is easily around 40`C. Previously I was using Win 7 Home Premium. Laptop has always been warm on the top and from time to time the fans were like turbines of an Airbus, but it was working fine.

Recently I installed new Win 7 Ultimate. It was a clean install from original Win 7 DVD, not from factory recovery CD, which is full of bloat-ware.

I am using the same programs as before, however the computer is overheating:

1. it is extremely hot on the top,
2. around the fan one cannot touch it,
3. when watching video, I am experiencing problems. Video freezes for moments, sound is cracking,
4. fans are working all the time on 100% even though they should work so only for 45sec, then they should slow down,
5. last few days the computer even shut-down while watching on-line movies. The case has been so hot, that I could not rest my palms on the laptop.

I cannot open the case, because I will loose the guarantee, so I cannot clean the dust from inside.

What are the possibilities to correct this? It should be a software problem, because with previous Win7HP the computer was working fine. I am not a computer expert, but hopefully I can follow advice if it will be given.

Answer 1

It is possible that your thermal compound is dry, try to change it. You can go to a computer service, or you can guide yourself from youtube videos to learn how to dissasembly your laptop.

Also try to clean the dust from intake and outake vents of your laptop. The use of cooling pads is not always a successful solution because the fans dont match with intake laptop vents, you can try Cooler Master NotePal U3 because fans can be placed anywhere on the cooling pad.

Answer 2

I have the very same Asus machine as you and am encountering exactly the same problem, just as you described it. Something to do with the display adapter is my suspicion. Like you I live in a very hot country (Borneo, Malaysia 4 degrees from the equator). I think the layout on the motherboard might be responsible as All those hot components are very close together. I am a graphics designer and media consultant and when I use video or graphical software, or even view graphically intense video material through the internet, this power failure is most likely to occur. I have tried many solutions but nothing works so far. Technicians have checked every component on the laptop and can find nothing wrong. The power failure is not very often, and very intermittent. But my view is that it should NEVER happen. I have lost files for clients I was working on because of this and had to redo the work. Have you checked your battery? I recently replaced the battery and the instances of failure greatly reduced. I think batteries wear out sooner on this machine due to the heat. It runs much hotter than my other laptop (Sony Vaio).

Answer 3

I've never been in your situation, but here are a few things I've came up with:

• install an additional CPU fan
• make sure that the cooling pad layout 'fits' the layout of the back of your laptop (see where the holes, through which the air flows, are)
• install SpeedFan and monitor the temperature of your CPU / GPU / HDD. SpeedFan has an option to run a specified program when a temperature on a certain device reachex x degrees Celcius (Configuration: Events). //those advices apply only if the cause is the overheating.

Answer 4

Have you installed your drivers from Windows update or from the OEM? Check your Power Plan, you might wanna try setting the maximum processor speed from the default 100% to lower (happened to me, I can only reach 80% without overheating) As for the dust, you can try those gas-duster, no need to actually open your case