[Finalmike]

My toshiba satillite laptop overheats. Fast. So fast that the fan starts to go nuts when I'm just on this site, nothing else running. After the fan goes crazy for a few minutes my laptop will just shut off.

I bought a Targus Chillpad, which helps a little bit, but if I play any games I get the same shut down problem.

Is there any way to reduce the power that my laptop uses? Is this perhaps not even a power issue?

Thanks

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Hi Finalmike...

There are several possible causes of your overheating...the most probable would be dust and whatnot in the CPU cooler. A good cleaning with a can of compressed air may help, but a good cleaning with the case open would be better. However, I don't recommend opening a laptop up unless you have experience in doing so.

Sometimes the thermal paste between the cooler and processor will breakdown and lose it's ability to transfer heat away from the processor effieciently. This may be especially true if the machine has been getting hot for any length of time. Again, replacing this paste is best left to the experienced.

A failing motherboard can also cause overheating as you describe.

I don't know that this will help, but it will give you a couple places to look for the problem. It doesn't really sound like a power related issue, but a thermal transfer problem.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi Finalmike...

There are several possible causes of your overheating...the most probable would be dust and whatnot in the CPU cooler. A good cleaning with a can of compressed air may help, but a good cleaning with the case open would be better. However, I don't recommend opening a laptop up unless you have experience in doing so.

Sometimes the thermal paste between the cooler and processor will breakdown and lose it's ability to transfer heat away from the processor effieciently. This may be especially true if the machine has been getting hot for any length of time. Again, replacing this paste is best left to the experienced.

A failing motherboard can also cause overheating as you describe.

I don't know that this will help, but it will give you a couple places to look for the problem. It doesn't really sound like a power related issue, but a thermal transfer problem.

wannabe1