[htmagallanes]

Hi guys,
Since last week my laptop started to overheat too soon too fast....eventhough FAN works constantly.
I called Gateway and was told that computer needs to be sent to their service dept. immediately so they can take a look at the problem.
I had a bad experience 3 years ago when I sent my old laptop to be repaired and came back after 3 weeks, and guess what.....they reformated the hard drive....nice....I was so happy after I lost all that I had in the system.
That's done....Anyhow....Is there a way to check what is wrong with the computer????, anything????....before I say bye-bye to all the info. inside????
This problem started last week....I did not installed any software, etc, etc.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks.

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Hi

Silly question maybe but how do you know its overheating? Are you using monitoring software or something?
What sorts of temperatures (CPU and system temps) is the laptop reaching & after how long?
What CPU do you have?

[Samm]

Hi

Silly question maybe but how do you know its overheating? Are you using monitoring software or something?
What sorts of temperatures (CPU and system temps) is the laptop reaching & after how long?
What CPU do you have?

[htmagallanes]

Hi Samm,
Thanks for the fast reply.
I don't have any software to check the actual temperature....I go with the old fashion way....touching the keyboard....jijijijiii.
(I mean is really burning up....no kidding.)

To give you an idea....I turn the Laptop on at 9:00 am....send a couple of mails, and by 9:45 am is burning up.
This never happened before....I used to work for straight hours and no problema whatsoever.

[Samm]

Whoa, that is hot! Sounds to me like something has packed up inside the laptop in that case - possibly one of the fans.
Check the vents on the case though & make sure they aren't clogged up with dust & fluff, and make sure when the laptop is switched on, you have it placed on a desk or something similar as opposed to on your lap or on the bed etc.

I think to be honest, you may well need to send it in for repair. I understand your concern however about losing your data thats on the hard drive.
The best way to secure this, would be to back it up first using one of the following :
CDRW drive (if the laptop has one)
an external USB hard drive or flash drive
or a USB 2.5in caddy.

A 2.5in caddy allows you to physically remove the hard drive from the laptop, place it in the caddy then connect the caddy to any other PC with a USB port. This is the best option if the laptop won't work reliably for long enough to allow you to transfer data to a CD etc, or if the laptops own USB ports are a bit dodgy.

[htmagallanes]

Thanks so much Samm,
You know....I will send it...this is worrying me a bit.
Will let you know the outcome in a few days, hopefully.

[htmagallanes]

Samm,
by the way, what do you suggest (software) to check temperture of system????....any websites I can visit to download????

Thanks.

[Samm]

There is plenty of software available that can monitor the temperature sensors on the motherboard. Unfortunately, you may have trouble finding one that works because yours is likely to use proprietry (non-standard) sensors etc.

First place to look is in the laptops bios (on most gateway laptops - you need to press the F2 key a few times immediately after powering on)

Next, check that you don't already have monitoring software running in the system tray (try looking under the battery/power monitor as well if there is one)

If not, you could try the following programs :

http://www.pcworld.c...=7309&fileidx=1

http://www.majorgeek...U_ID_d2426.html

http://www.majorgeek...tion_d4181.html

One way of reducing the heat produced by the laptop is to adjust the power management settings to lower the performance. You will probably also find that the laptop runs hotter when the battery is low & you have it on charge while using it.