Laptop Overheating?

Laptop Overheating Issues:
Does your laptop shutdown at random? Does it slow down during heavy operations? Do you need to wait 10 min. before you can start it up again? These are all the symptoms of a laptop overheating problem in or around the cooling system. 

What needs to be remembered is that a lot of the current laptops on the market today are running specifications that traditionally were reserved for desktops. Some even contain desktop CPU’s and a kick ass cooling system to match. Take a look at the cooling modules in some of the current Toshiba notebooks. 

Anyhow, in order for these CPU’s to perform they have to be kept as cool as possible so manufacturers like Toshiba, Compaq/HP and the like struggle with the limited space and power to do this, hence they have had some laptop overheating issues. 

If your laptop does show some of the symptoms mentioned before here’s what you can do.. 

On the under side of a lot of the machines you can gain access to the CPU/cooling module compartment, be warned – when tinkering around near the CPU, electro static discharge may be your worst nightmare - be careful to control ESD. Once you have located where the fan is you will be able to see quite clearly if this is your issue.. take a look below. 



1: Heat sink
2: Fan 

The heat sink runs off to the right of this picture and sits on the CPU, you can see the copper pipe running to the CPU here(1). 

The fan and the heat sink have a small gap in between them, this is where dust will be sucked into and will accumulate. 


Dust build up inside a Toshiba Satellite A10 

You can use a soft paint brush safely enough here to loosen all the dust and then use a vacuum with a brush attachment to remove it. If you're game you can take the fan out (2 screws to remove) and give it a good clean out. This isn’t always so easy, on other models of notebooks the fan or fans are only accessible by removing the main board, not a job for a novice. 


Dust build up inside a Toshiba Satellite A10 with the fan removed. 


Arrows mark what should be cleaned out before re-assembly. 

Once all the dust and lint is removed, re-assemble your machine. This procedure is something that should be done periodically to ensure that your laptop overheating issues will be a thing of the past.