Heat control . . again . . .

[Mandi]

I am 95% a laptop user . . .[nbsp][nbsp]I like being able to leave my house, leave town, compute in bed, compute on the couch, etc.[nbsp][nbsp]I have been having trouble with my fan cycling on and off rapidly recently, and it is a major PITA - it momentarily seizes the input/output of any application I am on.[nbsp][nbsp]I got sooo tired of this morning, and thinking, "There has to be a better way . . . " grabbed my kids' gel pack for owies out of the freezer, and plopped the computer down on it.[nbsp][nbsp]

Well![nbsp][nbsp]This is more like it![nbsp][nbsp]Happy system . . . happy fan in the OFF position . . . and happy Mandi.[nbsp][nbsp]The only thing not happy is my lap, holding the frozen gel pack, but no doubt I can refine that situation too, LOL . . . so is this a giant no no, or am I okay doing this?

[Brian]

In your case I would suggest you modify the laptop and hook up some kind of liquid cooling system... Yes I am kidding :)

Because the hardware in laptops are in such cramped quarters, they tends to get very hot. You should also be careful where you put it, or even put it on something raised so the air can get to the bottom. If you leave a laptop on blankets or a bed, it might cause it to overheat because the sheets act as insulation thus trapping the heat in.

If your problem is not remedied by that I would suggest you check that the fan is relatively clean.

If that is not the it, I would see if there is dust on the fan blades. If that isn’t it either I would contact the manufacturer if you think there is a problem.

I have alse heard of pads that are supposed to help, but don’t know much about them other than the fact that they help circulation under the laptop, and places sell them. I did a real quick search on them and found http://www.coolpad.com/ but I have no clue if that is legit etc. so be careful..

Hope this helps you out!!

-Brian

[Justin]

I would be careful with the cold pack - you don't want to let any condensation build up inside the laptop, as that could cause a lot more problems than the heat...

I would double check the fan, making sure it is working properly and that it is turning on when it should - it might be that it's waiting too long. If you have some software to control the fan, set its threshold to a lower temp so that it will kick on a little sooner (this will of course reduce battery life, but it might help the temp problems).

Hope this helps.
[nbsp]
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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest (http://www.FutureQuest.net/index.php) Support

[Scott]

I use CoolPad and so do many of the people I work with...[nbsp][nbsp]works great.

I lease studio space in Rancho Mirage California and in the summer it gets H O T![nbsp][nbsp]We have burned up just about everything electronic with the exception of laptops sitting upon a CoolPad.

As Justin stated, be very careful with the ice-e freezer packs and the condensation they will cause.

Stay cool ;)[nbsp]
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Scott
www.onDV.com (http://www.onDV.com)

[Mandi]

Thanks for the advice and links . . . I will study it a bit more carefully.[nbsp][nbsp]Short term solution is to simply turn the darn thing off when not in use - ARRGGGHH!!! I hate to reboot without a nice crash first, LOL . . . and my SETI progress suffers too, hehehe . . . but priorities first, I guess.[nbsp][nbsp]I didn't repeat the icepack trick, after reading your warnings, which of course make perfect sense.[nbsp][nbsp]Hopefully the one time didn't do any damage - and this is an extremely dry area, that was in my favor I think.[nbsp][nbsp]I promise to ask FIRST before I try to use kitchen implements as peripherals next time :D!!

[Dan Kaplan]

Hmm, I see great potential for the toaster as a swappable drive bay...

[Brian]

I would not run Seti on a laptop as its consumes resources 24x7 and thus will keep the laptop hot and fan running :(

I bet thats your problem.

-Brian

[Justin]

Laptops are not meant for CPU intensive work - things like SETI, compressing MP3's, and so on should be saved for a full PC. Laptops are just far too cramped - they put fast CPU's in them for short term use, so that it will still appear fast when needed for a short period of time - but not for constant use. Usually once the temp reaches the point of kicking the fan (not all laptops have fans), the system slows itself down to a crawl to give it time to cool down.

I would throw Win2000 on it - rumor has it that the power management in 2000 is so much better that laptops average 25% more life (this was something I read on MS's site, but it could still be at least part way true :)) Plus you can hybernate/sleep/suspend or whatever they are calling it this year - where your RAM is saved to disk and it powers down, letting you boot back up in seconds, right to the point where you left off...

Hope this helps.

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest (http://www.FutureQuest.net/index.php) Support

[Brian]

Ya my laptop is always slow but then again what do I expect off of 32megs ram (lol). I guess I need to splurge for another 64meg chip then it will be fast again...

[Mandi]

...but I get such a thrill out of being 3x faster per SETI unit, than my hubby's desktop.[nbsp][nbsp]Okay, maybe we R E A L L Y need to get out more, LOL . . . (raise your hand if you've watched defrag for fun in the past 30 days . . . )

...so, I bought that cool-pad, and it's REALLY nice![nbsp][nbsp]I have been plopped down with it for over an hour and a half, and the fan hasn't cycled on ONCE . . . the pivoting feature is just a happy bonus![nbsp][nbsp]It was $19.95, well worth it IMO - that includes shipping, BTW.

They ship through outpost.com . . . who had it here 18 hours after I put in the order (Ohio ---> Colorado) - WOW!![nbsp][nbsp]All in all, very impressed with the whole transaction.

[nbsp]. . . and I was thinking more along the lines of a latte machine as a peripheral . . . thoughts?[nbsp][nbsp]Hehehe :D!

[Mandi]

PS, Win2K is definately on my list for next *toy* - I've heard the same thing about it's laptop enhancement.[nbsp][nbsp]We're moving . . . yes, again . . . in 2 months, and the new home is getting a LAN.

The Fed-Ex truck left me a note today, too, while I was out . . . I just KNOW it was our orders (for moving destination - my husband is AD military) . . . *patience, patience, patience*