My Dell laptop heats up too much (I use ice packs under it to cool it) and has become too slow, especially if I have more than 2 applications open. If it heats up beyond some threshold, the screen goes black and it emits a horrifying robotized version of a scary movie type scream, and then the only way to shut it down is to hold the power button down. The RAM fills up if I have 3 apps open (Chrome, Word, WMP). It is a Core i5, 64-bit Windows 7, 4 GB of RAM, 100+ GB of empty space. NOTE: I use it plugged in, and it is not the battery that heats up

I would appreciate if anybody can answer my questions, most importantly, the last question, for which I need the answer asap so I can do something about it. Thanks!

1) We all know laptops become very slow after 3-4 years of use, but do they have to? Is there something that could be done regularly to stop this from happening at all? I defrag and use CCleaner regularly.

2) Why do they become slow? Is there some 'electronic debris' that gets accumulated that slows them down? It takes 10-30 seconds for anything to happen after double clicking a folder or a file. Why? Do they build them like this on purpose? We have been to the moon and to Mars, but they can't make laptops that last longer than 3-4 years without slowing down to a crawl? That's ludicrous.

3) OK, the last time this happened, I dumped the laptop and got a new one--the current one. This time, I want to try to fix it if possible. Would reformatting the laptop work? If so, is that the only solution? Instead of reformatting I was thinking of installing 8 GB RAM, the max. Seems like that should prevent the overheating and the consequent slowing down... because the more the RAM fills up, the more it heats up, but if there is so much extra RAM, it won't heat up and slow down?

Thank you kind folks of TT

11/4/2013 10:55:40 AM

dust can make it overheat and run poorly, but i don't understand the statement that it is not your battery heating up. are you making that conclusion by feeling the battery or assuming that the battery is not being used because its plugged in? because the battery can still discharge and charge while being plugged in. have you opened the case and made sure its not clogged with dust?

you probably have a bunch of malware and browser toolbars and shit installed, stop downloading free screensavers and "5000 naked buff chicks.zip" packs

11/4/2013 11:11:37 AM

Blow it out good and reinstall the OS so you are starting from scratch, if that doesnt fix it buy a new laptop.

11/4/2013 11:58:04 AM

^^
1) the battery area stays cold, and I have taken the battery out and still gets hot as before, from top and bottom.

2) I don't use any browser toolbars, I don't have malware, and I don't download anything from the Internet, other than video lectures from coursera.org. The only apps I use are chrome, real player, wmp, and ms office, aside from CCleaner, ms security essentials (whatever its called), and avast anti-virus.

3) no I have not opened the case... will do it later today. Thanks.


^
Thanks.

[Edited on November 4, 2013 at 12:02 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2013 12:01:18 PM

Why are you running two anti-virus programs? That can't help. Pick one, and uninstall the other.

Also learn how to optimize your msconfig. Should make a big difference. Given your description of how you use your computer, go to the startup tab, and just disable everything in that list, and only enable security software.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2292
http://lifehacker.com/5718799/know-which-apps-to-remove-from-msconfig-with-this-startup-applications-list

11/4/2013 12:12:54 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/30/3000663/shaffer-nc-weightlifting-champ.html#storylink=botprev

11/4/2013 12:43:41 PM

It sounds to me like one of two things. Either your fan/heatsink assembly is clogged with dust (put your hand at the exhaust vent . . . . can you feel a decent amount of air moving?), or the thermal paste is poorly done.

If you don't want to spend a ton of time you can bring it by my store, and for $60 I'll guarantee it will run cool when I'm done with it!

11/4/2013 4:43:12 PM

^
i am not in the US thanks for the offer though, appreciated.

^ and dtownral
OK, i tried to open the case, removed all 15 screws, but it wouldn't come off. i tried to pry it off a bit without forcing it too much, but no luck. so i put the screws back in. there is a fan vent on the side, and a grate at the bottom i guess that's where it sucks in the air? so i blew air (with my mouth) into the vent and it kicked up a dust storm, making me cough then i went to town on the mofo and blew as hard as i could at least 20-25 times into the vent and the grate at the bottom. lots of dust came out, but i can see that the fan blades have a layer of dust on them, which is stuck tightly. maybe i will buy a compressed air can to clean it even more.

so now i can feel a much stronger breeze coming out the vent, and hopefully it will run somewhat cooler.

^^^
i think that might be a bigger problem with it than the dust in the fan/vent. thanks for that. am gonna spend a good bit of time right now and do that.

hopefully, that should take care of it, if not, i will try the following in order:

1) take it somewhere where they can open it and clean it
2) format it and reinstall the OS
3) get more RAM


p.s. also thoroughly cleaned out the fan blades and surrounding areas of the cooling pad.

[Edited on November 4, 2013 at 5:44 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2013 5:41:28 PM

Between MS Security Essentials and avast!, which one should I disable?

I guess avast!?

11/4/2013 6:13:04 PM

whichever one is better

11/4/2013 6:30:13 PM

Quote :

"Also learn how to optimize your msconfig. Should make a big difference. Given your description of how you use your computer, go to the startup tab, and just disable everything in that list, and only enable security software."

thanks again for this.

DONE.

will see how computer performs for a couple of days.

11/4/2013 7:15:57 PM

yeah leave MSE

11/4/2013 10:12:56 PM

1 MSE
2 Get a can of compressed air and blow out all vents
3 Don't need more RAM; you could have bad RAM, needing replacements.
4 Could be HDD errors
5 Have you run any HW diagnostic tests?
6 If no HW problems, try reinstalling OS
7 If none of that works, just get a new one, unless you want to keep replacing components

11/4/2013 10:20:45 PM

^^ yeah i left MSE and disabled avast!

^ thanks... will go through those in case problem flares up again. seems to be running significantly cooler for now due to all the steps i have followed so far.

do you recommend any hardware diagnostic tests? i have run the DELL suite of tests that came with the laptop, no problems with HDD, battery, RAM, etc. do you recommend any particular 3rd party test apps that might be better?

11/4/2013 10:29:40 PM

The dell diags have never failed me, so you should be fine

11/4/2013 10:33:40 PM

youtube usually has great videos showing you how to take the back off any laptop

[Edited on November 5, 2013 at 6:22 AM. Reason : ]

11/5/2013 6:16:03 AM

^ thanks for that tip! Will try again in a couple of days.

11/5/2013 11:58:42 AM