Overheating problem?

[The Stig 2.0]

I have a ca 16 month old laptop running on an core-i5 430m (arrandale).
I recently found out that my processor is running at 87 and 81 degrees (core0/core1) while doing browsing on g-chrome. This cannot be normal, the load is only 28-38%...
I do however use a 3g connection - does that have anything to do with these temps? It is more resource intensive than adsl/cable connection

Thanks

 

[SouthBit]

Temp should be no where near that. You should check the vents on your laptop, look for dust or other debris blocking the cooling. Otherwise you have some physical issue like bad contact with the heatsink or something similar.

 

[_Maximus_]

That sounds extremely excessive. Has your laptop every shut down randomly? If so - then its definately heat.
If not, then perhaps the readings you are getting are in degrees farenheit. What program are you using? Have you checked these settings?
80 would translate into about 27 degrees celcius, which is normal for a computer to run at.

 

[cerebus]

Temp should be no where near that. You should check the vents on your laptop, look for dust or other debris blocking the cooling. Otherwise you have some physical issue like bad contact with the heatsink or something similar.

+1. I had a friend whose lappie was chronically overheating until I forced him to check the vents... which turned out to be thick black with dust. From then on it worked beautifully.

 

[The Stig 2.0]

That sounds extremely excessive. Has your laptop every shut down randomly? If so - then its definately heat.
If not, then perhaps the readings you are getting are in degrees farenheit. What program are you using? Have you checked these settings?
80 would translate into about 27 degrees celcius, which is normal for a computer to run at.

I use core temp, but also checked with real temp...
Today however, the Laptop runs noticeably cooler in the 50 degree range.
I have no idea what caused the excessive temps... I just noticed that the svchost (LOCAL SERVICE) was unusually active and went to idle when i disconnected the pc...

 

[seventhson]

I use core temp, but also checked with real temp...
Today however, the Laptop runs noticeably cooler in the 50 degree range.
I have no idea what caused the excessive temps... I just noticed that the svchost (LOCAL SERVICE) was unusually active and went to idle when i disconnected the pc...

Sounds like a trojan.

 

[Pada]

When the SVCHOST service is active, it is usually Windows updates.

Do yourself a favour and use Process Explorer (from SysInternals) instead of the stupid Windows Task Manager.
With Process Explorer you can graph the CPU / memory usage of each process & service. It can also show you which services are running under svchost.exe. Like it would show you if it is actually Windows updates running under that svchost, or if it is other services.

 

[The Stig 2.0]

When the SVCHOST service is active, it is usually Windows updates.

Do yourself a favour and use Process Explorer (from SysInternals) instead of the stupid Windows Task Manager.
With Process Explorer you can graph the CPU / memory usage of each process & service. It can also show you which services are running under svchost.exe. Like it would show you if it is actually Windows updates running under that svchost, or if it is other services.

that could be it - i remember windows was downloading like 200mb of updates

 

[wrinklyo]

When the SVCHOST service is active, it is usually Windows updates.

Do yourself a favour and use Process Explorer (from SysInternals) instead of the stupid Windows Task Manager.
With Process Explorer you can graph the CPU / memory usage of each process & service. It can also show you which services are running under svchost.exe. Like it would show you if it is actually Windows updates running under that svchost, or if it is other services.

Yeah, this is probably the cause. Windows does updates surreptitiously in the background, and other culprits are Microsoft Essentials Anti-virus, Adobe Reader (especially versions 8 and newer), and many other programs like PCSuite cellphone software, games like SIMS and so on. Easy way to check is just disable your network connection and see if the temp drops.

 

[wrinklyo]

Temp should be no where near that. You should check the vents on your laptop, look for dust or other debris blocking the cooling. Otherwise you have some physical issue like bad contact with the heatsink or something similar.

I had a desktop PC at work where the fan used to just about scream off it's bearings when CPU use went over 60% - found that the paste between the CPU and the heatsink had dried out. Cleaned and put new heatsink paste on, and it's been really quiet for the last year...

 

[The Stig 2.0]

thanks for all the advice

 

[nelis]

Just get a laptop cooling pad