Laptop overheating (HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC)

[Baripoof]

I've been having a lot of overheating issues when using this laptop to play games since I began using it. It's my wife's laptop, and she had it for 4 years prior to meeting me (we've been together for 2 years: 6 year old laptop as far as I know) and she never cleaned it or kept it up. Since I got with her I've been doing regular maintenance on it - compressed air through the vents, defrags, general cleaning of all sorts every few months or so. But it always seems to overheat to dangerous levels when I play Guild Wars 2, no matter what I try.

I talked to HP support through their website and their only suggestion was to get the fan replaced entirely, as it's not working properly. Thing is, it DOES work properly - it spins as loud as it should when I play GW2 and as quietly as it should when I'm browsing the web or just using Skype. As far as I can tell, the fan is working.

So what could the problem be? It's not dust - if it was dust, the compressed air would have shucked it all out in a second. And it's definitely not the fan itself, it's running properly (as far as I know). I'm kind of tired of having to point a fan at its backside to keep it semi-cool while I play.

What I do to mitigate heat:

-Using a laptop table with air holes on the bottom to allow air to flow better

-Turned down the screen's brightness

-Set power options to HP Recommended

-Having a fan pointed at it when I game

-Keep the ambient temp at a normal level

Any ideas?

 

[Bossyfins]

I have a lot of laptops like that, I have tried to make fan spin faster, but I have yet to find a program that does that. But I have noticed, if you open up the laptop and replace the thermal paste on the cpu, it doesnt run as hot.

 

[Baripoof]

I have a lot of laptops like that, I have tried to make fan spin faster, but I have yet to find a program that does that. But I have noticed, if you open up the laptop and replace the thermal paste on the cpu, it doesnt run as hot.

Is there any specific way to go about this? I've never fiddled with computer hardware before and I don't want to screw anything up.

 

[delaro]

It might be the Thermal compound that needs to be replaced, the fan might be fine but the cheap Thermal paste might have baked off.

 

[ihatepcproblems2013]

yea i know where you coming from.... not surprised hp don't have much in the way of solution for you. its like they made the sale and leave you in the cold with the problem...


here's my true and tested solution, should work for you but comes with some inconvenience. open up your notebook up and give the motherboard some breathing room, the confines for some reason is too narrow to vent well for it.

get a cooling pad n put it under the motherboard, having it on should resolve most high intensity activities like heavy power gaming/app , and so on.

get an app to track system temp to give head up on shutdown approach.

heck i think just taking motherboard out of confines and resting it under a board does big in lower temp for temporary solution.