[SOLVED] Why does my computer start to heat up a lot after the screen turns off/dims?

[Austin Drozin]

My laptop runs pretty well and the fans only ever turn on when gaming. Normally in use it doesn't run hot at all, but recently it will become EXTREMELY hot when just sitting there for 15 minutes. After the screen turns off it just gets extremely hot. After I start using it again it takes about 15 minutes and cools down.

This is bizarre and seems like the opposite should happen.

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model laptop? Specs? Age, condition?

Original battery? If not what battery was installed?

Does the heat up occur with the screen is left up/on/viewable?

Do you see dust in any of the fan or other openings?

When sitting idle the laptop may be launching some background task, trying to do an upgrade, a backup, or something just trying to phone home. Windows 10 - Check Task Manager and Task Scheduler.

If so use Resource Monitor and Task Manager (one or the other, not both at the same time, to see what happens when the heating up begins.

Do not leave the laptop near or on anything that could burn or melt. Or unattended for that matter if the laptop is turned on.

 

[dudio]

My guess is that whatever power saving feature the laptop is using when it turns off the screen is also affecting fan speeds.
Have a look at your Windows power settings and also you may want to manually control the fan curve for your cpu/gpu via BIOS setting or third party software

 

[Austin Drozin]

Make and model laptop? Specs? Age, condition?

Original battery? If not what battery was installed?

Does the heat up occur with the screen is left up/on/viewable?

Do you see dust in any of the fan or other openings?

When sitting idle the laptop may be launching some background task, trying to do an upgrade, a backup, or something just trying to phone home. Windows 10 - Check Task Manager and Task Scheduler.

If so use Resource Monitor and Task Manager (one or the other, not both at the same time, to see what happens when the heating up begins.

Do not leave the laptop near or on anything that could burn or melt. Or unattended for that matter if the laptop is turned on.

Dell G7 7588. Year and half old. Good condition. Haven't had problems with it.

Original battery.

Doesn't seem like it occurs if the screen is on, but I do have the screen timer on though.

No dust.

I'll check the resource monitor.

 

[Austin Drozin]

My guess is that whatever power saving feature the laptop is using when it turns off the screen is also affecting fan speeds.
Have a look at your Windows power settings and also you may want to manually control the fan curve for your cpu/gpu via BIOS setting or third party software

Couldn't find anything with fan speeds regarding the power saving.

 

[Ralston18]

To go along with @dudio a bit.....

Take a look at the GPU drivers - may be that the drivers have been corrupted and could well be playing into fans, power saving, etc..

See if you can find an update via Dell's website. Manually download, reinstall, and reconfigure.

Check the laptop's update history. Look for anything that happened just prior to or around "recently".

Also remove and examine the battery for signs of corrosion, swell, damage. If you have another battery use that battery to determine if the problem continues or not.

 

[Austin Drozin]

To go along with @dudio a bit.....

Take a look at the GPU drivers - may be that the drivers have been corrupted and could well be playing into fans, power saving, etc..

See if you can find an update via Dell's website. Manually download, reinstall, and reconfigure.

Check the laptop's update history. Look for anything that happened just prior to or around "recently".

Also remove and examine the battery for signs of corrosion, swell, damage. If you have another battery use that battery to determine if the problem continues or not.

I updated windows as well as my gpu.

Why does a battery cause this? Like with it getting hot only when idle?

 

[Ralston18]

Is the battery on charge when the system is idle?

 

[Austin Drozin]

Is the battery on charge when the system is idle?

yes

 

[Ralston18]

Take the battery off charge and see if the laptop continues to heat up.

If, so, pull the battery and just use wall outlet power and again determine if the laptop heats up.

First objective being to confirm or eliminate the battery as being involved.

 

[ankit213506]

change the battery. It is creating difficulty.

 

[Austin Drozin]

change the battery. It is creating difficulty.

Ok I will look into replacing it if this keeps happening. Why does this happen because of the battery?

 

[Austin Drozin]

Take the battery off charge and see if the laptop continues to heat up.

If, so, pull the battery and just use wall outlet power and again determine if the laptop heats up.

First objective being to confirm or eliminate the battery as being involved.

To be honest this Dell G7 has always had terrible battery life so it will die before it can get hot.