laptop temperature fluctuations

[holt]

My dual-core HP laptop with Win 10 and 8 gb ram is about half a year old. Usually it runs lukewarm but sometimes it gets quite warm for no discernible reason; could that maybe be Norton running in the background?
Could I safely run VLC with two separate long-play videos at the same time for extended time periods without overheating it?

[Shades]

A laptop with a Dual Core processor in it is more than likely (much) older than 6 months.

Playing 2 videos at once is taxing, especially when these are compressed. And gets much more taxing when those videos are 1080p or higher. And usually the difference between 1080p and 720p on a laptop screen is barely noticeable.  Especially for a set of slightly less young eyes.

If possible, try to get both videos on your system and use software to separate what you want from both videos and combine these parts into a new video. That is less taxing for your laptop in the long run.

Did you also consider cleaning your laptop internally? Cruft and dust accumulates very quick in laptops in my experience. Especially when they are mostly used in carpeted areas or way worse, in bed. Such cruft prevents heat to escape out of your laptop and shortens it life span.

[holt]

A laptop with a Dual Core processor in it is more than likely (much) older than 6 months.

Playing 2 videos at once is taxing, especially when these are compressed. And gets much more taxing when those videos are 1080p or higher. And usually the difference between 1080p and 720p on a laptop screen is barely noticeable.  Especially for a set of slightly less young eyes.

If possible, try to get both videos on your system and use software to separate what you want from both videos and combine these parts into a new video. That is less taxing for your laptop in the long run.

Did you also consider cleaning your laptop internally? Cruft and dust accumulates very quick in laptops in my experience. Especially when they are mostly used in carpeted areas or way worse, in bed. Such cruft prevents heat to escape out of your laptop and shortens it life span.

-Shades (December 13, 2019, 10:52 AM)

They're all 480p or less, but I get your meaning. I'll avoid doing two at a time. 

How do you clean internally?

[tomos]

How do you clean internally?

-holt (December 13, 2019, 11:06 AM)

I have a dual core laptop -- it's a few years old.
Just this week I installed extra memory for it (upgraded from 8 to 16) -- bought a set of screwdrivers suitable for that kind of thing, and found a youtube video showing how to do the deed and went and did it.
Worked fine, I was surprised how little dust there was in it, but one of the intakes *was* clogged. There was another protective layer -- for the CPU etc -- underneath the back cover. I didnt bother taking that off (but what I could see under it looked fine...)

It now uses less memory than it did before (that stumped me) but more importantly, it has enough memory for me to e.g. play/stream a couple of videos simultaneously (note the CPU is an i5-5300U). The fan kicks in a lot less so the machine is definitely cooler, less stressed.

[tomos]

Usually it runs lukewarm but sometimes it gets quite warm for no discernible reason; could that maybe be Norton running in the background?

-holt (December 13, 2019, 09:50 AM)

you can check the Task Manager or get something like Process Explorer (I use the portable version).
See screenshot, it will show the biggest user in tooltip, but while the CPU or memory is actually being hogged, you can sort by either of those columns and see which are the biggest users

laptop temperature fluctuations

[IainB]

@holt:

Did you also consider cleaning your laptop internally? Cruft and dust accumulates very quick in laptops in my experience. Especially when they are mostly used in carpeted areas or way worse, in bed. Such cruft prevents heat to escape out of your laptop and shortens it life span.

-Shades (December 13, 2019, 10:52 AM)

@Shades gives good advice.

Thought these notes might be of some use: Laptop overheating or noisy fan - Cleaning the cooling system.

[holt]

@holt:

Did you also consider cleaning your laptop internally? Cruft and dust accumulates very quick in laptops in my experience. Especially when they are mostly used in carpeted areas or way worse, in bed. Such cruft prevents heat to escape out of your laptop and shortens it life span.

-Shades (December 13, 2019, 10:52 AM)

@Shades gives good advice.

Thought these notes might be of some use: Laptop overheating or noisy fan - Cleaning the cooling system.

-IainB (December 14, 2019, 09:08 AM)

My entire laptop feels unusually warm; I installed SpeedFan; it shows a red/yellow flame icon and 127C for 'Temp 2' (not sure what that is).
I shut down for half an hour and rebooted; feels much cooler; Temp 2 -ACPI ISA bus?- fluctuates between 127C and 35C; just instantly over and over. Chart readout shows spiking and square-waving between the two extremes; but laptop feels 'normal' (barely above room temp).

Edit: I skimmed IainB's most xlnt post Laptop overheating or noisy fan - Cleaning the cooling system.
I can't do all that, but I have in times past dust-cleaned the turbo fan on a video card before, a simple R&R job of pulling the cover plate. My HP laptop is only 10 or 12 months old. If it survives long enough for me to review how to pull backing plate & battery, maybe I can fix my laptop.

[Shades]

Speedfan is good software to keep track of temperatures in your computer. But not all computers are created equally, so Speedfan needs a database to keep track of hardware combinations and how it needs to read/apply temperature read-outs generated by these hardware combinations.

The author of Speedfan does his/her best to keep that database as relevant as he/she can, but it is near impossible to account for every hardware combination. Hence you get your weird read-outs. All authors of similar software have this problem, not just Speedfan. If Windows 10 has software like this build in, it is also plagued by the same problem. Keeping this type of software as up-to-date as you can, is the best thing to do.

Speedfan is capable of keeping track of temperatures from different devices in your computer. Even each separate core of your processor. Yet, these are not always configured by the laptop manufacturer in the same order, hence you'll see 'Temp 2', while you were likely to expect 'Temp' or 'Temp 1'. Whether that is a problem of the manufacturer or the interpretation of Speedfan...

If I remember correctly, Speedfan comes with reporting functionality, so it is possible to send them the information of your hardware combination and the author can then decide if/when support for your specific hardware combo will be included into a newer version of Speedfan.

[holt]

When I minimize SpeedFan, it totally vanishes and I cannot find its active icon on Desktop or anywhere although I know it is still there and did not actually close. I really need to figure out how to get the active instance of it back on-screen on Desktop, instead of starting a 2nd copy.

Edit: I will try the vacuum cleaner to air intake port, as per IainB's ^'overheating or noisy fan' post.

[tomos]

Edit: I will try the vacuum cleaner to air intake port, as per IainB's ^'overheating or noisy fan' post.

-holt (December 15, 2019, 03:06 AM)

Note Shades's comments in related thread re static and being careful not to force fan blades to turn the wrong way.
I have used vacuum cleaner inside a desktop computer: I worked barefoot and half covered the nozzle with my fingers to minimise chances of static building up.

[holt]

I vacuumed air intake; no change or improvement in SpeedFan over-temp readout.

[holt]

The laptop has a 5-year warranty through Amazon.com; I suppose that opening the back ccver plate might void the warranty. If so, might my only option be to just keep using it until it quits? Then the only bummer is rebuilding all my peripheral software in a new machine.

[Shades]

I vacuumed air intake; no change or improvement in SpeedFan over-temp readout.

-holt (December 15, 2019, 11:33 AM)

https://www.donation....msg434398#msg434398

In that post I try to explain why you see such fluctuating temperature values.

Usually there is a model number on the bottom of the laptop. Chances are that there are more than one video showing you how to dismantle your laptop model. In my experience, HP is adequate in delivering manuals for their laptops. Manuals that include all the steps to dismantle your laptop. Reverse these steps in the order as described in their manual and you should be up and running again without issues.

Depending on the model of laptop, it can be the case that you need to remove the whole cover before you are able to upgrade RAM or hard disk. if so, you are in luck. The manufacturer designed it so that it should be relatively easy to remove the whole cover and you'll have the benefit of easy internal cleaning without voiding warranty. If you have a model laptop where RAM, hard disk etc., each have their own separate small cover plate, then internal cleaning is more of a hassle. Just look at the bottom of your laptop and you'll see it right away.

As I understand, your laptop is from HP, they are more often than not designed to be serviceable. Except for their low-end consumer models. If you have a business model laptop (from any brand), serviceability is always better than for their consumer model laptops. In general, if you are in the market for a laptop, get a business model. Sure, they might not look as "flashy" as a consumer model, and likely have a slightly higher purchase price, but when it comes to maintenance and (tech-)support, you will be much better off in the long run.

[holt]

I downloaded & installed HP Support Assistant.
I have a Model HP EliteBook Folio 9480m; Product number L2G98UC#ABA; maybe 1 1/2 years old.
HP 9470m Disassembly and fan cleaning video.
Disassembling an Elitebook HP 9470m (full disassembly not necessary but gives better lighting & visual clarity).

edit: re: Review HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook
It says in summation near the bottom; "The fan can be cleaned easily."

[holt]

Edit: I will try the vacuum cleaner to air intake port, as per IainB's ^'overheating or noisy fan' post.

-holt (December 15, 2019, 03:06 AM)

Note Shades's comments in related thread re static and being careful not to force fan blades to turn the wrong way.
I have used vacuum cleaner inside a desktop computer: I worked barefoot and half covered the nozzle with my fingers to minimise chances of static building up.

-tomos (December 15, 2019, 04:01 AM)

I take your meaning to be that spinning the fan blades the wrong way can ruin the fan. 

[IainB]

@Holt:

I take your meaning to be that spinning the fan blades the wrong way can ruin the fan.

-holt (December 17, 2019, 11:43 AM)

That might be what he means, but the pragmatic approach I took was:
1. If the fan runs on a frictionless (magnetic field) bearing (as seems to be the case)
2. Then running it backwards for short periods is not going to hurt it.
3. - but only IF the laptop battery has been removed, so there is no possibility that you will be forcing the fan to run backwards (by reverse suction) when it could already be running in the correct operational direction under battery power.

I haven't broken anything so far...

[holt]

What about a few shots of Duster in intake or exhaust; 'canned air'?

[IainB]

@holt:

What about a few shots of Duster in intake or exhaust; 'canned air'?

-holt (December 18, 2019, 03:42 PM)

Clean dust/dirt off the motherboard and other parts as you proceed inwards, using the paintbrush and vacuum cleaner on low suction. Using CO2 pressure cans to blow the dust off is arguably a waste of time as it tends to redistribute a lot of the dust (along with your money).

-IainB (December 14, 2019, 09:05 AM)

You need to remove the dust with a suction device.

Cleanliness is important. Dust and dirt are generally enemies of electronic or electromechanical devices, typically leading directly or indirectly to shorts or tracking in the former and shorts and/or friction problems in the latter.

[holt]

re: SpeedFan
1) I don't understand what the 'Automatic Fan Speed' option does when selected; does it enable SpeedFan to have variable fan speed control? If not selected, does the laptop run the fans at top speed all the time? IOW, should I want the 'Automatic Fan Speed' option to be checked, or not?

2) All the other readouts vary realistically from about 28C to occasionally 50C to 55C.

3) However, I have one readout, 'Temp 2', which on boot and startup of SpeedFan from Desktop, always immediately shows 127C (261F) temperature, and switches to 38C for one split second about every two to five minutes, then spikes straight up to exactly 127C again.

I think the following SpeedFan home page FAQ page may have the answer, where it says this:
How can I identify my CPU temperature?
As a final note, please remember that not all available temperature sensors are actually connected to something. If you happen to read unusually high or low temps, they are likely to be from a disconnected (unused) temperature sensor.