No dying, computer

[thistlechaser]

This morning someone linked me to an image, and I noticed that it had a really odd background (the area of the window outside of the image itself, but within Firefox's view area).

Today I took a screenshot for someone else, uploaded it, and noticed the "blank"/black part outside the screenshot looked very odd in the same way. See: Strange background.

The image in the middle looks just as it should, but the screen to either side of it should be plain black.

Happens in IE and Firefox both, happens on both monitors (hooked up to the same computer).

Darned laptop is only two years old. Looking on the Amazon page I bought it from, the only warranty I see mentioned is "This laptop is backed by a 1-year limited hardware warranty.", so that does me no good.

It has been running hot lately, even though I blew the dust out of it last night or the night before. I don't know which number "counts", but these are the readings I get from my monitor at this moment:

GPU: 76C
HD0: 50C
Core0: 95C
Core1: 86C
(Edit: After rebooting, with no MMO running, the temps are 45C, 53C, 60C, 30C respectively.)

I have no idea how there could there be a 45 degree difference in temperature within a laptop...

How much trouble am I in? I know nothing about hardware. :/

Edit 2: Rebooting seems to have fixed the issue. Would this kind of thing come and go?

Comments

[pink-halen.livejournal.com]

Heat is always a problem. The hotter the computer runs the dumber it gets. Be aware of what surfaces it sits on. It could be a ventilation problem. You can by cooling fans to sit under the laptop and help get the temperature down. These run on the USB power.

perhaps something like this.
http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-Laptop-Notebook-Cool-Fans/dp/B001B077PO/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1398053107&sr=1-5&keywords=laptop+cooling+pad


Heavy CPU usage causes the temps to go up.
Yes, what you see on the screen may be heat caused.
I cannot know from this distance.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do have a cooling pad much like that, just without the cool blue lighting. It's also up on a stand to hopefully help air flow around it.

I need to be better about blowing the dust out of it. I think I need to shut FFXIV (the MMO) down each night as well, instead of letting it run all night, give the machine a chance to cool down instead of being hot around the clock.

Computers and cars -- it's only when I have problems with them that I wish I knew more about the hardware. When everything's working, I couldn't care less about how they work.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

On a laptop, definitely shut game down every night. Prolonged heat will just make it act out more. Reboot regularly too - things sitting in memory are susceptible to corruption. Voltage hiccup, cosmic rays, etc...the longer stuff sits in memory, the more random bits get flipped. It isn't too dissimilar from solar radiation causing DNA bits to change and getting mutations. Sometimes beneficial. Mostly though? Cancer.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was going as long as possible between rebootings, too.

The login routine isn't actually as long as I thought it was (though Stream about doubles the time, ugh). It's perfectly doable to shut it down at night and in the morning before I go to work.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Or get the fans or the heat sink replaced - it sounds more like a problem with the latter if the fans are running normally and everything is replaced properly after you blew the dust out.

Would this kind of thing come and go?

Yup, like pink_halen said, CPU usage causes the temps to go up, and they'll be lower if it's idling. Have a professional take a look if you're not sure what to do.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I didn't open anything to blow out the dust (eek, I'd probably break something!), but the fans do seem to be working normally.

I need to stay on top of this better (which is what I say every time I have problems!). Once a month blow out dust, etc.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's helpful but often not enough. If the heat sink is running its tail off, it's going to overheat since a laptop is basically...picture a vacuum cleaner sucking in air from the bottom and spitting it back out the side, and lint, dust and pet hairs clogging it inside. If taking your computer apart sounds scary, or if you have a laptop where absolutely everything must be removed to get to the heatsink, then another option is to use a can of compressed air. You can get it at a store that sells office supplies. Blow air backward through the fan’s vent. Feel for which direction the fan blows and determine where it’s exhausting the warm air. Then shut down the computer and aim the straw into the exhaust vents and if you see dust coming out through the intake vents, then you’re doin' it rite. When dust collects on the heatsink, it continues to attract more dust like a log jam in a river. Blowing the air backward through the vent can clear this log jam. Give that a try, and if that doesn't help, take it to the shop. You don't want the core temperatures going up that high.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh! I wasn't clear, I did use the compressed air. However, apparently I used it backwards -- I blew in from the bottom so the air would come out the same place the exhaust does.

I'll try it the other way instead, thanks!

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Good luck - I hope it helps!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Me too. :)