Sony VAIO laptop (Core 2 Duo mobile CPU) overheating

[rec]

Running in a 13.3" SZ (VGN-SZ44GN specifically). Unlike it's 11.1" and TX brothers, the CPU is socket placed, not soldered - so I'm not particularly phased if it is the CPU as I can replace it, but I'd still be interested to find out if anybody has any other ideas before I spend more money.

It has been running the likes of 60 degrees celsius during normal operation, and regularly experienced a hard-crash during certain 3D games (WoW) due to getting so hot... potentially around 90 degrees; too hot to touch.

The CPU now boots at about 35 degrees, and is currently running at 50 degrees while virtually idle - but that's after undervolting and underclocking it. It used to run at 1.8GHz per core, and is now locked at 1.0GHz per core, 6.0x 1.000v. It still peaks at out 70 degrees during WoW, but thankfully doesn't cause the entire machine to get to fail-point.

Yes the fan is clean and the heatsink is in place and fixed to the core. I'm aware laptops have tendancies to run hot, esspecially smaller models, but this seems like a bit of a joke. Esspecially considering I used to play CS/TF2 on it for hours at a time (although never measured the temperatures).

Any ideas, or would the general consensus be that the CPU is cooked?

[ResLo]

Its a Sony... nuf said.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[grandinferno]

From what I can see around the traps, the Sony Vaio SZs are known for their overheating issues. Most of what I can find is just word of mouth stuff and people's reviews. Nothing really official...

...compact design leads to overheating and oft thermal black outs if you use intensive calculations or HD operations.

Beware of overheat and bluescreen tho, havent actually happen on my SZ6 but my friend's SZ4.

...I went to best buy, the rep told me all SZ series has the problem of overheating

There are also whispers of the batteries in these things running really hot... Do you find this man? Maybe the heat is transferring causing the CPU to run hot?

[Wrathlon]

I had 2 sonys of that exact model in here with overheating, as well as another SZ model. I could not resolve the issue - I tried modifying the cooling, replacing thermal grease with AS5, replacing the cooling system outright...nothing made any difference, they just overheat.

Laptops DO run a little warmer than desktop PC's but still shouldn't go over 50 or 60 degrees under full multi-core load.

Edit: The reason you see it in WoW but not TF2 is WoW is very memory intensive and forces the CPU/Hard drive to perform a metric **** tonne of operations. The load on the CPU might not be as intensive as TF2 but the nature of the type of operations pushes heat through the roof.

[OverDrive]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/st...014111,00.html

Just missed out on a recall for your fix Jamie

SONY has launched a voluntary recall of 438,000 Vaio notebooks, citing a potential hazard that could cause the machines to overheat or possibly burn a user. It is one of the biggest computer recalls since 2006 when Dell recalled 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could overheat and catch fire. The recall affects Sony Vaio TZ-series models sold between May 2007 and July 2008, and includes those sold in the Asia-Pacific region. "Sony has recently discovered that within certain units of its VAIO "TZ series" notebook, a symptom may arise in which the unit's plastic could be deformed in the DC jack inlet or LCD surrounding area due to extreme high temperatures," the company said in a statement. ...

[ResLo]

Weren't the batteries that got recalled by Dell, Sony manufactured batteries?

Edit - Ah yes, they were

Dell said the overheating was caused by a manufacturing defect in the batteries, which were made for Dell by Sony Corp.

You think they would have learned by now. I suppose those 4.1m batteries had to go somewhere!

[rec]

Yeah mine's SZ!

[Wrathlon]

SZ has the same problem.

[rec]

I know very well.