Laptop runs very hot (~95C) after HDD upgrade

[jueyan]

I upgraded my 2006 Dell Inspiron E1705's hard drive in April from a 80GB 7200 RPM drive to a 500GB 7200 RPM drive [link]. Since then, my machine has been running extremely hot. My CPU temp hovers around 95C, according to CPUID [screenshot] and Speedfan [screenshot].

The bottom is too hot to touch for more than about 3 seconds. I'm getting much lower fps in graphically intensive games, and my battery, which had been fine for four years, just died, and I don't know if it's heat related.

Is it possible that my machine just can't handle the newer/larger/potentially more power-hungry hard drive? Is the drive defective? Is it possible that I messed up the installation (ie left something in there that should have been taken out)?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Specs:

Inspiron E1705/9400
Core 2 Duo T2500 @ 2 GHz
2 GB DDR2 RAM
256MB GeForce Go 7900 GS

 

[Fetal]

about to die. gpu is faulty.

 

[jueyan]

about to die. gpu is faulty.

By GPU is faulty, do you mean that the GPU sensor is bad, or that the GPU is causing the heating issues? Is there a particular reason you think the GPU is the culprit?

(I feel like the onset of symptoms coincided with the hard drive replacement. I guess it's possible I broke something during the hard drive installation process.)

Thanks,
JueYan

 

[COLGeek]

It is probably just coincidental that you are now having a heat problem after upgrading the HDD. Fetal is right, you likely have a GPU failing (not the sensor since you obviously have a hot system). My Dell Precision M65 Notebook did virtually the same thing and I had to replace the motherboard (GPU is integrated into the mobo).

If your system is under warranty, contact Dell for repair. If not under warranty, I suggest you start looking for a replacement motherboard (or a new notebook).

Swapping the HDD had virtually no chance of causing this problem. Good luck!

 

[jueyan]

Best answer selected by jueyan.

 

[Nofearangel]

not an expert here but u might want to replace the thermal paste between heat sink and cpu. If it is still nder warrenty rather call dell to fix it. as they wont charge you and putting in thermal paste can void your warrenty. Maybe ask a dell technician to do it. The stock thermal paste is rubbish. Another problem can be that you have not cleaned your fan out. it can stack up huge amounts of dust. I dont think a dying gpu would increase temperature of the cpu. I would first clean out the heatsink and fan with compressed air in a can. dont use compressed air machines that pump up tires as it can cause static electricity frying your laptop chips. 4yrs can mean there is a huge build up of dust which sounds like that is the problem. You should clean your fan every 6months.