CPU Problems

[Guest]

My sony vaio laptops cpu randomly goes to 100% when idle or browsing the internet and gets very very hot. Even when cpu usage is low it runs very hot. This has been happening for almost a year and i haven't been able to figure out what is causing it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=VPCCW1FFX/L

The laptop I'm using.

 

[C12Friedman]

That is a heat related issue (as you seem to be aware). The most likely scenario here is that dust bunnies have formed inside your heatsink/fan area. Attempting to clean it by blowing air through it won't clear them once they've formed. Disassembly and cleaning is your best bet here. There seems to be little information on disassembling your laptop - some are very easy such as my Vaio, some (even other Vaio's) are not so easy.
If you are at all intimidated by the thought of opening your laptop, you should seek out a qualified repair shop nearby that wil do it for you.
Also, make sure it is on a hard, flat surface (or cooling pad is best) to allow airflow into the vents on the bottom

 

[Guest]

That is a heat related issue (as you seem to be aware). The most likely scenario here is that dust bunnies have formed inside your heatsink/fan area. Attempting to clean it by blowing air through it won't clear them once they've formed. Disassembly and cleaning is your best bet here. There seems to be little information on disassembling your laptop - some are very easy such as my Vaio, some (even other Vaio's) are not so easy.
If you are at all intimidated by the thought of opening your laptop, you should seek out a qualified repair shop nearby that wil do it for you.
Also, make sure it is on a hard, flat surface (or cooling pad is best) to allow airflow into the vents on the bottom

Thanks i opened it up and cleaned out the fan and checked out the thermal paste which looks like it was just smacked on real quick and closed up. I just ordered some new paste so hopefully that will help. I'll find out tomorrow when it gets here.

 

[Guest]

**UPDATE**
I replaced the thermal paste with some atric 5 silver and it helped a bit. Idle temps are around 50c for my cpu and around 60 for the gpu and while playing WoW its went up to about 80c for the cpu and 90c for the gpu. The idle temps use to be the same as when i was playing a game.

 

[C12Friedman]

I will soapbox the use of a cooling pad while I have your attention here. Something like this I think is super helpful for helping to keep air flowing into the laptop
Cooler Master Notepal U2 Laptop / Notebook Cooling Pad
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997730
and should help even more with temps

 

[Guest]

**UPDATE** The GPU temps were getting really high (100c+) so i opened the laptop again and found out the heatsink wasn't even making contact with the thermal paste. I added more and made sure the heatsink was screwed on tight and tried it again. Temps are very nice now, idle 40-50c for both CPU and GPU and while playing WoW they are CPU 60-70c and GPU 70-80c sometimes 90c if i have some extra stuff running in the background. I also plan on buying a cooling pad in a couple weeks. Thanks for the help C12

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by xEspada.