Gaming laptop brought to repair shop for overheating problem, decorative stickers found to be the problem — tech fixes problem in under 10 seconds after removing the stickers covering its fans

a 3D model of a melting laptop
(Image credit: luthfi alfarizi/Unsplash)

A laptop user brought their PC to a repair shop, apparently complaining of overheating issues on their gaming laptop. You can see in the Reddit post embedded below that it took the tech less than ten seconds to fix the issue after the tech peeked underneath the device and saw that it was covered in stickers all over, including the vents for its fans. When the technician took off the covering, the laptop seemed to be able to breathe again, prompting the laptop owner to peel off the remaining design that didn’t cover any vents from the bottom of the gaming laptop.

This lady wondered why her gaming laptop overheats while gaming. from r/pcmasterrace

It’s unclear why the laptop owner thought it was a good idea to cover up the vents of their laptop. It could be that it was their first time owning a gaming laptop and that the previous computer they owned was a MacBook Air, which has no fans and uses passive cooling, or they’ve only used smartphones before and have no experience working with computers. Unfortunately, computers, especially gaming laptops, are a completely different beast, and they require a lot of airflow to achieve the performance demanded by several titles. Keeping vents clear of blockages is a no-brainer for PC enthusiasts and tech-savvy people, but, unfortunately, not everyone has the same level of knowledge.

Despite that, researching on the internet is free, and even the AI Overview on Google search said, “Laptops get hot primarily due to blocked air vents, dust accumulation on fans, and high processor usage from demanding applications or excessive background processes.” The first phrase hit the nail on the head for this particular problem, but it seems that tinkering on their expensive devices might feel a bit too much for some people, even if they decked it out with a lot of aesthetic features.

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Hopefully, the user learned something from this incident and that their laptop suffered no serious long-term issues from this incident. We also hope that it starts their journey to becoming more curious about the equipment they use. Everyone starts with zero information on computers, after all, and only the combination of interest and environment makes many tech enthusiasts the people they are today.

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Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • garbilkee
    There needs to be some kind of a PC Darwin Award category for this
    Reply
  • VizzieTheViz
    Everyone starts with zero knowledge of computers, sure, but it would seem some also start with zero common sense.

    Also is it really newsworthy that someone put stickers over the vents of their laptop? I guess at least it’s educational for anyone who would think to do this but I doubt that kind of person would visit this site much.
    Reply
  • f_u_006
    Wow, this is news now? You guys are really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

    You know what makes a good writer and journalist? Reading and analyzing primary, scientific sources and relevant discussions between significant people.

    This drivel you have written is non of those. It comes from watching a few seconds of a video on social media.
    Reply
  • GiinTak
    Covering the air vents... Genius.
    Reply