The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[debaserr]

Usually 90c isn't an issue, but it might be on a laptop. I've never had one so I couldn't say.

[Freebase Dali]

90c is not good at all, whether it's in a laptop or a desktop. The components can take high spikes at those temps, but for an extended period of time it's going to kill them prematurely.

Laptops usually have higher temps due to the compacted nature of the setup and the airflow disadvantage, but the sensitive parts still have the same limitations when it comes to how much heat they can withstand over extended and consistent periods of time.
If a person is experiencing unusually high temps in a laptop, the first thing they should do is make sure they're not resting a laptop with bottom air vents on bed comforters and restricting air flow (which is probably the case 90 percent of the time). Also, if the fans are giving out or are no longer operable, that's obviously going to have an effect.

Assuming the fans are still running and the vents are not being obstructed, one way to lower the temps would be to underclock the CPU and RAM, provided the BIOS provides that capability on the laptop. If not, there should at least a setting in the BIOS to have the fans run at high speed constantly instead of letting the motherboard control the fan speed in response to temperatures, should there be a faulty heat sensor or fan control module. Battery power would be affected somewhat, but it beats a dead computer.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

90c is not good at all, whether it's in a laptop or a desktop. The components can take high spikes at those temps, but for an extended period of time it's going to kill them prematurely.

Laptops usually have higher temps due to the compacted nature of the setup and the airflow disadvantage, but the sensitive parts still have the same limitations when it comes to how much heat they can withstand over extended and consistent periods of time.
If a person is experiencing unusually high temps in a laptop, the first thing they should do is make sure they're not resting a laptop with bottom air vents on bed comforters and restricting air flow (which is probably the case 90 percent of the time). Also, if the fans are giving out or are no longer operable, that's obviously going to have an effect.

Assuming the fans are still running and the vents are not being obstructed, one way to lower the temps would be to underclock the CPU and RAM, provided the BIOS provides that capability on the laptop. If not, there should at least a setting in the BIOS to have the fans run at high speed constantly instead of letting the motherboard control the fan speed in response to temperatures, should there be a faulty heat sensor or fan control module. Battery power would be affected somewhat, but it beats a dead computer.

Thanks for the advice, so how to I get the fans to be running constantly? My battery is stuffed anyway it doesn't last 5 minutes without power.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

Thanks for the advice, so how to I get the fans to be running constantly? My battery is stuffed anyway it doesn't last 5 minutes without power.

When you first start the computer, there's a key that you hit to make it enter the bios. It's different between computers, but it will usually be either F2 or delete. Maybe escape. If you're unsure, you can google the make/model of your computer with the word "bios key" and find it quickly.

When you know (or just wanna try) the key, restart the computer and when the screen goes black, just keep hitting the key repeatedly until it boots into the bios. From there, it's just a matter of scrolling through the options until you find any relevant settings.

Alternately, you can give me the make/model of your computer and I can search for what bios it has and explore the options myself to let you know if there's something you can do in it, and what to do.

[Farfisa]

Hey guys, I'm interested in getting a new tower that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm looking for one with at least 1tb of memory.

[debaserr]

What are you using it for?

I think I might actually bite the bullet and grab this: 2TB HDD for $130 It was the best price/storage ratio that I noticed on newegg.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

When you first start the computer, there's a key that you hit to make it enter the bios. It's different between computers, but it will usually be either F2 or delete. Maybe escape. If you're unsure, you can google the make/model of your computer with the word "bios key" and find it quickly.

When you know (or just wanna try) the key, restart the computer and when the screen goes black, just keep hitting the key repeatedly until it boots into the bios. From there, it's just a matter of scrolling through the options until you find any relevant settings.

Alternately, you can give me the make/model of your computer and I can search for what bios it has and explore the options myself to let you know if there's something you can do in it, and what to do.

You're so sexy when you talk computers. I will do this in the weekend, thank you kind Sir!

[Frownland]

I've accidentally clicked the "Mark Forums Read" bit right above the shoutbox and I don't know how to reverse it. Can somebody show me a way to reverse this please?

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Frownland

I've accidentally clicked the "Mark Forums Read" bit right above the shoutbox and I don't know how to reverse it. Can somebody show me a way to reverse this please?

Can't. Cookies that control this sort of thing are stored server-side on MB, so there's nothing you can do on your own end, and no setting to do it on MB's end.

[Frownland]

Okay, I guess that I can live with that. I guess I just have to be more attentive.