Why M1710, M170, Gen2, M90 Overheat & How You Can Fix It - Page 2

Hi Aero - You're very welcome and glad your lappy is back to running like it should. Actually the "tape" strips are black adhesive strips that are originally supplied by Dell and are attached to each end of the top of the GPU heatsink arms. Each strip seals the joint between the top of the fan outlet and each end of the heatsink arms. Of course, the left side larger fan has a double joint with the CPU heatsink arm sandwiched between the fan outlet and the GPU heatsink arm. After you remove the video card a time or too these adhesive strips lose their stickyness. That's why I add a strip of electrical tape to re-seal each joint. Without these seals some of the cooling air from the fans might bypass the heatsink joints as the air follows the path of least resistance. This is progressively more likely as dust bunnies begin to build up in the heaksinks and airflow naturally becomes more restricted. The efficiency of the cooling system drops resulting in higher temps. This happens anyway over time, but good seals may slow down the process a bit so the cooling system remains a little bit more effective. And we all know that anything that can be done to aid the cooling process even a little bit is a good thing. Next time try sealing the joints and let me know if it made any difference for you.

Cheers!

Obmij

Sorry JesseKnows, that's incorrect. The case side vents are also air intake vents. The fans are dual inlet types that draw cooling air in through both top and bottom inlet openings. The case side vents are necessary for those times when the bottom case vents might be blocked such as when the laptop is sitting on a soft surface like your lap, upholstered furniture, rug or carpet, or a bed.

I would also like to add that I would never recommend using these laptops on soft surfaces. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the case bottom is magnesium alloy and thus helps dissipate heat. Block ambient air to the case and the unit will naturally run hotter. I also don't believe the case side vents are as efficient as the bottom ones since the arriving airflow is perpendicular to the fan inlets while the bottom vents provide direct airflow. The second reason is the possibility of sucking up dust, lint, tiny creepy crawlies (like you mentioned), or whatever particles into the cooling fans, unless you have vent filters installed.

Cheers!

dave-p - Thanks and I couldn't agree with you more how nice a built in feature for easy cleaning would be. Like I mentioned in my original post, I think Dell screwed up royally by not providing access for cleaning on all of their powerful laptop models. I consider this an intentional design defect as they have to be aware of the problem by now but still haven't incorporated a "fix" even in their latest models, M1730, etc.. While this omission is probably to save on manufacturing costs can you imagine how many units Dell has had to service or replace over the years for this totally avoidable problem? And think about all the unhappy customers that ended up switching brands. I really wonder if Dell actually saved money as this problem ultimately affects every unit.

I had planned to do this mod myself early last year while I was still in the U.S. The idea was to carefully cut out the vent areas with a Dremel then epoxy some nut plates to the inside bottom of the case. The removed vent panels could then be drilled and reinstalled with screws. After totally disassembling the unit I realized this would not be an easy mod. I decided to order another case first because if the severe gutting went wrong I would be in deep you know what if I didn't have a spare. Instead I opened up the exhaust vents on the back of the case which I had planned to do anyway. I left for Thailand shortly after and never did the mod. Oh well.

Cheers!

almmohd - Vista is a resource hog and has extremely poorly written inefficient code. The result is that it just requires more CPU/GPU cycles for normal operation. Your M1710 is running hotter simply because it's working harder. Of course, you also have dust build-up if you haven't cleaned it per this guide in 2 1/2 years. I'm using Windows 7 RC build 7100 and my M1710 is actually running cooler than XP. That's right, cooler than XP! Because of the Vista fiasco M$ finally realized that an efficiently written fast executing operating system is what people really want. Unfortunately, there is no fix for Vista. You can try turning off all the Vista eye candy, but my guess is that ultimately you'll simply have to upgrade to Windows 7, downgrade to XP, or switch operating systems entirely (Linux variety) to remedy the problem.

To answer your second question I really doubt that Dell still has replacement parts for the M1710. The forums here indicate that Dell is currently replacing them with M1730 models when major component failures occur such as the GPU. If your 7950 GTX craps out before your warranty expires you'll more than likely receive a new M1730.

Goo Gone brand adhesive remover is excellent. I've used it for years and it works great. It won't harm your lappy and you can find it just about anywhere (in the U.S.). Any automobile cleaner wax also works pretty well, but takes a bit more effort than Goo Gone.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

I don't believe Dell minimizes fan cycles to control noise as much as trying to reduce power draw to increase battery performance. Of course tin foil hat conspiracists might believe that Dell was aware of the dust bunny problem so reduced fan operation to slow the inevitable dust build up.

And yes, it has been a tradeoff. When I first installed I8kfanGUI I was shocked to see how high the CPU/GPU temps were under Dell's bios control. It seemed Dell wasn't too concerned with components longevity. Maybe these tactics got them through the standard 1 year warranty interval, but for longer terms it had to have caused problems.

Cheers!

I believe you have a bad heatsink since you have already disassembled the unit to apply AS5. I assume you cleaned everything at the same time so dust build-up is not the issue, right? If your GPU heatsink has the finned module at the end of the copper tube arm extension similar to M1710 then I don't think the arm is transferring heat away from the main heatsink. I had a similar problem with my XPS Gen2; the arm was cool to the touch while the main heatsink was blazing hot, and of course the GPU temps were in the Stratosphere. Luckily, Dell replaced the GPU under warranty. Since yours is out of warranty you should be able to find a replacement heatsink online. I've gotten most of my Dell parts from eBay. Hope this helps.

Cheers and good luck!

So true. I was surprised when Dell eventually offered the unlocked T7600G CPU as an option for the M1710. I finally found a new one for my M1710, but was very disappointed that I couldn't run it above 2.667Ghz without fans maxing out constantly and unwanted temps. With Windows 7 I can run it at 2.8Ghz but the fans still have to run wide open too often and temps are still higher than I like for component longevity. Yes sir, the cooling system is certainly adequate for normal operations, but that's about it.

Cheers!