Aspire 5672 Overheating / Inadequate fan speed

I realize this topic has been beaten to death, but I'm not able to find answers to my specific questions.

Aspire 5672WLMi
ATI Mobility X1600 (8.332.0.0 Catalyst driver (1/8/2007) installed in compatibility mode)
Windows 7 32bit (Updates unimpeded)
Windows System Cooling policy for Plugged in state is 'Active' (turn up fan before lowering CPU clock)
Heatsing/fan assembly and exhaust are dust free

This computer recently started overheating and cold shutting down during heavy CPU/GPU load. Processor temp according to Speedfan/NHC/Windows Performance Monitor reaches >100º before it croaks. This (overheating/shutdowns) has not been the case for the past 3+ years I've owned the unit.

The reason I find this odd (instead of, for instance, first reapplying Arctic Silver or adding copper) is that I am not hearing the loud/hi-speed fan mode kick in until temp >95º or at all. I can usually audibly tell at least three modes of operation, lo/med/hi, of the fan; only med is consistently achieved before shutting down due to overheat. (now that I think about it, I'm gonna experiment some more with exact temp/timing/fan mode/load type, but please read on...)

Moreover, this seems to not be an issue while playing DiVX/Xvid in Winamp (fan consistenly goes to hi speed mode averting overheating), although the computer did hard shuit down once during Windows Media Player classic (don't recall the video format/codec type) operation.

As far as I can tell, Speedfan/NHC is unable to read/control fan speed, and there is no relevant BIOS option.

So:

Is there a way to read/control fan speed on this model?
Is there a way to read GPU temp on this model?
Seems Windows is in charge of the fan/clock--is there a way to get it to at least share some info, if not have some say in the algorithm?
I don't see any Windows/driver/bios updates that could have potentially altered the fan control dynamics since the time it had been working properly--any ideas regarding what could be the culprit?
Is it possibly DirectX/content type/software api/codec could play a role in determining who/how controls the fan operation?
Suppose it should be possible to mitigate the issue if I'm unable to resolve it by undervolting/underclocking the CPU/GPU--what's a good practical way to accomplish this?
Any other ideas?

Also, I remember there was a nice power options util from Acer with original install--is there a way to get install media and have it work on Win7? Additionally, anyone found any of the ATI utilities helpful for GPU monitoring and perhaps even fan control??
I can post more specific information if this thread generates sufficient interest. Questions/comments welcome.

Thanks!
Edited by funkfactorus - 4/4/11 at 12:23pm

From NHC ACPI info:

Passive Colling temp: 93º
Critical temp: 97º


Why is Active Cooling temp not listed? My understanding is that passive cooling is when CPU is underclocked, whereas active is fan control
Is there a way to change these settings/load ACPI profiles w/o purchasing the NHC license?

Tested playing a game.

Even after switching to passive cooling for On Battery operation, the CPU remains at default 1600Mhz and reaches 100ºC without fan going into overdrive mode. What the hell??

Thanks for reply!

I would like to figure out the culprit rather than format and pray in this case. I was able to get the temperature under control by disabling 8/9 multiplier setting in NHC, leaving the CPU at 1000 or 1167 Mhz. Now it tops out at 92ºC while playing back Flash content. This leaves me wondering why Windows is not properly applying passive and active cooling. *scurries off to read MS KB articles on Windows Cooling management*