Best Place to Fix Overheating Laptop (Melbourne CBD)

LAbbyL on 28/03/2015 - 13:46

Hi Ozbargainers,

I have an HP ProBook 4520s Laptop which makes a lot of sound (like it is doing some heavy duty processing) and then abruptly turns off… Earlier it used to do this when I had many tabs open while browsing… But recently, I have noticed that it has started doing the same even when I am not browsing and have no application running… The minute it starts making this sound, it is guaranteed that it will turn off…

The Laptop would also get really hot… I bought a fan stand that can be connected to it via USB and I place it under the laptop but that doesn't seem to help to cool it down….

To make matters worse, I am not in a position to buy a new one at the moment… So, I am hoping that the issue is fixable and I can get it up & running soon…

Can anyone please suggest a good place in Melbourne (CBD preferably) where I can get my laptop fixed at the best price?

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

  • dylanando on 28/03/2015 - 14:06

    I have an HP

    • elusive on 28/03/2015 - 16:04

      So? Actually a good thing in this case - HP service manuals are easily accessible on their own site, and very thorough and easy to follow. Open it up, blow the dust out of the heatsink/fan assembly, pull out the clumps with tweezers, done.

      Not to mention it's a ProBook, which is completely different from their consumer line as far as build quality goes.

  • reapa on 28/03/2015 - 14:22
    +3

    Prob a dust build up. get some compressed air, either a can or someone with an air compressor and blow it out.

    • sempro on 28/03/2015 - 14:35

      I would try this first…. the ozBargain way!

      • Manh on 28/03/2015 - 15:22
        +1

        And the 2nd step in the ozBargain way is to open up the laptop and re-apply thermal paste on the CPU and GPU heatsinks! Fix my old gaming laptop by doing this :)

        • AbbyL on 28/03/2015 - 16:03

          Thanks reapa… I'll try that… I had read online that if you aim a blast of compressed air directly at a cooling fan inside a vent, you could cause the cooling fan to spin too quickly and damage it… So, I was putting off doing that.. But I guess I should give it a go now…

          About opening up the laptop… I tried this but so far, all I could do was remove 3 screws from under the battery…. I searched all over the laptop but couldn't find any more screws to be removed after that! Must admit this is the first time I'm attempting to open up a laptop…

        • elusive on 28/03/2015 - 16:07
          +2

          @abigail-lopez: Grab the service manual here: http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/psi/manual… - follow the "heat sink and fan" replacement procedure as much as is necessary to expose the fan. You don't need to actually take it off, and should not unless you have thermal paste handy.

          It's not uncommon for solid clumps of dust to build up in laptop fans. Tweezers help a lot with pulling those out.

        • AbbyL on 28/03/2015 - 16:22

          @elusive: Thanks a lot for the link elusive…

          I found this document for "Reducing Heat Inside the PC to Prevent Overheating" from that link you gave ("http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?sp4ts.oid=4145198&docId=emr_na-c01657439&docLocale=en_US")… Is that the procedure you had mentioned?
          I haven't got any thermal paste with me now though… Will need to find a place that sells it and then try this…

          I bought this laptop years ago and have never cleaned it out till now.. So, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised if I do find a lot of dust inside this once I open it..

        • elusive on 28/03/2015 - 22:02
          +1

          @abigail-lopez: If you go through "Service and maintenance information" you can download the most recent service manual (current version is http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c02439213…).

          You don't need thermal paste: you just need to take it apart enough to expose the fan; you don't need to take the fan off. Replacing the paste would also help some, but I'd bet there's massive amounts of dust in the heatsink itself that you can remove without touching the paste. See page 88 in that PDF (page 78 in the manual, depending if your PDF viewer recognises the pages i to x - Adobe Reader does, FF and Chrome don't). Direct link is http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c02439213… in Firefox and Chrome's built-in viewers.

        • AbbyL on 30/03/2015 - 00:28

          @elusive: Thanks again elusive!

          Was planning to do this over the weekend but didn't get time.. Will have a go at this during the Easter break… Hopefully I won't end up wrecking my laptop in the process… :)

        • AbbyL on 22/04/2015 - 13:47
          +1

          @elusive:
          Just thought to update you on this…

          I finally managed to get myself to open up the laptop over the holidays… There wasn't as much dust in the laptop as I had expected though.. but I removed whatever dust was there with a soft brush….
          I also removed the existing thermal paste and re-applied it…

          In the end, I did have some trouble in fitting the battery cover back again… But somehow I managed it…

          Luckily, I was able to turn on the laptop… Phew.. :)

          Long Story Short: The laptop still makes sounds but the frequency at which it turns off has greatly reduced!

          Thanks a lot elusive! You just saved me a trip to the Laptop Repair Shop… :)

  • [Deactivated] on 29/03/2015 - 17:44
    +1

    There is a known fault with some HP Laptops-I have one of them.
    It went back for repair but I was told that there was no permanent fix as it was a design fault.
    I bought a cooling pad to sit mine on, (the type that gamers use). It was the only solution that worked.

    • AbbyL on 30/03/2015 - 00:47

      I tried that… I'm using a DeepCool N200 Notebook Cooler (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DeepCool-N200-Notebook-Cooler-/28…)

      But recently, inspite of having the Cooler underneath it, my laptop would still make a lot of noise, heat up and then shut down (regardless of whether there was any application running on it or not)

  • [Deactivated] on 30/03/2015 - 00:34
    +2

    My 2009-bought HP Pavilion dv6 laptop also has the same exact issue.

    Loud as hell. Overheats. Hard drive failed once, and the second is now on it's way out again..

    No more HPs for me after this…

    :/

    • AbbyL on 30/03/2015 - 18:11

      I bought mine ages ago too… But I was happy with it as it was working perfectly fine until now… I guess years of dust build up is killing it….

      Will first attempt repairing it the ozbargain way as suggested by elusive & others and see if it solves the problem…
      Hopefully, I won't need to take it to the laptop repair shops here in Melbourne CBD… They were quoting atleast $90 + for cleaning out the Laptop…

    • altomic on 01/04/2015 - 21:15

      Yeah my dv6 is slightly garbled. I need to reflow the GPU. Just haven't had time :(

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