Common problems
Laptop overheating
The fan is roaring at the smallest thing, the underside is too hot to have on your lap, and maybe it has started cutting out when you work it hard. Overheating feels alarming, but it is one of the most fixable faults a laptop can have. In most machines the cause is ordinary: years of dust packed into the cooling, and thermal paste that dried out long ago. Both are put right with a proper clean, not new parts. Tell us what it is doing and we will find the real cause for free, say plainly whether anything more is wrong, and give you one fixed quote before any work. If we cannot fix it, you pay nothing.
- No fix, no fee
- We come to you
- The diagnosis is always free
- A real person who does the work, not a call centre
What it usually means
The likely causes, most common first
- Dust packed into the fan and the cooling fins, which builds up over years until the machine simply cannot push its heat out, the commonest cause by far
- Thermal paste that has dried out, the material that carries heat away from the processor hardens with age and stops doing its job, and renewing it is routine work
- Blocked vents from where the laptop is used, a duvet, a sofa or a lap can seal the intakes completely, when the same machine runs cool on a table
- A fan that is failing, grinding, rattling or no longer spinning at all, which is a single inexpensive part
- Software working the machine hard in the background, so the heat is a symptom of load rather than of the cooling
- A swollen battery pressing on the case from inside, which people sometimes mistake for a heat problem, and which is the one finding that means stop using it now
Not sure which is yours? That is what the free diagnosis is for. Call and describe it.
What we do
How we find the real fault
- You tell us on the phone when it gets hot, whether the fan is loud, silent or grinding, and whether it shuts itself down, so we arrive ready for the right fault
- We come to you across Leeds, at home or at work, or you can drop the laptop to us if that is easier
- We measure what is actually happening, the real temperatures, whether the machine is throttling itself to stay safe, and whether something in the background is working it hard
- We open it up and clean the cooling properly, the fan, the fins and the airways, which is where years of dust actually sit, well beyond the reach of a can of air at the vents
- We renew the thermal paste between the processor and its cooler, so the heat can get out the way it did when the machine was new
- We check the fan itself and the battery for swelling, and tell you plainly if either needs replacing
- You get a fixed quote before any work begins, and if it cannot be fixed, or it is not worth the money, we say so and you pay nothing
Is it worth fixing?
An honest answer, before you spend anything
Almost always, and overheating is one of the best-value repairs there is, because the usual fix is a thorough clean and fresh thermal paste rather than new parts, and the difference afterwards is immediate: quieter, cooler, and often faster too, since a hot machine deliberately slows itself down to survive. Even a failed fan is a modest part. The honest caution is a machine that is overheating because the battery has swollen, which needs the battery replaced and the laptop checked rather than just cleaned, and we will tell you plainly if that is what we find. Left alone, heat shortens the life of everything inside, so this is a fault worth dealing with rather than living with.
This is a laptop repair job. The diagnosis is free, then you get one fixed quote before any work starts. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay.
Call 0113 460 2103 for a free diagnosisWhere we work
We come to you across Leeds
Home or work, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm. There is no walk-in shop, so we come to the machine, or you can arrange to drop it to us. Start at computer repair in Leeds, or pick your area.
Questions
The things people ask
Why is my laptop so hot and the fan so loud?
Usually because the cooling is choked. Laptops pull air through themselves constantly, and over a few years the fan and the cooling fins pack up with dust until the heat has nowhere to go. The fan then runs flat out trying to compensate, which is the roar you can hear. Dried thermal paste makes it worse, because the heat cannot even reach the cooler efficiently. A proper internal clean and fresh paste deals with both, and the machine you get back is quieter and cooler than you will remember it being.
Is it dangerous to keep using an overheating laptop?
Mostly the machine protects itself: modern laptops slow themselves down when they get too hot, and cut out entirely rather than cook, which is why yours may be shutting down under load. That said, running hot every day shortens the life of the parts inside, so it is not something to live with. And there are two signs to take seriously: a case that is bulging, flexing or lifting at the trackpad, which points at a swollen battery, and any burning smell. With either of those, stop using it, unplug it, and get it looked at.
When is overheating actually the battery?
When the battery has swollen. An ageing battery can puff up inside the case, and people often notice the symptoms before the cause: the case no longer sits flat, the trackpad stiffens or lifts, a gap opens at a seam, and the machine runs warm. A swollen battery is not a clean-the-fan job, it needs replacing, and the laptop should not be used or charged in the meantime. If any of that description sounds like yours, say so when you call and we will treat it accordingly.
Can I just clean it myself with a can of compressed air?
A short blast through the vents can dislodge loose dust and is unlikely to do harm, so it is a fair first try. Honestly, though, most of the blockage sits inside, matted onto the fan blades and packed against the cooling fins, where air from outside cannot shift it, and the dried thermal paste that often comes with it cannot be fixed from outside at all. If the machine is still hot and loud after a blast through the vents, the cooling needs opening up and doing properly.
Does overheating mean the laptop is wearing out?
Usually not. Heat is mostly a maintenance problem, not a verdict: the cooling has clogged and the paste has aged, both of which are put right in one visit, and plenty of machines run for years afterwards. The fairer way round is that unattended heat causes wear, because everything inside ages faster when it runs hot. So an overheating laptop is not usually dying, but it is worth sorting before the heat itself does the damage people were afraid of.
Can you fix it today?
Often, and we will be straight with you rather than promise a slot we cannot keep. A clean and fresh thermal paste needs no parts ordering, so it can usually be done as soon as we have the machine. A replacement fan or battery for your exact model is a specific part, and how soon it reaches us can take a few days. Tell us what it is doing when you call and we will give you a realistic answer, not an optimistic one.
Other problems
Sound more like one of these?
Tell us what is wrong.
Call and describe the fault. We will diagnose it for free, give you a fixed quote before any work, and if we cannot fix it there is nothing to pay. A real person who does the work, not a call centre.