Are Your Laptop Parts Overheating?

Overheating can cause the failure of laptop parts like your motherboard or video card, and it can create lots of nasty problems with your laptop’s functionality. A laptop which shuts down spontaneously is likely to have overheated laptop parts. 

Other signs that your laptop parts are overheating include:

• Frequent unusual error messages appearing during normal laptop use
• Spontaneous laptop shutdown
• Slow running, laptop seems unable to carry out simple tasks
• A louder ‘whirring’ sound from your laptop parts, especially your fan
• Interrupted graphics on-screen. A screen that appears visibly ‘lined’ could mean that laptop parts, most likely your video card, is overheating
• Frequent freezing of your machine
• Laptop parts, especially the base, feel unusually hot to the touch

Be careful when testing out the last point. Overheating laptop parts can sometimes become so hot that they actually could actually burn or scald you, though not all overheating laptops are so hot.

There are a number of ways you can deal with overheated laptop parts. If your laptop parts are overheating your best bet is to give it a good clean out. Sadly, while this is pretty straightforward with a desktop PC, the compact nature of laptop parts means that you may want to get this done professionally if you are not too technically minded. 

Another method is to try using a compressed air canister, available at most computer and laptop parts shops, to get rid of any dust or fluff which might be causing your laptop parts to overheat. Try blasting a little air through your laptop’s vents to give it a bit of a clean out. If this doesn’t work, you will probably need to take your laptop to a specialist.

If you are worried about your laptop parts overheating, or have just had to sort out an overheating laptop, there are ways to avoid it happening again. Here are a few tips to prevent laptop parts overheating:

• Never, ever, ever use your laptop on your bed, never put it on pillows or duvets or mattresses. No matter how tempting it is to use your laptop in bed, always and only use it on hard, flat surfaces.
• Buy a laptop cooler. These are external laptop parts that you can stand your laptop on which will help get rid of any excess heat.
• Shut down your laptop whenever possible, do not leave it running for unnecessarily long periods of time.

If you have overheated your laptop parts and need to replace your graphics card, motherboard or any other burnt-out laptop parts check out the Parts 4 Laptops website. Not only do we offer great information about laptop parts but we also sell a huge variety of laptop parts which will get your laptop running in perfect order!