How i solved the heating problem for my HP Pavilion DV7 (4060eo)

[Nicklas_dk]

I have read tons of forum threads about heating problems, but all in all everyone didnt find the problem which in my case caused the  over heating.

Its important to notice that this "operation" requires that you completly disasemple your pc and clean it. but the cost are low, it only needs new thermal paste and cleaning alcohol (i bought a new fan also).

THIS IS NOT A PROCEDURE THAT EVERYONE CAN DO, YOU NEED SOME KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE WITH LAPTOP OR PC DISASEMBLY, AND YOU CANNOT DO THIS UNDER WARRANTY!

** Why i am qualified to spot their design problem **

I am studying to become an engineer with electrical and thermal as an essential part of my education, i am 2,5 year in to my study so i know what im talking about when i say that they have a design problem in the creation of their cooling.

They have created very small vents to get the largest surface area which in theory produces the best cooling, when using forced convention (fan powered cooling), the problem is that the dust get stuck in these small vents so it cannot get rid of the dust, and this means that it will insulated the heatsink from the fan and it will no longer work as a cooler.

** Cause of problem **

The problem is because when they created the cooling, they didnt considere how to get dust out of the system, the cooling vents that the fan forces cool air over, to cool the laptop was covered in dust because the air spacing in the vents are to small in order to make an efficient cooling, this means that dust is beeing collected inside and around these vents wich works as an isolater around the heatsink (The metal that the fan are designed to cool), so the cooling is heavily lowered by dust. (2 years with regular cleaning from outside was not enough!) 

** How to solve the heating problem **

Main reason:

You need to disasemple the laptop completly (find a guide), so that you can pull out the fan and the heat sink, when you have the fan and heatsink out, you remove the fan, and you dust it off and remove the dust that is collected between the heat sink and the vents (MAIN PROBLEM). 

Putting it back together:

You need to clean the heat sink connection points with cleaning alcohol, to remove the old thermal paste, this is because when it has run hot, the paste hardens and the ability to transfer heat from the component to the heatsink is lowered, then by replacing it with new paste should also help improve the cooling capability.

*** IMPORTANT **

You need to follow the guide!! and assemble it correctly!! the heat sink has to be screw in at a specific order, in order to get the best fit posible and thereby the best heat transfer.

********

This needs to be done when it start running to hot again, unless you create some kind of dust filter, but this can lead to lowered cooling.

I hope this would help other people solve their heating problem, but as i see this is one of many reasons, but if the obvious updating software and cleaning out dust from fan dosent work and the fan runs, it could be because the vents and heatsink is covered in dust

[Huffer]

Thanks. This is my standard advice to people who report overheating. I have actually done this operation myself on dv7s and agree that they are among the most difficult laptops to disassemble. Be careful in there.

[Nicklas_dk]

Thank you for confirming, that this can in some cases solve the overheating.

And i agree with you,  that it is not straight forward, and people has to be carefull 🙂

[Huffer]

Yes, it does not work in all cases. It usually takes at least a year for dust to clog the vents so if the laptop is newer than that dust buildup is not the problem usually.