Lunikon

Some weeks ago I already had a more or less minor problem with my notebook. Now I identified a problem which most likely has already been there when I got the machine but I never knowingly noticed. I always thought fast processor, fast graphics chip and all the other components of a PC on such a small place generate a lot of heat so it’s not very surprising that the notebook might get a little bit warm when running. That’s probably true…around 30 or maybe 40 degrees celsius. But I should have notices far earlier that my Asus was hitting considerably higher temperatures. To be precise the thermal diode reported CPU temperatures of 60 to 85 degrees without load! No programms causing mentionable CPU or graphics load, most of the system more or less idle. I came across all this because a computer game I recently got me showed a really strange behaviour which I first thought resulted from the weak network at the dorms. But further diagnoses showed that neither network problems nor viruses, spyware, hanging programs or game settings were responsible. When Nils came closer to the notebook and notices the het coming from it he was kind of…well…shocked. That’s when we recognized the actual problem. We did some further tests and found out that the CPU was reaching temperatures close to 100 degrees (!!!) when running a 3D game! It’s actually surprising that the CPU can handle this without taking any serious damage and in my eyes this even poses a serious fire risk.

Anyway, this could also explain the problem I had a few weeks ago. Burner malfunctions can result from high temperatures and with case temperature of probably around 50 degrees the drive most likely just quit the job. We opened the case but couldn’t find any obvious causes for the problem. Therefore there’s no other way besides contacting Asus’ support. But since tomorrow is a holiday in Hong Kong I will delay this for some days so I don’t have to spend the coming days without a computer.