[im so fresh]

Sorry if there is already something related to this.

Well a couple of weeks ago, the weather was really hot and after using my laptop just to study (been on for a couple of hours~no gaming at all). It felt like it was overheated i.e.the keyboard and touchpad were hot!

The bottom of the laptop was unbearable- i tried lifting it and nearly got burnt. (literally).
The pc is an old dell inspiron 1520.
it's still working fine now but should i be worried thinking that some of the hardware melted a bit?
The internal fan was only blowing hot air so i got a desktop fan and faced it at it

Sorry if i seem stupid in this post. - I'm going to be needing the laptop a lot more in the near future. ~better safe than sorry.

[zed963]

If some of the hardware melted then it would have turned off.

But from my experience most of the laptops have a limit in temp so when they reach a certain temp they turn off.

If its hot why don't you get a stand for it

Another suggestion is reapply thermal paste on the cpu heatsink and clean the fans since that laptop is quite old

[im so fresh]

(Original post by zed963)
If some of the hardware melted then it would have turned off.

But from my experience most of the laptops have a limit in temp so when they reach a certain temp they turn off.

If its hot why don't you get a stand for it

Another suggestion is reapply thermal paste on the cpu heatsink and clean the fans since that laptop is quite old

What do you mean by stand?

i'll clean the fan. ~the laptops never been opened since we got it~2006/7
any precautions i need to take to stop me causing damage?

[sliceofcake]

Your CPU is probably working at 100%, if you can close all unnecessary programs that will help. You're probably thinking that you aren't running any but if you look on your bottom toolbar near the clock and extend it so all icons are showing you may find programs that run from start up.
An idea would be to search how to make your computer run faster. You haven't mentioned an issue with speed and it's not really for your computer speed that you're doing this for, it's just that the tips usually provided on "how to make windows 7 (or whatever) run faster!" articles will help reduce the capacity which your CPU is working at. If your CPU isn't working at full capacity (you'll find the percentage in Task Manager) then your computer won't get so hot and your fan won't feel the need to work as hard.
Your fan MAY also need cleaning but apparently opening the back of a laptop voids warrenty (oops) so unless you find somewhere, maybe like PC World, somewhere that won't void warrenty, to open it up and clean it out then don't think too much into this as it's just a possibility.

[Sgt.Incontro]

(Original post by im so fresh)
What do you mean by stand?

i'll clean the fan. ~the laptops never been opened since we got it~2006/7
any precautions i need to take to stop me causing damage?

Laptop must be fully shutdown, and do not expose it to any moisture.

Just get a can of compressed air and spray the fan, should do the trick. I doubt blowing yourself will do much, so preferably wait until you get the air before you open the laptop.

There are literally a billion guides on the internet, countless YouTube video guides as well...

[im so fresh]

(Original post by sliceofcake)
Your CPU is probably working at 100%, if you can close all unnecessary programs that will help. You're probably thinking that you aren't running any but if you look on your bottom toolbar near the clock and extend it so all icons are showing you may find programs that run from start up.
An idea would be to search how to make your computer run faster. You haven't mentioned an issue with speed and it's not really for your computer speed that you're doing this for, it's just that the tips usually provided on "how to make windows 7 (or whatever) run faster!" articles will help reduce the capacity which your CPU is working at. If your CPU isn't working at full capacity (you'll find the percentage in Task Manager) then your computer won't get so hot and your fan won't feel the need to work as hard.
Your fan MAY also need cleaning but apparently opening the back of a laptop voids warrenty (oops) so unless you find somewhere, maybe like PC World, somewhere that won't void warrenty, to open it up and clean it out then don't think too much into this as it's just a possibility.

i think the warranty expired 5/6 years ago
right now with just google chrome open the cpu is under 10%
i will check when i am working normally on it.
my computer speed is fine.
pretty much the only trouble is the over heat.

[im so fresh]

(Original post by Sgt.Incontro)
Laptop must be fully shutdown, and do not expose it to any moisture.

Just get a can of compressed air and spray the fan, should do the trick. I doubt blowing yourself will do much, so preferably wait until you get the air before you open the laptop.

There are literally a billion guides on the internet, countless YouTube video guides as well...

thanks.
will do that.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by im so fresh)
i think the warranty expired 5/6 years ago
right now with just google chrome open the cpu is under 10%
i will check when i am working normally on it.
my computer speed is fine.
pretty much the only trouble is the over heat.

Ii'm guessing it's more to do with ventilation, where the fan is, if a laptops on a desk for a long period of time, the fans are blocked in some areas and the heat just builds up, rather than dissipating.

Try getting a laptop cooler tray, or something to elevate your laptop with holes at the bottom to ventilate the fans.

[Tootles]

(Original post by im so fresh)
Sorry if there is already something related to this.

Well a couple of weeks ago, the weather was really hot and after using my laptop just to study (been on for a couple of hours~no gaming at all). It felt like it was overheated i.e.the keyboard and touchpad were hot!

The bottom of the laptop was unbearable- i tried lifting it and nearly got burnt. (literally).
The pc is an old dell inspiron 1520.
it's still working fine now but should i be worried thinking that some of the hardware melted a bit?
The internal fan was only blowing hot air so i got a desktop fan and faced it at it

Sorry if i seem stupid in this post. - I'm going to be needing the laptop a lot more in the near future. ~better safe than sorry.

The computer has a kill switch that activates before it gets so hit that it damages itself.

Sounds like the fan's gone. £15 can get you a new fan, and they're easy to fit.

[stumcd]

(Original post by im so fresh)
Sorry if there is already something related to this.

Well a couple of weeks ago, the weather was really hot and after using my laptop just to study (been on for a couple of hours~no gaming at all). It felt like it was overheated i.e.the keyboard and touchpad were hot!

The bottom of the laptop was unbearable- i tried lifting it and nearly got burnt. (literally).
The pc is an old dell inspiron 1520.
it's still working fine now but should i be worried thinking that some of the hardware melted a bit?
The internal fan was only blowing hot air so i got a desktop fan and faced it at it

Sorry if i seem stupid in this post. - I'm going to be needing the laptop a lot more in the near future. ~better safe than sorry.

If you were using your laptop in direct sunlight when the weather was good it will get muuuch hotter than usual. If that is the only time it was warm you may have nothing to worry about. But just to be safe... Think all the sensible things to do have already been posted. Mainly - clean your fans and improve circulation.

One thing I would be wary of is the "How to Make Your Laptop..." sites and articles. Often they link you to software which claims to do something that it doesn't and all it ends up doing is slowing your system down and potentially leaving you vulnerable to malware.

[und]

If the fan was blowing hot air then I don't see how that's a problem as the fan is made to take heat away from components in the laptop, and so you'd expect the air coming out to be quite hot.

Try enabling power saving features in the OS, and reduce the number of applications using the CPU in the background. If you can, reinstall the original OS or a newer one like Windows 7 if your laptop can run it, or a light Linux distribution such as Lubuntu.

[M4LLY]

Get a cooling stand for it.