Nvidia Geforce 240M GPU overheating, forcing laptop to shut down

Question

So, I have this 9 years old Lenovo laptop, with overheating issue, though later after cleaning the fan and checking everything using some temperature reading softwares, I got to know that my GPU is the one creating trouble. It is overheating and by overheating I don't just mean getting little hotter than usual, but it is reaching skyrocketing levels.

In idle condition, GPU usually shows temperature of 60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) but, whenever I play some video, or run a program which puts even trivial load on GPU, its temperature suddenly starts rising from 60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) and goes upto 100 Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) within 5 seconds before falling back to 70-80 Celsius, and if I run some other program during this steep rise, the laptop turns off.

I don't play games or run intense graphic program on my laptop, so I tried decreasing the clock speed using MSI Afterburner and it gave me positive result, but temperature is still going upto 90 to 95 Celsius (195 to 200 Fahrenheit), so it hardly fixed the problem.

Can anyone please suggest me some solution.

Answer 1

Heating problems are to be expected in a nine year old laptop, because of the accumulation of dust, dirt, the thermal paste drying up, and perhaps also the construction of this laptop was always conductive to over-heating.

The remedies are well-known, and I list them below. Before starting any work on your computer, shut it down, remove the battery, unplug the power strip, and most important - ground yourself.

Clean the fan(s) that provide cooling to the GPU

Over time, they build up layers of dust and dirt that slows them down, block airflow and may even cause malfunction.

Carefully clean the fan(s) with a cotton swab dipped in a drop of alcohol. Make sure the alcohol has completely evaporated before you reconnect the laptop to the power. You can also use a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust and dirt that clocks up the fan(s). To prevent damage to the fan, do not let it revolve in the wrong direction. If you want to use canned air to clean the fan, arrest the fan by holding it down.

If the fan still seems to be inefficient, it might need to be replaced.

Applying thermal-conducting paste to GPU

When using thermal paste, the only problem would be using too little. You should use a pea sized dot of paste and then evenly tighten the screws. If you don't tighten it evenly, you'll get uneven spread. Use your fingers to tighten, no tools, as with tools you can easily damage something.

For more information :

• Perfect Application Of The Correct Thermal Paste
• Thermal Paste and How To Use It

Keep the laptop on a hard and flat surface

Uneven surfaces, like a blanket, pillow or your lap may obstruct your laptop’s airflow. Subsequently, the cooling is impaired, heat builds up, the surface becomes hot, the temperature of sucked in cooling air increases, and eventually the laptop overheats.

Invest in a Laptop Cooler or Cooling Pad

Most laptops suck in air for cooling from the bottom, because warm air rises upwards. If your laptop has intake grills at its bottom, purchase a cooler that blows cool air upwards into the laptop. You can also get a passive cooler that does not consume power and merely absorbs heat.

Examples of laptop cooling pads may be found here.

Improve air-flow

Some laptops have inefficient air-flow, and some owners were desperate enough as to drill additional holes in the case. Not recommended unless as last resort.

Bring the laptop to a repair-shop

A repair-man might have more solutions for your laptop, or may be able to redo the cleaning and thermal-paste in a more professional manner.

Invest in a new laptop

Newer laptops are much more economical on power, and therefore have less heating problems. Investing too much in an old model is not economical.

Answer 2

Do you use the laptop on your lap or a table?

The most likely cause of your problem is airflow; Either the fans aren't working well enough or there is nowhere for the air to go.

The simplest solution to try is elevating the laptop. my old Compaq laptop had the fans wear down on it, and to fix the overheating I made small pedestals out of LEGO bricks, and the extra airflow helped immensely. You can use anything you find around the house, or buy a special platform. Some even come with fans that can help even more.

If that doesn't work, power off your laptop, remove the battery and unplug it. Ground yourself if you can, and then open up the case. Check the fans for dust and clean them, also checking for hairs that could end up around the shafts, which creates excess friction and can slow the RPM. Once you've checked the fans, look for air filters that need to be cleaned or changed, and make sure none of the vents are blocked or covered.

If that also fails, the next thing I would do is check your fan speeds. If your BIOS supports it, get a readout for the fan max speeds and check them against what they're rated for. If it's much lower, you'll need new fans.

Besides that, it's probably a failure on some conductance layer. Check for old/brittle thermal paste and replace it if necessary. Ensure that heat sinks are intact and attached where they should be and not blocked or filled with dirt. Check if there might be some short or something on your GPU.

If all else fails, take it to a repair shop, and have an expert look at it. they might find something you missed or think of something that I and the other users who answered this question didn't.

I hope that at least one of those things work, and if I missed anything let me know