dell laptop seems to get way too hot (overheating problem)

[skim milk]

I've had this laptop for about 1.5 years... had a warranty for 1 year so that already expired.

I've never noticed this problem before but it seems like the laptop gets extremely hot on the bottom, top near the buttons, and the left side next to the touchpad

I put my hand over the back fan and cool warm air seems to be coming up, and i put my hand over the bottom fan and warm air comes out so the fans seem to be working.

What can i do to solve this problem? or is this normal?

Thanks

 

[TheCanuck]

What kind of laptop? If its an Athlon, P4 or P4-m then most get quite warm. Do you know what type of video card is in it? Flash animations in webpages can cause older video cards (DX7 and older) to tax the CPU. Try using a browser that disables flash (I prefer Avant these days...even though it's a shell of IE).

Other things to do are make sure that the heatsink / vent is clear of dust. You can use a can of compressed air to blow it out without taking apart the laptop.

Try using mobilemeter to check your temps: http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/

Last thing to do is check your CPU usage in task manager. You could have a trojan, adware or virus eating up CPU cycles which will heat the thing up very quickly.

 

[Cshutchs]

Don't know where to put this

Purchased a Dell 250n and want to know where I can go to find info on upgrading ... hoping I can upgrade the Video card

any help out there
Many thanks