Help with Latitude E4300

Hi all.
I first thought of posting this in cooling but it didn't seem like the best place for it and since I did see some help requests in here it won out.
I would also like to mention that YES, i have searched all over this forum and many others for a solution to my problem and at best I only found partial solutions or none that i can use.

My problem is as such:
My laptop is a Dell Latitude E4300, with a P9400 CPU C2D CPU and 4GB of DDR3 RAM.

I have problems with cooling. Specifically, I have problems with reaching certain temperature threshholds.

Generally, the laptop has always cooled well. Even under max load and using it for prolonged times, if the coolers ran it never went over 60 degrees celsius displayed temp, 65 at most.
The fan would spin powerfully until temp would go down to about 55, then spin a little slower till 50 and then stop.

I have recently reinstalled Windows 7. It is the same Windows 7 that I have used before. I installed the same drivers, mostly, maybe with exceptions in regards to updated graphics drivers for the 4500MHD chip or little upgraded drivers here and there. The only possible difference that I can think of that might relate in any way to my problem is the Bios, which has been flashed over time from A9 to A19.

My main issue is as such: Recently I can't use any high-load applications or games. Even if the games are only cycle-intensive (like Diablo 2) and don't actually take up the processing power, just keep the cycle running, the CPU heats very fast. This is normal, since it's always done that. The PROBLEM, is that the coolers start their normal duty, they spin slowly around 50, faster around 55 and very fast around 60, and they dissipate heat pretty well.
Unfortunately, upon reaching a threshold that seems to be around 63 or 65 degrees celsius (it's hard to tell, because it spikes REALLY fast), the cooler stops immediately and CPU temp spikes progressively, not taking it more than 20 seconds to reach extreme levels, around 85 degrees and above. At one time I wasn't paying attention and it reached a staggering 97 degrees without the OS shutting down or BIOS intervention. I could litterally cook my hand on the underplate.

IF, after this problem happens (a threshhold pass), i close down the high-load apps, once reaching safe temps (50-60), the cooler MAY spin up arbitrarily, for arbitrary amounts of time, without an apparent preset rule to be followed.
I have tried all sorts of apps, I cleaned the fan, etc.

Nothing works.

I've tried finding some ways to alter ACPI behaviour when detecting temps to always keep the fans running above a certain temp but I can't find out how to make the modifications.

People have suggested trying I8kgui but it doesn't appear to support Latitude e4300 series.

I am quite desperate.
Please help.

I'd start by using a canister of compressed air to blow out the fan and heatsink and get the dust out of that old thing. Hold it upright so it doesn't spray moisture into your laptop, and try spraying it in there a couple different ways - I'd start by blowing it into the fan, so it tries to blow the majority of junk out the exhaust.

After that, see if you still have a problem. I fixed a similar model laptop doing this about 2 months ago - it didn't have the issue where the fans shut down entirely however. For that, I'd suggest disabling temperature based fan control in bios and going with an always on setting - it will hurt battery life, but it won't cook your laptop. Alternatively, I'd try different bios versions, possibly older if there isn't anything newer, and hopefully they don't have the bug thats turning your fans off when the temperature is still rising.

Thanks for your reply and advice.
So far I've already cleaned the fan with compressed air. There was some dusting, but not overly much.
I have NO temperature-related controls in the BIOS. The only control I have is wether or not to disable Intel SpeedStep. Setting the fan to always on is what I actually want to do at the moment, but I can find no settings to do this.
I am up-to-date on the Bios, but ever since version A7 I have checked the bios after every update to see if there are any new settings available, and there has been nothing new.
I believe the bug that is turning my fans off is not BIOS-related but OS-related. While a reinstall of Windows would probably fix my issues, I can't currently do that, since I have some sensitive information I need to keep and no backup mediums available.

Hi all. I'm only replying here to state that I managed to find a fix for the problem.
Apparently the problem has appeared after upgrading BIOS firmware to higher versions, since after using the Dell Latitude e4300 FN+15324 trick, i managed to view my temptables, and they seemed to be set to Fahrenheit temps, with temps exceeding 127 for max fan speeds.

What I did to fix the problem is this:

1. Install i8kfangui 3.1 (with disabling driver signature enforcement in F8 menu at boot), do not restart yet.
2. Download and install Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b
http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=34
3. Select sign, and paste path to fanio.sys (I found 2 fanio.sys in my Windows directory. One in Windows\system32\drivers\fanio.sys and one in Windows\SystemWOW64\drivers\fanio.sys) I signed both
4. Select test mode
5. Reboot

After doing the above, any Latitude E4300 user will now be able to use the i8kfangui utility to control their system fans. It is, as far as I know, the ONLY fan control utility that works on Dell Latitude series laptops.
Afterwards, in order to make the system BIOS not interfere with the utility, you will also have to disable Bios Temp Controls, like such:

Boot into BIOS, then HOLD DOWN SHIFT+Fn while pressing, in order, 1, 5, 3, 2, 4. If you did this correctly, your Caps Lock Led Indicator should start flashing intermitently. You can now use the Fn + R shortcut to open the Tempcontrol System Applet. This will bring a tempmenu for the Dell Latitude Series. You can use this applet ANYWHERE once the computer is on. In bios, in menus, in windows, during OS loading, anywhere. I however recommend doing this in BIOS, since using it in Windows appears to interfere with VGA drivers and crash the video refresh.
Anyway, once the shortcut is properly performed, a temperature menu opens up. In the tempmenu, disable BIOS Temp Control., then press enter. If you entered this menu from BIOS, now you can restart the PC (DO NOT TURN IT OFF, just clean restart, otherwise you'll have to disable BIOS temp control AGAIN). I8kfangui should run normally and now I can set my temps at which fan should run.

I have to do the 15324 trick after every cold shutdown (though not if i use sleep mode).
Until I find a way to permanently modify my temptables I will have to do this at every boot, but otherwise it's a great fix.

If there's a DELL support thread for people that might need solutions to similar problems, I'd appreciate it if a mod linked this topic.

Otherwise, TOPIC CLOSED.

Great, thanks for the update - always nice to hear what the resolution is even when someone figures it out for themselves. Good chance someone else will find this helpful in the future.