SOLVED Mysterious systemwide overheat

[Vandermeer]

Hello forum,
I recently had problems with my Laptop using his fan at the top of its lungs for the first time in its lifetime, probably caused by a very buggy software. Maybe this program damaged the cooling system, or maybe the problem was already present beforehand for some other reasons, and that is why it freaked out on this opportunity, ..who knows.
Any way, the status is that the notebook is now constantly overheated even when basically idle. Here is a pic of the speedfan program reading the values (speedfan does not work for my laptop btw.):


...With idle GPU and processor capacity running between 5-10% I get a completly overheated system. And it isn't that the fan is not working or anything, no, he is going steady, and somewhat loud even. This laptop is actually known for running so efficient that it doesn't even need the fan most of the time. When I got him I often would do things like office work or browsing, and all I would hear were occasional single clicks from the hdd.
Now when doing the same, or nothing, it goes on levels that I had only seen before on Skyrim with 4k texture and all kinds of lush environment mods.

..So something was fishy and wrong, so I did the usual like driver updates, rollbacks, chipset updates and then got a tip from someone to do a directx reinstall, which ultimately soothed the problem to where I at least wouldn't get choppy audio on top of the graphic issues that now appear everywhere were real power would actually be needed and the cpu is not idle anymore.(games, hd-videos, maya etc.)
Since that still did not solve the issue with the overheating, I figured the situation was just too complex probably, and after 2 years since I got the notebook, I finally did a formatting and set it up anew.
At first it looked promising with the GPU only resting at 60° when idle, whereas before it was minimum 70, but most of the time 85 . Yet, the renovation didn't work, and now it is back to where I was before (photo above), which means all the possible cases of malicious software, bad configurations and messed up dlls can be excluded, and it has to be some sort of hardware issue.

What now... I have no idea. Where is the heat even coming from when the system is 93% idle..

It could still be that harmful software has found its way in again, since I saved old files on an external hd from which I imported again, but I doubt it. There are no other indications for this that I can see, and I frequently run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware over my system, which were like 4 full checks already since the problems first occured, soo.. unlikely I think.

Does anyone have any idea who or what is to blame here? "Don't lie to me doctor, what is the diagnosis? How many days does he have to live?"
If you need additional information, just ask.


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System Specifics: Asus N55SF with i7-2630QM (4x2.0GHz), 8 GB ram, Geforce GT555M with 2GB, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit


P.S.: Damn, I am just doing another scan of the system to be sure about the malware, and just by this lame search work (30-40% processor) it brought my 0% active, completely idle GPU up to red levels of 91°C by passive heating alone!

 

[TiZakit]

Sounds like either dust ingestion or spontaneous failure of the cooling system mount points.
Take two "pull the back off the thing and clean it out" pills and call me in the morning.

Is there sufficient airflow coming out of the laptop?

I'm not familiar with that laptop, but there are some dissemble guides on youtube. If you've got it open already, you may as well take the heatsinks off and re-TIM them, but I've seen laptops with thick thermal conductive pads instead of normal TIM.

You can also try a vacuum on the exhaust, and then on the intake air ports first.

 

[Vandermeer]

Ok, I will try to dissemble and infuse some anti-dusticum, then actually call in the morning.(5 a.m. here^^)

Despite the fan going loud, the airflow seems somewhat limited it appears, but I have no real memory of what it was before, so that doesn't have to mean a thing.(well, a nearby plant once died from the constant heatstream, but repeating that experiment for comparison would take too long)

Then: re-TIM? Is that lingo for applying new thermal paste to the processor?

 

[TiZakit]

Then: re-TIM? Is that lingo for applying new thermal paste to the processor?

You got it. Probably not needed unless you see no dust inside. I'd try the vacuum thing first briefly before spending the time to open it up.

TBH, I didn't look up your laptop so much. I don't know how hard/easy it will be to disassemble. Every video will make it look easy, but they always take several hours.

 

[Vandermeer]

Reporting back to say that the issue has been solved. It took so long to get all the necessary cleaning tools and the thermal paste together, but eventually I had it all after giving up and ordering everything online.
It was indeed just the dust on the fan and between the air intake it seems. It wasn't really that much, just a slim coating, yet now my processors rest easily at 40, and go up to 60 under load. Just like in the beginning I don't even hear the fan anymore for most of the time.
I wouldn't have believed it was just that, but evidently even little dirt makes big difference. Thank you.

 

[TiZakit]

No problem. I'm happy to have helped.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

Dust can be a real killer for PC's and electronics, take a look at these pics:









Here are a few more: Tales from the Crypt
BTW these are not my PC's.