Dell Inspiron 1420 Overheating issues?

Hello,

First time poster to the Dell Forums here.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1420, which I bought in Australia (where I am). I wanted the 1420N but figured I could simply wipe it and install Ubuntu myself. I bought the laptop for the single purpose of playing the game "Eve-Online". Running it under Linux  was a slow death so I installed Vista back using the original CD's and updated ALL the drivers (triple checked via microsoft, dell and manufacturer websites).

The laptop gets VERY hot in the bottom left corner, just above the SD Card slot. So hot that its too hot to touch. If I'm playing a graphics intensive game (EVE is the primary one, but I do have some other older games that this also occurs on) then with my left palm on that Lower left corner it heats up very quickly. I thought it may be the Nvidia chip and checked for drivers and updated but that doesnt make a deifference. I checked the GPU temp and its always at 45 degrees C. It has a dual core intel 2.0Ghz and Now I believe that it may have been built with the CPU's that run hot all the time.

Of course when it runs to hot what hapens? I get a bit of Hard Drive activity and the entire device shuts down. Even in the middle of a combat in Eve, which is VERY ANNOYING and costing me game $$!

I've checked logs and control panel and there is no warning about excessive CPU temperature but the CPU seems to run at 70 degrees C ALL THE TIME. This is certainly the cause of the shutdown - get the GPU running a bit and the extra temperature causes the temp to hit a point where the Laptop simply shuts down.

I figure there is an issue with either:

- CPU's overheating

- CPU temperature controls

- CPU fans

- CPU software and temperature reading drivers

- GPU fans (I hear them starting and slowing down so I dont think this is the issue).

Firstly, Is this normal?

Secondly has anyone else experienced this?

What should I do? Go to Dell Support and use the extended Warrantry I have (given I'll probably get a refurbished laptop back... although I dont know if it works like that in Australia)? Should I simply buy a Desktop PC, install an Nvidia card and use it for gaming and forget about a laptop? (I use it for spreadsheets and RPG gaming details as well as heaps of PDF files so I do need a portable device...)

I also want to use Ubuntu Linux as I enjoy playing with the OS but I can repartition Vista (Home basic) and install it using that Very easily (as a NTFS Vista Partitioned drive!)

HELP!

Regards,

Jason Brisbane

PS: Vista Home Basic; 2Gb RAM;nvidia 8600M 128M (could be 8400M - I'm going from memory here)

I dont have Antivirus software or anything else. I dont use Vista to read email, or surf the net, only to play Eve - everything else is done  with Linux. I have manually shutdown servcies to reduce the CPU load to no effect. Reinstalled everything to no effect. Left original drivers - no effect. Got latest drivers - no effect. Shutdown occurs when laptop gets hot IS the trigger condition...