The final overheating solution

Why is this something that takes a while to start happening?  (for example, mine didn't start doing this on a regular basis until about a year after I had started using it)  Does the "insulation" they use eventually break-down and stop working?

Also, why isn't Dell acknowleding this?  The moderator here obviously sees all of these posts and the company HAS to know there's an issue?  Why are they still replacing mother-boards and hard-drives and stuff like that?  Isn't that more expensive then actually addressing the real issue?

Lastly... what, exactly, is "artic silver" and why does it help 'solve' the problem??

 

thanks.

Surprise, surprise! I experience the very same problem: the computer turns off without any warning. It started doing that while running norton ativirus, than everytime I opened a word file, during reinstalling windows (actually now I can't reinstall the system at all), during formatting, and more and more often.
I am really mad, because before I found this forum I talked several times to dellsupport guys, NOBODY EVER mentioned that it might be an overheating issue, though I told them that the bottom of the laptop and the metal frame of the LPT1 outlet is really hot these days.
Thanks for the advise, the detailed description of the work needs to be done (and the pictures!) is really cool! I will clean the fan (first), and if this won't solve the problem I'll go for the Arctic Silver.

It's been a while since i arctic silvered up my cpu and gpu.   Not had a crash from overheating since then :0

Only times it crashed when putting in an old usb device.

 

Wheeee.  I wonder where my screw has nested itself.

 

Hon

I cleaned the fan from the tons of dust that built up during the 18 months since I have my laptop and applied a small amount of Arctic Silver 5 (unfortunately I had to buy the 12g tube for 20 bucks, because Fry's ran out of the smaller syringe, so I have now thermal compound for the next 100 years). I had to, anyway, because when I removed the fan, it pulled out the (locked!!!) processor with it!!! Apparently the stuff was rather a glue than thermal compound! So it's a better idea to open the computer while it's hot! Thanks God nothing happened to the processor. I did everything as shown on the pictures, and now the computer works absolutely fine, smooth, quiet, NO CRASHES, everything is perfect. Except, of course, that dellsupport didn't tell a word about the most likely cause of the often crushes when I called, so I am really dissatisfied with them. Thanks again for the detailed description and for the perfect advise, nfn!

Dell support is very poor .  I work in a School District and have to call them ( for the 1000 Dell units we lease ) and it's relaly getting tiring talking to prople who either can't speen English or don't have a clue what they are doing.

Glad the Heat Sink Mod solved your problem.  It would be nice if Dell would at least emial every SmartStep owner and at least point them to the web site.

 

The Travel Star  http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/e7k60/e7k60.htm  ) is the largest drive I've seen ( and it's 7200 RPM ) that will fit your system.  They will come out with larger models and then they should also work in the Smartstep200 or 250.

This drive runs cooler ( and a whole olot faster ) than the original drive.

Make sure you do the CPU mod to your system. They Keyboard mod also helps to keep things much cooler than from the factory.

Why Dell hasn't discovered this yet is beyond me ( and most everyone else in the Dell world ).

Adding more memory ( http://www.crucial.com/ ) will also help quite a lot and will also not heat things up.

I was very supprised at the performace increase with both these additions and the mods to the CPU and Keyboard.

 

I just saw your answer and the specs of your computer. I am thinking of updating the hard drive or at least buy some more memory. I wonder if this will heat up my processor (since we know that this is an issue for these model ). Another thing: when I talked to dell (and they wanted me to order a new motherboard for 400 dollars, telling me that that's the problem... thank God I did not) they told me that the biggest harddisk that'll work with the Smartstep 250N is the 60 GB one. Is this true? I have a 2.2GHz, 256 RAM, 40G HD laptop. Thanks.

Cool!  Thanks

I'll find you the links for these.

They are very easy to do and really cool the system down.

You'll never have another heat problem with your Smartstep every again after doing these.

 

CPU/Keyboard mods????

 

Is the CPU mod putting the artic silver on it??  If so, then what's the keyboard mod??

Ah, yes.  Thanks for the link.

The funny thing is that I've read that link before but don't remember seeing the keyboard part... odd.

I added the extreme cooling section a couple days after I originally put the site up.

first of all - a big thank you for the website.  i very nearly sent my 200N to dell to put a new motherboard in at my own expense (then i found this forum!)

i did the whole procedure as explained on the website however now when i start my computer, everything seems to be working (fan running etc.) but my screen is black and none of the green lights are lit up underneath the screen.

my cpu appears to be snug in the slots.

any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!!!