XPS 13 9310, overheating

Didn't fix it for me. Updated bios an hour ago. Did some work, closed the lid and when I just came back fan was blowing with lid closed. I have temperature control set to quiet, maybe that prevented it this last time from completely overheating or maybe it was because I was in time. Come on Dell, fix this!

I updated the Bios (again - so many updates to this model) but since it has been working for a while now have no idea of it changed anything. The last update replaced my earlier Bios change disabling Turbo Boost so right now I've no idea what got fixed but luckily it all appears to be working. I also ran the 1650 Wifi update to ensure all is up to date. I was running mine in Cool mode but it was changed during an update without me noticing and has been set to Optimized, again, as long as its remaining cool I'm happy. Hope yours gets fixed soon

Me too.

I have a few years old XPS 15 9560 and I had the same issue.

Additionally, on my computer the Intel GPU jumped to 100% all the time, randomly, even if just editing text on Notepad, couldn't even scroll down the text, it was so slow temporarily. The bottom of the laptop was very hot in the area where the CPU and GPU are located.

When the computer was just idling when connected to the power supply, the fans were pushing air 100% of the time like no tomorrow, battery time was also reduced to less than half of what it should be.

The reason for this was that the thermal paste between the CPU, GPU and their combined heatsink had gone old and lost its ability to transfer heat well. This seems to be a very common problem with Dell laptops, as I have fixed the same issue for others as well. This activated thermal throttling which caused the above to happen.

This issue seems to come faster, if the computer is being used for applications that require performance, thus making the CPU/GPU run hotter, and it makes the thermal paste lose its function faster.

I opened the machine, removed the fans which also had dust buildup and basically blocked half of the airway from both fans, which means more trouble.

Cleaned the dust, removed the heatsink, cleaned the old thermal paste with isopropyl alcohol, applied a nice, thin layer of new thermal paste with a piece of some carton card on both of the chip dies, put it back together and the result is - the machine is like new.

It no longer runs hot like before, it is significantly cooler, performance is like it was when new, fans are running easy and silent, no GPU spikes to 100% and no lagging even on powered mode. Battery time also returned to normal.

If you search from Youtube with "Dell XPS repaste", you can find good videos on how to do it, if you feel like doing it yourself, it is surprisingly easy when you're being careful. For an experienced IT technician such as myself, this is no more than a 15 minute job, material costs for new paste less than a dollar.

I have an XPS 9310 also with the same issue and a replacement is on the way. Disgustingly disappointed. 

Sorry to hear that. Mine got resolved and has been cool for last month or so, hopefully forever. I've added all the numerous updates includes bios so maybe something in there helped.

Good luck

@BDL99 

Well, in the case of the 2-in-1, latest bios is from April 1st (2.2.1), and doesn't include anything regarding thermal management. It's all up to date using Dell Command Update. I just uninstalled all Dell SupportAssist and set to Quiet mode. However I doubt it will resolve much as it looks like it actually gets stuck when going into screen off mode/sleep, which causes the overheating. During actual usage the temperature is fine.

Same here. We have an XPS 13 9310 and XPS 9310 2-in-1 and both have this issue.

Laptop goes into sleep or lock screen mode and when user returns, laptop is almost too hot to touch.

Is there still no fix?

hello, thanks for the direction. Is it i7 processor? 

Hello, I am having the same issue. Did your replacement work? Is your new laptop working properly? Btw, is it i7?

I have also been having severe overheating (and system "freezing") problems with my XPS 13 9310. 

Is there a definitive solution?

There doesn't seem to be. There are several things you can do (see responses above) but its a guess what actually works. I'm just happy mine appears normal now (but I still worry it'll revert). Try looking for the app using most resources and disable/uninstall it and see what happens. Keep working through until you get results (fixed or not). Some have had results stopping Dells SupportAssist and/or reinstalling it.

Same here. First machine would constantly just lock up. Couldn't reinstall the OS before it froze. Sent it back, for another. This one's been better, but two or three times (in there month I've had it) it's suddenly frozen up, fan on high, hard power off. Disappointing. I'll be going with another make next time around.

I paid $1500 for my Dell XPS 13 (9310). I haven't been more disappointed in a laptop like this one. This laptop overheated from day one even with the lid closed. There is video tearing when playing fast moving videos. The battery life is only 10 hours. I actually sold my old Apple MacBook Pro to buy this - big mistake. The laptop first came with Ubuntu, it overheated. I installed Windows 10 and the overheating became worse. I updated the BIOS, drivers, Windows and Ubuntu updates - no luck. The video chipset and driver are also problematic. I have had way cheaper laptops that performed much better than this expensive machine. I would suggest to new buyers to get the Apple M1 MacBook Pro and not the Dell XPS 13. You can just run windows in a virtual machine. I will try uninstalling Dell Support as one user suggest and see if that helps.