Overheating problems with the inspiron 1764?

I had my Dell Inspiron 1764 taken in a year ago with this same issue and geek squad told me it was an issue with my hard drive. I had them do maintenance on it an it's been fine as per the freezing and white noise issue; however a month after my warranty expired the battery indicator came up and stated I needed a new battery and that it needed to be replaced. I have had nothing but overheating issues since, and it's my own fault for not "purchasing their battery on their time schedule"  it's set to overheat at a certain point of ram and CPU usage, which I find rather insulting, since I paid over $900 for this laptop, and now I discover to keep it in running condition I "need" to purchase this new battery every year to keep it from overheating.

I ended up having to buy a new battery after about three years with this laptop.  About 6 months ago, the battery was getting to the point that it would only hold about 30 minutes of charge, and then a few months after, it died completely.  I did not buy a battery directly from Dell... they are highly overpriced.  I bought only that has been working perfectly for a couple of months now from a place called LaptopBatteryOne and it was about half of the price they charged at the Dell site.  I think this Dell laptop is great, but I hate the overheating problems (which I still have, even with the new battery).  I wish they would put out a new driver or something to fix it.

I am glad I found this post (the original issue about overheating whilst watching video). I have had my Inspiron 1764 since June 2010 and since then Dell has replaced my motherboard 3 times. I have had similar issues where the computer gets extremely hot and then either gives a blue screen error or just turns off on its own. I often use my computer for streaming of video, which up until now I have not thought of as the root of the problem. However after seeing this post I have concluded that my overheating issues actually occur when I am streaming or watching video. The last technician that came to change my mother board (June 2012 - the third time this was being done) suggested that I get a cooling pad seeing that they overheating issue kept recurring.

I did not take him up on his advice and of course the problem has now returned as I have returned to school and resumed using my laptop as a TV. Wish I had seen this post earlier and diagnosed the fact that the problem was with the video card and been able to conclude that it would return seeing that I was not going to stop heavily using it.  

I am glad I found this post (the original issue about overheating whilst watching video). I have had my Inspiron 1764 since June 2010 and since then Dell has replaced my motherboard 3 times. I have had similar issues where the computer gets extremely hot and then either gives a blue screen error or just turns off on its own. I often use my computer for streaming of video, which up until now I have not thought of as the root of the problem. However after seeing this post I have concluded that my overheating issues actually occur when I am streaming or watching video. The last technician that came to change my mother board (June 2012 - the third time this was being done) suggested that I get a cooling pad seeing that they overheating issue kept recurring.

I did not take him up on his advice and of course the problem has now returned as I have returned to school and resumed using my laptop as a TV. Wish I had seen this post earlier and diagnosed the fact that the problem was with the video card and been able to conclude that it would return seeing that I was not going to stop heavily using it.  

Did this modification make the computer any larger? I assume it must have made it lighter. My concern with doing this after my warranty expires is that it will take away from the already low portability of my laptop.

THE REAL SOLUTION IS......DO THIS FIRST!!!!!

After talking to my friend that builds servers for a living, he told me to gently suck out the ventilation system with a vacuum. 35 seconds later Its like having a brand new computer. I can no longer hear the fan running and it runs as cool as it did when it came out of the box. DO NOT take your computer apart. Especially if you are not confident in your ability to do so as I am not. All the driver updates listed in this forum are actually older than my computer so it doesn't make any sense for me to install them . My problem was cat hair and cigarette smoke.  My guy says that their company policy is to use a vacuum as opposed to canned air as you do not want to blow the grime further into the machine. Before the cleaning I could not watch 5 minutes of streaming video without a temperature meltdown. After cleaning, I tested it by running 5 separate HD videos and a flash game at the same time for over 10 minutes. The fan barely came on and seemed to be moving noticeably more air than it did running full speed before the vacuum job. Very cool to the touch with no slowdown or shutdown. The inspiron 1764 is a good quality, reliable machine. It just gunks up quicker than most do. Especially if you have animals or smoke nearby.

THE REAL SOLUTION IS......DO THIS FIRST!!!!!

After talking to my friend that builds servers for a living, he told me to gently suck out the ventilation system with a vacuum. 35 seconds later Its like having a brand new computer. I can no longer hear the fan running and it runs as cool as it did when it came out of the box. DO NOT take your computer apart. Especially if you are not confident in your ability to do so as I am not. All the driver updates listed in this forum are actually older than my computer so it doesn't make any sense for me to install them . My problem was cat hair and cigarette smoke.  My guy says that their company policy is to use a vacuum as opposed to canned air as you do not want to blow the grime further into the machine. Before the cleaning I could not watch 5 minutes of streaming video without a temperature meltdown. After cleaning, I tested it by running 5 separate HD videos and a flash game at the same time for over 10 minutes. The fan barely came on and seemed to be moving noticeably more air than it did running full speed before the vacuum job. Very cool to the touch with no slowdown or shutdown. The inspiron 1764 is a good quality, reliable machine. It just gunks up quicker than most do. Especially if you have animals or smoke nearby.

Joe, what sort of vacuum did you use? My laptop of the same model is now shutting off due to heat. I know it's heat related because the thing is getting really hot right next to the fan outlet. I would like to do this and see if it helps before I really start to get involved with Dell support, as my laptop is out of warranty. The interesting things is that tables at my college don't absorb heat but my laptop desk does and I think that is part of the problem. 

Yeah buddy just an ordinary vacuum hose. I am computer stupid but mine has been a cool running machine since I sucked it out. Not 1 issue since I posted in September. Probably ought to do it every 6 months or so. You should hear the fan spinning when you do it.

Ok thanks for the information. I talked with a mentor who is very knowledgeable about computers and he said that I didn't have any real accumulation of dust. My problem is bad ventilation of the system and a possible video card that is failing. Also a tip for anyone else is that the component used to transfer heat from the processor to the heat sink is a piece of foam and you can replace that with a thin copper disk about the same dimensions as a penny. There are videos on the internet about it. The copper acts as a better conductor of heat then the piece of rubber/foam. Also, try underclocking your CPU by only 0.1 volts or by about 1%. This is supposed to result in a running temp that is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit less than previously. Hope this information helps other people.

within ten minutes I am at 85 degrees C...time to prop it up again...UNREAL.  Ill clean it morrow.

Definatly having an overheating problem.  After like three hours on the phone with someone I can barely understand, an hour+ of memory tests, backing up 100 gigs+ of data, and being told I have to reformat, I hit up some forums.  I couldn't take the fact that I used to be so computer savvy and I was being lazy leaning on my warranty.  I may never call a tech again (which I am sure that is what they want).  Thanks for being here guys...looks like it is time to disassemble and clean inside/check heat sink seat/look for hair balls, etc.  I downloaded Coretemp for intel i3 CPU, and noticed immediately that I was running between 80 and 90 C.  No wonder it keeps shutting off.  I elavated the front of the lap top to increase air flow ( i am standing as I type this...LOL) I dropped 20 degrees.  Guess im just heating up my desk  too much and not enough air flow.  All rubber feet are still on and nothing has changed since I got it.  I do not have animals, and do not have forced air heat (less quality air usually with that heat...even with good filter upkeep).  My computer is basically idoling as I type this, and when I typed I am standing, I took out the prop from the front of the computer and it has went up 5 degrees in this short amount of time....UGH! 

P.S.  Tried to spell check, but it isnt working...I give up.  lol

P.S.S.  Had to edit post...ten minutes after I post up to 88 degrees...Ill clean morrow...not getting into it tonight.  Prop it up and continue..STANDNG...

in my 33 years of using computers, i've never run across a worse computer than the 1764.  overheating and turning off in the middle of things.  the function keys for media sometimes working and sometimes showing up on the screen.  hanging, freezing, stalling, unreliability.  poor design of the cooling system.  sucking in dust and overheating.

when it was under warranty during the first year, i had 6 loooooooong calls to dell.  they never helped fix anything!!!  no matter what the problem is, they want to reset ur hard disk back to the way it was when it was delivered.  all ur programs and data gone.  that's not a solution.  when the dell tech would take remote control of the computer, i could SEE him clicking on things and searching for things that had NOTHING to do with the problem.  they didn't know what they were doing.

spending a few hours every six months to clean a cooling system that is under/poorly designed is unacceptable.

i wish i had run across these forums before i bought a 1764.  and i have 2!!!

my next laptop will be a samsung.  they were rated #1 by consumer reports.

until then, all of us 1764 owners have to suffer on.

oh - a few last words about dell support under warranty - it seems like they are trained to "parrot" a few lines.

1. "its a software issue, its a software issue, its a software issue, braaaaaawk."

2. "its a virus, its a virus, its a virus, braaaaaawk."

3. "u need to pay us more money for ADVANCED support for ur issue, braaaaaawk."

dell computers and dell support have really gone down hill.  ages ago they were good.  now, they r not.

I just finished replacing failed cooling fan in a Dell Inspiron 1764 laptop. It was rattling like crazy. Had to remove the palm rest to replace the failed fan.

Here's step by step fan removal guide for this model.

I found LOTS of dust inside the heat sink. That's probably why the fan failed in the first place!

Hey Kirk,

Are you still around?

Mike