Nick,

There are hundreds of posts on this forum concerning overheating of the Inspiron 5100.   Basically what happens is the fan vent and heat sink get plugged up with dust.  One solution is to use a can of compressed air and blow out the vents.   Perhaps if you did a search of the forum using key words like 5100 and heat, you can find the many suggestions that have been offered to solve the problem.

Steve

If you do need to buy a new heatsink/fan you can probably get one for a decent price on ebay.

Would everyone please read the hundreds of othe messages on these forums regarding the overheating problems of the 5100 before recommending that the user purchase and install a new heat sink and fan.  This is getting ridiculous.

Steve

I have been talking to a representative from a law firm in Columbus that is investigating this problem, and they have found out, from Dell's own admission, that the problem lies not in dust, but in the design of the heatsink itself.  This system was originally designed to run a Celeron processor, which runs much cooler than the Pentium 4.  However, when Dell decided to upgrade the processors, they forgot to upgrade the heatsinks, thus the notbook does not have sufficient cooling capacity to warrant normanl operation.

I have had my 5100 since 11/03 and it's been inoperable since 3/05. Let me share w/ you the text from my conversation w/ their inept customer service staff in India. I also have tons of messages from multiple sites that chronicles the insanity related to countless hours consumers have spent being given the runaround, being told various causes for problems, spending time in futility. I have done this in the hopes of convincing an attorney to take this on and gain class action status. I have seen some posts where someone is working w/ an atty in Columbus. I'm in Cincinnati and would love to join whoever in working w/ the law firm to get them to take this on.

I have emailed the consumer product safety commission to find out how to get a company's obviously defective product recalled since they refuse to acknowledge. Also, interestingly enough, you used to be able to type "5100 white screen" under search and find a ton of posts, going back to at least 2003. Now it's been deleted from the message board. How convenient. Here's the link that used to give you tons of validation that your laptop was not the only one:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&
message.id=139712)

Also, here's the actual text from my on-line conversation w/ Dell on 5/24/05. Unbelievable...

Welcome to Dell Chat. Please wait for an available agent. You will be notified when your chat is accepted by an agent.

The session has been accepted.
{Ashok 6:26:40 PM}Thank you for contacting Dell Portable Chat Support. My name is Ashok. May I have your First Name, Last Name and Telephone Number as on the records, please ?
{ 6:26:56 PM} DELETED BY ME FOR PRIVACY
{Ashok 6:28:24 PM}Thank you for the information
{Ashok 6:28:26 PM}How may I help you?
{ 6:28:49 PM}I'd like to know why my 5100 gets a white screen.
{Ashok 6:29:18 PM}When does this happen? Howl long does it stay on?
{ 6:30:27 PM} I'll be in the middle of working on something, the screen will go white and then it will go black. When I restart, I may not get any color screen other than black, but I can tell the pc is operating so it seems to be a problem with the screen itself.
{ 6:32:00 PM} I went out to the message board typed in "5100 white screen" and a ton of messages came up, all saying the same thing as I am.
{Ashok 6:33:15 PM}Please tell me if there is any kind of bent pins on the AC ADAPTER ? Please tell me if you have tried any other wall socket ? Please tell me if both ends of the cables are properly seated on the AC ADAPTER ? Please tell me if there is steady green light on the AC ADAPTER ? Please tell me if there is steady green light on the AC ADAPTER when you plugged into the system? Please tell me if there is steady green light on the AC ADAPTER without plugging into the system?
Please tell me if there is any loose jack on the system where the plug in socket sits on the AC ADAPTER ?
{ 6:34:43 PM} There are no bent pins on the AC adapter. I have tried multiple wall sockets and battery. Both ends of the cables are properly seated. There is a steady green light on the AC adapter. There does not appear to be any loose jacks on the system.
{Ashok 6:36:14 PM}Any Crack on the LCD ?
{Ashok 6:36:33 PM}Any liquid spill seen onto LCD ?
{Ashok 6:36:44 PM}Any kind of faint back light
{ 6:37:39 PM}No cracks on the LCD. No liquid spill on the LCD. The screen will either be white very briefly and then go to black, or upon start up, will only be black. Again, on your message board, it seems a number of customers have had this same issue. Is there a known defect with the LCD on the 5100?
{Ashok 6:39:05 PM}Was there any kind of power surge ?
{ 6:39:20 PM} Not that I'm aware of.
{Ashok 6:39:49 PM}Any kind of yellow lines seen?
{ 6:41:11 PM} No yellow lines. The screen will go white as I'm working, then black. I try to restart several times, sometimes waiting long periods, but then will get only black. I only use the portable intermittently. I rely on my other Dell in my office for most of my work. The portable has had minimal use over the past 18 mos, and has had not been damaged by me in any way.
{Ashok 6:43:37 PM}I see that you have purchased only the initial Warranty for the computer. Please be informed that the Contact(Warranty) has been expired on November 20, 2004.
{ 6:44:54 PM} I understand that, but I believe this to be a defect with the computer, as attested to by many people on your message board. Has Dell acknowledged this is a DEFECT with the 5100, given what I believe to be many contacts to your customer service area?
{Ashok 6:45:03 PM}I suggest you contact the Out of Warranty Department at 1-800-288-4410 who can help you and assist you better in this regard.
{ 6:45:21 PM} Has Dell acknowledged this to be a defect with the 5100??
{ 6:45:45 PM} What will the out of warranty dept be able to do for me?
{Ashok 6:45:55 PM}This is an rare occurrence. Please be informed that we do need to replace the LCD.
{ 6:47:01 PM} Please go to the message board, type in "5100 white screen" and you will see this is a CHRONIC problem with the 5100. Why would the LCD need to be replaced within 18 months of very limited usage, if not for a DEFECT??
{Ashok 6:47:48 PM} Please accept my sincere apologies for all the inconvenience this might have caused.
{ 6:48:08 PM} Please kindly answer my questions.
{Ashok 6:48:27 PM} The Out of Warranty department are the best people to answer this question.
{ 6:49:01 PM} Can you tell me definitively what is wrong with my PC so that I may properly convey it to them?
{Ashok 6:49:31 PM}The LCD Needs to be replaced.
{ 6:49:38 PM} Why?
{Ashok 6:50:22 PM} The Cord that goes into the motherboard gets loose sometimes. So that needs to be replaced.
{ 6:51:09 PM} How often has this happened? Is it a defect with the product?
{Ashok 6:51:43 PM} I have not received a response in over a minute. To ensure that I have addressed all your questions or concerns, please respond within the next minute to allow me to continue our chat.
{ 6:52:24 PM} I asked how often has this happened with the motherboard cord and is it a defect?
{Ashok 6:52:47 PM} This is a very rare occurrence.
{Ashok 6:52:56 PM} It is not a defect on the system
{ 6:54:23 PM} How many complaints on the same issue must you receive before a issue like this gets classified as a defect? I resent having to pay to have this fixed, again with limited use over 18 mos and no damage caused. Please do not explain to me that I had the option to purchase an extended warranty.
{Ashok 6:55:34 PM}This is the first time I see that. SO far I have not come across this kind at all.
{ 6:56:32 PM} Can this issue be logged or tracked somewhere, so that as other customers contact you about the same issue, you can determine if there was some inherent defect in the connection of the motherboard cord?
{Ashok 6:56:55 PM} Please also be assured that the Out of Warranty Department at 1-800-288-4410 are here to help you and assist you.
{ 6:57:36 PM} Thank you for your time. I will contact them. I will be ending the chat once I get a tracking/reference number.
{Ashok 6:58:47 PM} I have logged into and I shall be working on the same. Please do accept my sincere apologies. I have included your case # 102310507 to reference our interaction today. If you need additional support, please contact us at www.support.dell.com. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Did I get jerked around, or what? I don't have the time that other people have had to incur to get a legitimate answer from Dell. We need to band together and get the attention of whoever can help us. I have someone replacing the video card for me now, but I'm sure it's not going to make a difference. He's been fixing lap tops for over 20 yrs and his quote was that he's never seen anything like this.

Just another note. Based on my 50+ pg word document, here's some of the "causes and solutions" others have identified:

LCD needs to be replaced.

Video card needs to be replaced (what my tech has said, but now I believe that was a wasted $120, plus labor).

Loose connector to motherboard.

Dust causing system to overheat - "seems as if my fan also did not turn on high until I finally blew out the vents. As one tech suggested, it seems that dust is the problem....NOT in a direct manner because of perhaps being on the heatsink or on/around the fan. But rather, dust may be related by accumulating on/around the heat sensor (temperature gauge), and causing it to read wrong temperatures. This would explain why the fans, after months of use, don't turn on high very often, and then, after blowing compressed air through the vents, seem to come on high at the correct temperatures."

Mainboard is shot.

Problem with the hard drive.

"It's true that after heatsink, fan, mobo and processor replacement, it will surely work fine."

"After close inspection of the secondary side of the mother board, I discovered several cracked solder joints on the BIOS chip, and several support chips. These components are J-leaded devices, and it appears that there were several examples of solder creep and the resultant cracking."

Make sure that your air intake vent on the right side of the computer remains dust free. Blow some compressed air into it once a month. I also use Laptop desk to keep the heat outlet on the bottom of the computer elevated.

"Contacted dell support and with their help have conclude that the fan is not working."

"The 5100 needs to have an up to date BIOS to work properly with fangui."

"Reseat everything - ram, video card, hdd, fixed optical drive, mini-pci card, and especially the cpu. Something or a screw holding the motherboard is loose.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8100/en/sm_en/remove.htm#1024986"


And the best quote of all," Obviously someone at Dell has fixed this problem, but they are more tight-lipped about it than Enron executives have been! :-)"

If anyone would like the transcipts I've been retaining, pls let me know and I will email to you.

Just wondering what Dell has to say about the prob and what they intend to do about it.

This is the second time that I had a prob with this happening, the first time it happened, they updated my bios.

 

I've not done anything with them since my online talk w/ Ashtok, or whatever his name was. I'm hoping to find the atty mentioned that is perhaps pursuing class action against Dell. I've got a friend looking at the video card and heatsink, but I've basically written this off. I just don't have time to dedicate to going after Goliath. If it ever gets fixed, I'll give it to my kids for their homework. I did file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but I doubt they'll do anything b/c this is just a defect, not something causing injury or death.

Wish I could be of more help.