(SOLVED) Why is my Dell Laptop Overheating?

Why is my Dell laptop getting too hot?

Your Dell laptop may be getting too hot because of a faulty graphics card, outdated graphics card drivers, or dust trapped in the cooling fan. 

• Faulty graphics card
• Outdated graphics card drivers
• Dust trapped in the cooling fan of your laptop
• Dust trapped in the graphics card slot and RAM slot
• Incorrectly seated graphics card
• Faulty speakers

 

As mentioned above, the laptop is likely to get too hot also due to dust trapped in the graphics card slot and RAM slot, an incorrectly seated graphics card, or faulty speakers. 

 

Faulty graphics card

When a graphics card installed on your laptop has gone bad, the laptop tries to signal the owner by getting heated. The only way to fix this problem in case of a faulty graphics card is to replace the graphics card with a new one. 

 

Outdated graphics card drivers

When the drivers related to your laptop’s graphics card have become outdated, the graphics card is unable to run properly, and the computer starts overheating. You can fix this issue by updating the graphics card drivers installed on your laptop. 

 

Dust trapped in the cooling fan of your laptop

When dust clogs the vents of your laptop’s cooling fan, the computer cannot dissipate the heat and starts overheating. You can easily fix this issue by cleaning the cooling fan. 

 

Dust trapped in the graphics card slot and RAM slot

When there is dust trapped graphics card slot or RAM slot, the laptop cannot read the graphics card and RAM. This causes the laptop to get very hot. You can solve this problem by pulling the graphics card and RAM out from their respective slots and cleaning the slots. 

 

Incorrectly seated graphics card

When the graphics card is incorrectly seated in its slot, the laptop cannot recognize the card and as a result, starts overheating. This issue can be fixed by removing the card from the slot and putting it back in until it makes a clicking sound. 

 

Faulty Speakers

When your laptop speakers have gone bad, or the laptop is placed in a congested space, the computer may become too hot. You can fix this issue by getting your laptop speakers replaced or placing your laptop in a well-ventilated area. 

 

What are the symptoms of Dell laptop overheating?

Some of the symptoms of a Dell laptop overheating may include the laptop shutting down unexpectedly, the laptop making a buzzing sound, the programs stopping to respond, the energy-intensive tasks getting quit automatically or the computer slowing down when playing HD games or videos. 

• The laptop shut down unexpectedly 
• The laptop makes a buzzing sound
• The programs stopping to respond 
• The energy-intensive tasks get quit automatically
• The computer slows down when playing HD games or videos.

 

 

How to stop a Dell laptop overheating?

You can stop a Dell laptop from overheating by replacing a faulty graphics card, and updating the graphics card drivers that have been installed on your Dell laptop. 

Cleaning the cooling fans, graphics card slots, and RAM slots, properly inserting the graphics card, and keeping the Dell laptop in a well-ventilated area can prevent overheating.

1. To replace a graphics card, you can either send your laptop to a service center of your laptop provider or you can order a new graphics card and replace it yourself.
2. To update the graphics drivers installed on your laptop, go to the Device Manager and select the Display adapters option. In the left-hand menu, you will see the list of drivers installed on your laptop. Right-click on the graphics card drivers and select the Uninstall option. 

Go to the official website of your graphics card provider and enter your laptop specifications. Download the compatible drivers. Right-click the downloaded file name and select the Run as Administrator option. Wait till the graphics card drivers are successfully installed. Reboot your laptop and see if the overheating stops.

1. Clean the cooling fans of your laptop by using a blow dryer to remove any dust trapped in the cooling fans. 
2. Clean the graphics card and RAM slots by taking out the RAM and graphics card. Take a fine brush, dip it in cleaning alcohol, and gently clean the slots. Put the graphics card and RAM back in the slots and ensure they are properly seated.
3. If the graphics card is not seated properly in its slot, pull it out and put it back in. Gently push it downwards, so it gets firmly seated and held by the clips.
4. If your speakers are causing an overheating problem, place your laptop in a well-ventilated area and stop playing music or video for some time. Check if the overheating stops. 

 

Dell laptop overheated and won’t turn on

Your Dell laptop may be overheated and won’t turn ON because of excessive overheating, cooling fans clogged with dust, or memory slot issues. You can fix these issues by cleaning the fans, letting the laptop cool down, and reinstalling the memory sticks into the slots in your laptop.

1. Clean the cooling fans by using a vacuum cleaner at the slowest speed to pull out any trapped dust. Use a microfiber cloth or a fine brush dipped in cleaning alcohol to wipe the fans and clean the remaining dust. 
2. Keep your laptop turned OFF and place it in a cool and airy room and let it cool OFF to resolve the issue of excessive overheating. Try to turn it ON and see if it turns ON.
3. If you think the RAM is causing the laptop to overheat, pull the RAM out of its slot and check whether it is of the capacity supported by the laptop. In case it is incompatible, replace it with a new one. 
4. Try blowing some air inside the RAM slot and cleaning the chips inside the slots with alcohol and a brush.

 

Dell laptop overheating and shutting down

Your Dell laptop may be overheating and shutting down because of heavy tasks being performed on the laptop or outdated graphics card drivers installed on your laptop. 

Suppose you are working on multiple tasks that require high energy or playing high-quality video games or high-definition videos. 

In that case, the laptop may overheat and shut down as a precautionary measure to prevent hardware damage due to overheating. 

You can fix this issue by following the steps given below.

1. Try closing the applications that may be consuming high energy and affecting the speed of your laptop.
2. Quit video games as they require very high energy to run. So, the laptop starts overheating. As a result, the cooling fans begin dissipating more heat. 
3. Clean the cooling fans frequently, especially if you play games on your laptop frequently. If you are playing high-quality videos on your laptop and the cooling fans are clogged with dirt, the fans will be unable to dissipate heat and the laptop will start overheating. 
4. Update the drivers on your laptop by uninstalling them and downloading the latest version from the official website of your graphic card provider. To do this, open the Device Manager and go to the Device Drivers option. Look for the graphics card drivers installed on your laptop and right-click on them. 

Select the Uninstall option and follow the prompts to uninstall the drivers from the laptop. 

Go to the website of the graphics card provider and enter the laptop specifications and the specification of your graphics card. 

Download the latest version and double-click the file name to install the drivers on your laptop. Restart your computer and see if the problem persists. 

 

Dell laptop gets hot when charging

Your Dell laptop may get hot when charging if you are working on it while it is charging or if your computer is plugged in even after being fully charged. You can fix this issue by shutting down your laptop while charging. 

1. Power OFF your laptop and then plug in the adapter to charge the battery.
2. Place it in an open space with enough ventilation while charging your laptop.
3. Make sure that you remove the charger when the battery is fully charged. 
4. If you cannot shut down the laptop while it’s charging, you can prevent your laptop from changing the power settings to Primarily AC. 

To do this, type in Power Management Settings in your search bar and press the Enter key.

Select the power management settings to Primarily AC. In this setting, the users can operate their laptop while it is getting charged. 

 

How to stop the buzzing noise coming from Dell XPX 15 laptop?

You can stop the buzzing noise from your Dell XPX 15 laptop by replacing the cooling fan with a new one.

If the fans are broken or damaged at any point, cleaning the fans and keeping the laptop in a space with proper ventilation should decrease the temperature.

1. Inspect the cooling fans of your laptop to spot any physical damage or cracks. When the fans run very fast to dissipate heat, they can get damaged. In case the cooling fans are physically damaged, you will need to send your laptop to a service center to get them replaced with a new one. 
2. To clean the cooling fans, turn OFF your laptop. Check the air vents of your laptop, which may be situated at various places for heat dissipation through various angles. If dust or debris is trapped in the vents, make use of a can of compressed air to remove the dust from the air vents. 
3. Use cleaning alcohol to clean the remaining dust over the blades of the cooling fans to remove any dust residues. Always try to keep your laptop upright and over a hard surface to prevent overheating and buzzing noise from coming out of your laptop.
4. Run a hardware diagnostic test to spot any issues with your laptop’s hardware. To do this, reboot your laptop and immediately press the F12 key right after you see the Dell logo on the screen. This will enter your laptop into the One Time Boot menu.

When the menu appears, go to the Diagnostics option by using the Up and Down arrow keys. Press Enter to make the selection. Follow the prompts given by the laptop. If the test fails, you will see an error code. Note down this error code and refer to the user’s manual to troubleshoot the issue.

1. To further prevent your laptop from making a buzzing sound, make sure that you have BIOS drivers, chipset drivers, GPU drivers, and thermal chipset drivers installed on your laptop. To do this, visit Dell’s official website and enter your laptop’s specifications, like model name and serial number. Download the latest version of the relevant drivers on your laptop.
2. Go to the downloaded files and double-click on each file name to install them on your laptop. Restart your computer and let the laptop install the updates. Check if the buzzing sound stops.

 

How to stop the buzzing noise coming from Dell XPX 13 laptop?

You can stop your Dell XPX 13 laptop from making a buzzing sound by updating the BIOS, installing thermal chipset drivers in your laptop, and cleaning the air vents of your laptop. You can also inspect the cooling fans of your laptop to spot physical damage and change them, run a hardware diagnostic test and troubleshoot the issues, keep your laptop in an open space and on a hard surface and install the latest device drivers on your laptop. 

1. Make sure that you have the latest BIOS drivers, chipset drivers, and thermal chipset drivers installed on your laptop. To do this, visit the Dell website and enter the laptop specifications like serial number and model name. Download the drivers on your laptop and install them after uninstalling the older versions through the Device Manager.
2. Turn OFF your laptop and check the air vents that may be located at different places in order to facilitate heat dissipation from various angles. In case there is dust or debris trapped in the vents, use a can of compressed air and use it to extract the dust out from them.
3. In case the blades of the cooling fans on your laptop turn out to be damaged, send your laptop to Dell Service Center and get the fans replaced with new ones.
4. To run hardware diagnostics set on your laptop, restart your laptop and press the F12 key as soon as the Dell logo appears on the laptop screen to access theOne Time Boot menu. Select the Diagnostics option and follow the prompts. Refer to the user guide to resolve any error code displayed.

 

How to stop the buzzing noise coming from Dell Alienware M15 R6?

You can stop the buzzing noise coming from Dell Alienware M15 R6 by cleaning the air vents, checking the cooling fans for physical damage, updating the BIOS and device drivers of your laptop, and running a hardware diagnostics test to spot any hardware damage in the laptop.

1. Clean the air vents by turning OFF your laptop. Use compressed air to remove the dust from them. 
2. Check the cooling fans to spot any cracks or physical damage. They tend to get damaged when they operate very fast to dissipate heat, you will need to get them replaced. 
3. Update the drivers to their most recent versions. You can do this either through the Device Manager or uninstall them and download the latest versions from the Dell website after providing the necessary specifications followed by installing them. 

Run a hardware diagnostic test as explained above to troubleshoot any issues and resolve them. 

 

How to stop the buzzing noise coming from Dell Alienware M15 Ryzen R5?

You can stop the buzzing noise coming from your Dell Alienware M15 Ryzen R5 by placing your laptop in a well-aired area, not playing high-definition games for long durations, cleaning the cooling fans of your laptop, updating the BIOS and device drivers, and installing thermal chipset drivers in your laptop. To do this, follow the steps given below.

1. Turn OFF your laptop and use a can of compressed air to extract the dust out from the air vents.   
2. Ensure you install the latest BIOS drivers, chipset drivers, GPU drivers, and thermal chipset drivers on your laptop. You can update all the drivers through Device Manager. Check if the buzzing sound coming from your laptop stops. 
3. If you are playing high-definition video games, make sure to give some rest to your laptop to let it cool down. HD video games can lead to the cooling fans spinning faster, making them create a buzzing noise.