What can be done about overheating?

The symptoms of an overheating Vaio are these:

• It works fine as long as you don't run any CPU-intensive applications on it. But when you stress it, it works for a while (minutes to hours) and shuts down.
  
  
• Once it does shut down, it will shut down sooner if you restart it without giving it time to cool off. Then the cycle starts again.
  
  

To make sure that you don't have a software problem, boot a copy of the Linux BBC and type MEMTEST<Enter>. If it runs longer without croaking than Windows did, your computer is probably all right, and you need to find a misbehaving program. If it shuts down after running for the same as with Windows, you probably have a hardware issue.

The solution takes place in several stages (depending on the severity of the problem):

1. Using the disassembly instructions at the bottom of the page, open the top of your computer. Either unplug the cooling fan that sits on top of, or adjacent to, the CPU, or put a little piece of folded cardboard in the fan blades to prevent them from turning. Blast canned air in through the exhaust slots on the back or side of the machine to remove dust from the CPU radiator and fan. Vacuum cleaner suction applied to the intakes on the side, top, and bottom sometimes also works. Plug the fan back in. Make sure the fan will turn freely (sometimes a dust bunny will hide in it). When you're using the computer, always be careful not to block the intake slots on the bottom or sides. If that doesn't fix it, then
   
   
2. Remove the fan and heat sink, clean out the old (probably cracked and fried) thermal compound between the heat sink and CPU, and install new Arctic Silver 5. Here is a link to get you started: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm
   
   

Testing the repair

Download and install CPU Burn-in. Your computer should run for days without stopping.

How to get inside a Vaio

Most Vaios have one or two hidden screws that start the disassembly procedure.

• In laptop models, they are almost always on the left side, either exposed or under a peripheral cover; removing them allows you to slide the speaker panel to the right or left to release it upwards (be careful not to pull on the ribbon cable that connects the power/speaker panel to the mother board).
  
  
• In notebooks, screws across the rear of the bottom (typically numbering three) will release the keyboard. Since there are about two bazillion Vaio variants that are all different, that's about as far as we can get with these self-help pages.