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I've had (and abused) for over 4 years: sandy gigs, pretty harsh drops, 2 failing hard drives, and it still runs fine EXCEPT for random freezing, no bsod; only way to get it moving is to keep the power button pressed or remove power. I've noticed that it is definitely heat related. Living in a big city the dust is a huge problem, I have to clean it out and replace the thermal paste every 2 months or so because the issue gets out of hand and the freezes become more and more frequent.

I've ruled out RAM and hard disk problems, so I figure it's either the CPU or GPU. Is there a way that I could rule out GPU? I've read that CPUs will start doing this if they have so many uptime hours, and this thing has definitely ran for hours on end almost every day for the past 4 years - but I could replace it and even perhaps upgrade it if I knew it was the cause of this problem.

Hennes
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snowphish
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    I have ran the same machine 24/7 for 6 years. What you heard isn't true. An overheated CPU wouldn't cause a system to freeze, it would instantly turn off, but you don't mention the temperatures. – Ramhound Oct 30 '14 at 14:52
  • I just ran stress tests for GPU and CPU but only for ~5 minutes, GPU AND CPU reaching over 98 degrees - system froze right after stopping the tests while typing this message with a temperature about 78 – snowphish Oct 30 '14 at 15:20
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    You should NOT have to change thermal paste very often at all (like almost never), and doing it every 2 months is probably what is now causing your heat problem. My guess, you damaged your cooling apparatus taking it apart so often, fractured a heat-pipe perhaps. "I've ruled out RAM and hard disk problems" exactly how did you do that? "Is there a way that I could rule out GPU?" Yes, replace it with a known-good GPU and see if the problems continue. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 30 '14 at 16:27
  • I ran memory tests on both sticks, in both slots. I've gone through 3 hard disks in the laptop's lifetime. I HAVE to take apart the cooling apparatus every few months because the build up of dust between the heat sink and fan completely obstruct air flow and there's no way of clearing it properly without removing the whole thing. These past 2-3 months I have actually gotten no freezes at all, first happened a few days ago and now today again. I don't know if the GPU can be removed, it doesn't have the same locking mechanism, do it just pull out or is it soldered? – snowphish Oct 31 '14 at 01:09
  • @snowphish Have you ever found a solution to this problem? – Hassan Jul 29 '20 at 18:45

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Some things you can try is check that the memory is correct for the laptop - My Macbook would run very hot when the wrong speed ram was added. Also, purchase an Air Duster and spray the air intake with compressed air thoroughly.

If still hot then finally take apart the laptop and remove the heat-sink for the CPU, then re-do the heat-paste on the processor.

Windows Vista is also known to make some laptops run very hot - If possible, try another operating system or reset to factory settings.

JohnnyVegas
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