HP Mini overheating

This little netbook belongs to a friend of mine and is severely overheating. I took it apart, removed the heat sink from the CPU, cleaned both surfaces thoroughly and put in a new coat of thermal paste. Reassembled and ran it for about 30 minutes with Speedfan checking the temps. At first it climbed to about 53c then settled down to the 49-50c range. Then, at about the 30 minute mark the CPU temp suddenly started climbing and got up to 57c (about 135f) and showed no reduction in temperature. The fan was still running but the air coming out of the vent was hot and getting hotter, so I shut it down before it cooked something. Speedfan didn't track fan speed on this little beast, and wouldn't let me increase it and it doesn't increase automatically with higher temps. Any thoughts on what the problem might be and what the cure is would be appreciated.
Keith

 

Make sure all the dust is cleaned off the heatsink. Do you also use a good thermal compound? The cheap stuff is sometimes not as effective. How much of the thermal paste did you use?

Unfortunately you are a victim of HP design failure. This devices get extremely hot. I have seen them run constantly around the 60c range and stay that way. There is no easy solution for this other than purchase a good cooling pad.

Chad Toney

 

I didn't do anything, but once it had way overheated it hasn't done it again even after being on for hours. Just posting the problem here frightened the little computer into behaving itself. It's kind of like going to the doctor. You make the appointment and when you go you already feel all better. Of course that might be a function of timing--appointments are sometimes 2 months down the road...
Keith