HP Pavilion dv7 overheating issue

Question

Recently, i bought myself a HP Pavilion dv7-5000ev laptop with a HP Renew warranty (+ 2 year HP Care Pack).
First time in, the operating system was Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
Almost immediately, I found that it was overheating. A prime number calculation stress test + SpeedFan temperature checking showed that cores exhibited extreme temperatures (not falling below 98-99 degrees Celsius). Even after terminating the stress test, the temperatures dropped very slowly (about half an hour, down to 65 degrees, and stopped). I got a suggestion, that a BIOS update would do the trick. It did do the trick (i updated the BIOS to the latest version, provided on HP's official driver download site), but only in terms of half a degree Celsius.
I sent the laptop back to the store, they replaced the Beats Audio speakers and what they called, the "cooling module". Again, i installed Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, did the stress test again, and temperatures didn't go over 92 degrees.
The problem is, that it is a little too hot, when idling. It was the same even before updating BIOS and sending it away for maintenance. Even when installing software (which, in my opinion, shouldn't be that much CPU intensive), temperatures boost up to 75-80 degrees.
Is this normal? Is it normal for my laptop to be idling at 60-65 degrees Celsius and jumping to 80, when doing nothing more than installing random software?

Answer 1

Here is what happened with my HP DV7 7047 cl. It has a manufacturers defect in it, that I fixed myself. I bought mine at SAMS CLUB in the summer of 2012. It is a i7 beats edition DV7 notebook, I'm guessing the same thing is happening with HP's line of DV6 and DV7 laptops. Mine has a nvidia GPU in it, but they also come with ati radeon GPU's. It isn't surprising they are taking them off the market right now.
If your laptop has 2 vents, and the one in the back is not blowing air through it then your laptop possibly has the same problem mine had, and you need to take it to replace the inner fan piece which was designed for only one vent. The way it works is both of these vents are made out of aluminum and are separately connected to the CPU and GPU. The one to the side is your GPU one. The aluminum vent in the back cools your CPU. If your CPU isn't getting any ventilation then your laptop wont last long and could possibly start a fire. Here is how I fixed mine by myself. And how you can fix yours too.
Before taking it apart call HP Support and ask them if you can open it up to "clean it". They will give you permission so it doesn't void the HP warranty.
My laptop would reach between 70c, 80c, 90c, even 100c and would get extremely hot, but wouldn't overheat. And I was concerned because my laptop is only 3 months old. It would get very hot. So I decided to take it apart and see what was going on inside. I followed the instructions on HP's website, they have online guides and manuals for taking your laptop apart and putting it back together. If you need instructions on finding your manual for your laptop then email me at [email protected]. Doing this fixed my laptop entirely. It never gets hot now, it runs faster and can play games at their maximum settings. The CPU will stay only at 60c, 65c at its tops. It's like magic.
Here is how you can surgically correct your faulty laptop fan. You're going to make an opening in the fan, cutting a bit of plastic off, so that the other vent to your CPU can get ventilation, if worst comes to worst, you can jot down the name of the fan on the sticker and go to HP's website and order a new piece to replace it for like 50 bucks.
What you need is...
A small screwdriver
A tiny screwdriver
And (optional) some thermal compound to replace your cooked old compound. Mine was like chalk, I replaced it and it helped cool down my laptop by like 10c. You can get thermal compound at Radio Shack, and the silver stuff is the best.
First open it up carefully, take your time, and take out the motherboard. Its the big chip with the fan connected to it and the aluminum vents.
Next, If you're planning on replacing your thermal compound, then unscrew the bolts on the heat sinks and take the big metal pieces off the chip, place your motherboard chip to the side. Now take the piece with your heat sinks, fan and vents connected to it, and turn it around.
Next unscrew the 4 or 5 tiny bolts behind the fan. So you can take the inner fan piece out. Notice its shape, does it have an opening for your other vent? If not, then make one. Cut an opening in the plastic, the size of the other vent. I used a knife carefully angled to cut the plastic off. Once I cut it, I just bent it off the bottom to take it off. Place the fan back into its frame and screw in the tiny bolts.
Now replace your thermal compound. You can use a Q tip with the cotton off of it, to scrape off the old gunk - then clean it with a slightly wet Q tip. You can use a little rubbing alcohol but you shouldn't need much. Next put a drop of the new compound on the heat sinks and the chip. Using some plastic wrap on your finger even it carefully on top of the little silver parts where the old stuff was.
Now you're good to put it all back together. Gently place the heat sinks on the chip and don't move them while you screw the heat sinks back into the chip.
Carefully put the laptop back together and you're done.
Here's a picture of my fan, and how I fixed mine. I didn't bother to take the piece out when I took the picture cause those tiny bolts are a PAIN to take out with a knife when you don't have a tiny screwdriver.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/269/1001711d.jpg/