my laptop has been heating up really bad lately, the fan is on for 2 hours straight and then, the laptop turns off. no idea why its heating up. it heats up within the hour of initial startup.

 

Look at the processor usage in the task panel. Is it maxed out?

 

no its never really maxed out.

 

Then it's got to be your hardware. There's usually a copper pipe that attaches to the heatsink of the processor and leads to a radiator lookin thing in behind the fan. Something might be wrong with that assembly. If it's an Intel processor, they're designed to shut off before overheating, so that sounds like what you're seeing. It could also be a faulty motherboard, which are truely a PITA to replace in laptops because you have to take EVERYTHING out.

What kind of laptop is it?

 

dell inspiron, its the bottom of the line, bought it for like 700 last year.

 

Go to support.dell.com and use their documentation, which I've found very useful. I have an Inspiron 8200 and I've upgraded my processor, vid card, RAM, hard drive, and keyboard. If you do decide to work on it, be careful with the keyboard because the cable that plugs it into the motherboard isn't very long and will tear very easily. If any of the coating around the cable flakes off, you'll probably have to buy another one. But rest easy, because I got mine off eBay for $20.

 

your fan is clogged, get a can of compressed air, take out the keyboard and any plate covering the heatsink, and blow the air through the exhaust, will clean it right out and run like brand new, i have to do this every 6 months.

 

I've got a dell 5100 and it does the same. Before you take it apart, just shoot the compressed air into all the vents first and see if that helps. That's all I have to do and a big cloud of dust explodes out of there.

 

dell also had a problem with their power supplies a bit ago. See if you can find a reference to that on their web site. The crud inside is a good bet too.

the power supply problem also manifested as overheating.

 

i blew out the dust, works great, not overheating at all, thanks guys!