Laptop computer fan & YouTube problems (long)

[Imzadi]

Can I get some advice from you computer hardware experts?

Every time I play a YouTube video, within 20 seconds my laptop fan kicks into high speed. In about another 15 seconds, the fan will kick into overdrive, with this high pitched whirring sound. If I don't pause or stop the YouTube video, in a another 20 seconds, my computer will completely shut down, like to stop it from overheating.

Once I pause the video, in 2 seconds, the fan will slow down, (still high speed, but not overdrive.) As soon as I hit play again, the fan will kick into overdrive again in 15 seconds.

I have almost never gotten through watching a single YouTube video without pausing it. Most times, pausing several times while watching one.

It doesn't matter if I allow the YouTube video to fully load first. But, if I'm playing a higher resolution video, the times listed above all speed up by a few seconds.

It happens with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

I don't have a problem with the fan any other time except when I used to run an antivirus scan. About 40 minutes into a 1 1/2 hr scan, the laptop would shut down. Now, I run the scan in Safe Mode, which doesn't run any extra resources. While I hear the fan going in high speed, it's not that overdrive whirr that will shut the laptop down.

So it is not a thermostat problem or a problem with the fan.
Yes, I've taken compressed air and blown all the dust out of it several times.

I think my YouTube just makes my laptop use up too many resources.

I want to be able to watch Youtube videos all the way through. Do I just need to buy more RAM memory? A new video card? Or what?


Here are my laptop specs. It's an HP Pavilion.
Processor: Intel Core Duo processor T2250 (1.73 GHz)
Memory: 512MB Memory (2x256MB)
Operating System Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
Hard Drive: 40GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Video Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 - Core

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[wdw_girl_18]

I also have an hp and my fan does the same thing. My laptop is silent until I start watching videos on youtube. Then the fan starts up, and sometimes it gets really loud! My computer has never shut down though.

 

[Dannielle_1]

I had an HP laptop and had overheating/shut-off issues with it. For a long time, we would hang the fan side of it off the edge of a table so it would have lots of air to pull up into it. (It had to be at least a couple of feet of fresh air under the fan.) If we had the whole laptop on the table it would inevitably (sp?) shut off doing something. A few times I tried just raising a couple of inches (with a large textbook) and that didn't help, needed full airflow.

I don't remember the exact model, but it was a 2004 HP pavilion 17". My brother had the same issues with his HP as did my brother-in-law. We eventually bought a new laptop. We had our HP for 4 years and had overheating issues for at least 2 years, plus we had to replace the hard-drive. We took a break from the HPs this time and got a Toshiba, will probably try a different brand next time through again. 2 years in with the Toshiba we've had some minor issues (mostly software), but not overly happy with it.

 

[nd5056]

The GMA chip overheats easily.

It may or may not help, but take the bottom cover off, get down to the heat sinks and blow them off.

Also clean your fan. Then set it somewhere on a flat table or desktop and try it again.

It's not only Youtube that triggers that. You should be able to recreate this with graphics intensive game or anything that intensively uses graphics.

.

 

[eh24fan]

Do you mean the onboard fan or do you have a cooling fan as well? I never use my laptop without my auxillary cooling pad/fan. I've heard too many overheating horror stories.

 

[Imzadi]

The GMA chip overheats easily.

It may or may not help, but take the bottom cover off, get down to the heat sinks and blow them off.

Also clean your fan. Than set it somewhere on a flat table or desktop and try it again.

It's not only Youtube that triggers that. You should be able to recreate this with graphics intensive game or anything that intensively uses graphics.

Thanks, you may be right. I forgot about playing games. I haven't played any in a long while because the last couple times I played, the fan was running nonstop, almost up to the overdrive (shut down) point, the whole time the game was running.

I'll definitely try your suggestions.

Do you mean the onboard fan or do you have a cooling fan as well? I never use my laptop without my auxillary cooling pad/fan. I've heard too many overheating horror stories.

I just have the one internal fan. Hmmm, I hadn't thought about adding on a cooler fan. Instead, I had been thinking along the lines I might need more RAM. (I know you can never have enough RAM.)

I definitely feel these two ideas are heading me in the right direction. Thank you BOTH!