Dell Inspiron 1525 and its overheating problem

I have got two laptops, one is an old Compaq and the other is a Dell Inspiron 1525. The Dell is about 18 months old and is my everyday computer. It has always worked very well apart from one little niggle that cropped up every now and again – it used to overheat and shut down without any kind of warning (apart from the sound of the fan whizzing ’round – but I soon got used to that).

This drove me crazy for ages – I would be in the middle of doing some work with multiple windows, programs and reference points open and BAM! It would shut down and close everything. I could switch it back on and start again straight away, but I am sure you can appreciate my frustration whenever this happened.

During the time I have had the Inspiron 1525 I have performed several searches to see why it was overheating and to see if others had the same problem. I could never find a solution, only a list of possible causes (such as a faulty motherboard) and the cries for help from other frustrated Dell users. I have spoken to Dell on a couple of occasions, but they just run through diagnostics over the phone and have not been of any help.

That was until yesterday

The damn thing shut down twice within the space of 15 minutes (at the time I had open Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Outlook, several browser windows and a couple of Notepad windows). After turning the air blue, I switched the 1525 back on and once again set out to find a solution and promised myself a new laptop if one could not be found.

This time I got lucky!

Dell has published the solution on its website and the good news is it is a doddle to perform. It involves removing the casing from the bottom of the laptop and then removing something called the “processor thermal-cooling assembly” and clearing the dust (my piece of dust was about 2cm long). That’s it. Simple, but very, very effective. I performed this operation 24 hours ago and have not switched off the laptop since, and it has not shut down. The sound of the whizzing fan has also gone.

One thing you should be aware of, if your Dell Inspiron 1525 (or any other laptop) is still under warranty, opening up the back may void that warranty. If you are unsure, speak to Dell.

Click the image below to see the solution and read this page before you begin.

Update – 13 March 2010

I am glad to say the overheating problem hasn’t occurred since I cleaned out the dust, however, my 1525 laptop has been making a lot of noise during the past few weeks. All I could hear was the sound of the fan whizzing around and not the sound of my fingers hitting the keys. It got to the point where it was unbearable, so I went through the cleaning process again and this time removed an even bigger piece of dust.

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