Start with cleaning the laptop's air intake duct. It may be dirty enough that the Processor overheats from lack of airflow. (Which cools it)
A Processor heats up as it operates. Air flow from the laptop's cooling system keeps the Processor temperature within a specified range. (Thermal Limit)
When a Processor overheats it turns off. (BIOS turns it off)
This is a built-in fail safe feature to keep the Processor from burning up.
http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire6920/Aspire6920sp2.shtml
Looking at the bottom of the laptop with the Front facing away from you, (Battery Compartment towards you), the air intake duct is the square grille on the bottom Left.
1) ALL power removed from the laptop. Remove the Battery, and AC adapter (Charger) if plugged in.
2) Buy a can of compressed air for computers.
Insert the plastic straw provided into the nozzle. Break the plastic lock tab off of the top of the nozzle.
3) Lay a towel on a table.
Hold the laptop up on edge, so that the air intake duct is closest to the table.
You may wish to use a helper for this.
Spray air into the air intake duct. (NOT the exhaust duct on the side)
Hold the straw close to the grille, and spray across the top of the grille opening.
Use Short Bursts.
Squeeze the trigger in all the way, then let go quickly.
You do Not want to spin the fan (Cooling Fan) faster than it was designed for.
Spinning the fan too fast may result in premature failure of the fan's bearings.
(If you hear the fan go 'Zing', back away with the straw from the grille opening, and/or use a shorter burst of air if possible)
Keep moving down in rows, and spray across. You may wish to use a flashlight, and peer into the air intake duct. See what kind of progress you have made.
When using the can of air you are not supposed to tilt the can.
This could result in some of the propellant coming out.
It is inevitable that the can will be tilted during the cleaning process. Don't fret about it.
Set the air intake duct edge of the laptop up on a book, so that if there is any moisture present from spraying air, it can dry out.
Allow 10 minutes for drying before reinstalling the Battery, and AC adapter.
Once power has been restored for the laptop, let the laptop sit for 1 minute before turning on.
Still no?
The laptop's cooling system is the air intake duct, a cooling fan assembly that draws air into the air intake duct, a Cooling Tube, and a Heatsink.
Typical construction of a Heatsink is a plate of metal with tall, thin fins protruding from it.
The plate of metal absorbs heat from whatever object it is placed against, and the tall, thin fins absorb heat from the plate of metal.
The Cooling Tube is a slightly flattened copper enclosed tube. It is filled with Nitrogen. At one end it has two plates of metal attached to it. One plate sits on the top of the Processor's case, the other plate sits on the GPU.
GPU = Graphics Processing Unit. It is the 'graphics engine'. It is an I.C.
Integrated Circuit, or commonly referred to as 'Chip' or Chipset',
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU
The two plates of metal absorb heat from the Processor, and GPU, and transfer the heat to the Cooling Tube. The Cooling Tube has a Heatsink at the other end.
The heat is then transferred from the cooling tube to the Heatsink.
The Heatsink is attached to one side of the Fan Assembly.
The air flow from the fan assembly helps to carry heat away from the Heatsink.
The Acer Aspire 6920 has two Cooling Tubes, which each one has an aluminum plate.
One cooling tube is for the Processor, the other cooling tube is for the GPU.
Allow me to show you the cooling system of a Acer Aspire 6920,
http://notebookitalia.it/recensione-acer-aspire-6920-10.html
The larger aluminum plate (Looks like a meat tenderizer with the protrusions that stick out), is for the GPU. The smaller plate is for the Processor.
Point of all this?
It may be that using a can of compressed air on the air intake duct from the outside, just won't do it.
The laptop may have to be disassembled far enough to physically remove the 'Gunk' that has built up.
('Gunk' = Dirt, dust, hair, food crumbs, etc.)
Use a small, SOFT brush, Q-tips, and compressed air, to clean the Heatsink, Fan Assembly, (Fan, and surrounding shroud), plus clean the air intake duct passageway.
I would also suggest removing the Cooling Tubes, THOROUGHLY cleaning the top of the Processor's case, and the bottom of the plates attached to the Cooling Tubes.
Use an old credit card to scrape off the old thermal paste, as best as you can.
Follow with Q-tips dipped in Isopropyl Alcohol.
CAUTION!
Isopropyl Alcohol is EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE!
Use in a Well ventilated area with NO sparks or flames present.
If you find that the Thermal Paste has dried up, there is most of your problem. If the cooling system, and rest of the inside of the laptop is dirty, there is the other part of the problem.
80 percent of computer failure is the computer is dirty inside. If you have never had your laptop cleaned, your laptop is a good candidate for this type of failure.
Thermal paste dries up over time. Thermal paste also looses it's conductivity properties over time.
(Heat conduction)
The top of a Processor, and the bottom of a Heatsink are not perfectly smooth.
(In this case the bottom of the two plates which sit on top of the Processor, and GPU)
A magnified view would show, 'Pits, Hills, and Valleys'.
When the two parts are mated together, (Processor and plate, and GPU and plate), there are air pockets formed from the above mentioned imperfections.
Air is an Insulator, Not a Conductor.
Thermal paste fills these voids (Imperfections) and is an Excellent conductor of heat.
(Transfers the heat from the Processor, and GPU, to the metal plates attached to the Cooling Tubes)
This is a link to a free Service Manual for the Acer Aspire 6920 series of Notebook PC's,
http://www.tim.id.au/blog/tims-laptop-service-manuals/#toc-acer
Go to the heading that begins with Aspire 1200.
Go down to the 9th line in this 'paragraph'.
Left-click on 6920.
This is a PDF file. It may take up to 30 seconds, or more, for the first page to come up.
It may also take additional time for the file to fully download.
Allow the file to fully download before looking through it.
Need guidance in disassembling post in a Comment.
(ALL power removed. Observe Anti-Static Precautions. Use an ESD wrist strap connected to a good ground source. Average cost of an ESD wrist strap is around $3 to $5.
Use a multi-compartment container for the various screws you will remove. Label each compartment for the area the screw/s come out of.
There are screws which are similar to others. DO NOT mix them up.
If no multi-compartment container is available, you can use a clean egg carton as a substitute.
Label each egg holder.
The CTO Cover is removed to gain access to the Fan Assembly, and Cooling Tubes )
Regards,
joecoolvette
404 views
Usually answered in minutes!
×