Laptop overheating

[steveshank]

A client's fairly new laptop is overheating sometimes apparently without any clear activity associated with it. The client shut it down twice then called me. I've attached the logs. She didn't check the task manager to see what was running, and I'm not able to determine whether the power consumption figures are in line or not. Also, should the laptop automatically start slowing down if it gets over 200?

So all I'm able to understand is that heat recordings went up very fast on not that much load. When I remoted into her machine, everything was back to normal. Virtually no load and 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've attached the two short logs. Can anyone provide any insight?

Thanks

[The Coolest]

Something is definitely stressing the processor.
The U series Core processors have a 15W TDP, which includes the built in graphics. So anything over 10W is pretty high.
In the shorter log, you can even see that the processor is starting to throttle due to overheating or due to excessive power consumption.

I'm not sure what to suggest, except to keep an eye on what's happening and what's running when this issue occurs.
Explain to your client how to watch the Task Manager and report what process is causing the problem.

[steveshank]

Thanks. I appreciate the quick response. I applied the Windows 10 1803 feature upgrade from 1709 to her computer this morning. A few times one of the cores hit 212 Fahrenheit, but quickly throttled down to 160 or so, before gradually going back up. Nothing else was going on except my use of Teamviewer to remote in. It did complete the process in a reasonable amount of time and reboot, finish installing and sit happily at 110 after coming back. It seems like Asus (manufacturer), just waits for it to hit TjMax before throttling down, and overheats fairly easily, but given that, it seems like it works ok and perhaps the computer won't last as long as it would if throttled sooner, but seems like an ok machine.

[The Coolest]

It's possible that the cooling solution in the laptop is inadequate, and some Windows processes, like Windows Update, have been pushing the CPU to its limits.
Regarding throttling, it's pretty much all done in hardware by the CPU. Once it reaches the threshold, it will start throttling automatically to reduce heat and/or power consumption.

[Naki]

Check for viruses also!
Saying "when I connect to the PC remotely, issue seems to go away" directly leads one to think of some possible infection/malware.

EDIT: Good tools to check for malware without affecting main antivirus are:
* KVRT: https://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/tha ... moval-tool
* TrendMicro HouseCall: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHom ... ecall.html
* MBAM Free: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/thankyou/
* AdwCleaner (mostly browser malware/PUP cleaner): https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/

[AndresRon]

I've had a phantom overheating issue like this on my laptop last year. I straight up turned it in for another one after wasting a week of my life trying to figure out what's going on. I hope that's an option for your client.