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[i2amroy]

In this case though, the system is "normal", but does not kick on the fan until "ZOMG! THE NUKES ARE GOING OFF!" happens.  That's a thermostat sensor problem, probably attributed to shitty system design. (Acer related is a definite possibility.)  However, even without the fan blowing, the heat sink SHOULD be diffusing a great deal of the heat if the thermal paste is worth a shit.

I know that there are a fair number of programs out there that let you manually control your fans, and many of them let you set it to scale automatically on a certain sensor from X temperature to Y temperature. If the problem is just that the fans aren't turning on you can probably use one of those to force them to turn on when they should be.

[alexandertnt]

Yeah... I can go shopping for the thermal paste tommorow, my dad has an air compressor so when he has the time he says he'll help me with blowing the dust out, but I just experienced another crash... sigh.
Definitely investing on good cooling when I get a new computer. Except for the crashing and over-heating, this one's really good though.

The general recommendation is to get a gaming PC, with a nice big case and nice large low RPM fans for good cooling and easy maintenance, and a non-gaming laptop for any portable computing. A laptop will last a good time if its hardware isn't being taxed to hell all the time

Though this depends on your circumstance.

[miauw62]

In this case though, the system is "normal", but does not kick on the fan until "ZOMG! THE NUKES ARE GOING OFF!" happens.  That's a thermostat sensor problem, probably attributed to shitty system design. (Acer related is a definite possibility.)  However, even without the fan blowing, the heat sink SHOULD be diffusing a great deal of the heat if the thermal paste is worth a shit.

I know that there are a fair number of programs out there that let you manually control your fans, and many of them let you set it to scale automatically on a certain sensor from X temperature to Y temperature. If the problem is just that the fans aren't turning on you can probably use one of those to force them to turn on when they should be.

I don't think I could use SpeedFan to control the fans on my Aspire, though. It didn't detect them.

[wierd]

Hooray for non-ACPI compliant sensors and fans!

Seriously, this standard has been around since the 90s. and manufacturers STILL dont' follow it?

The reason why your fan control chip didnt show up, was because it is non-ACPI compliant. 

[Lord Shonus]

Ever since Windows XP (possibly since Windows 98, in fact) I've created a "shortcuts" menu in my taskbar by putting my important shortcuts in a folder, attaching it as a toolbar, and shrinkng that toolbar to where only the title and expansion arrow shows. This has proved quite convienint (I like having a menu that everything has to be added to manually while still keeping the "kitchen sink" Start Menu), but it is damnably slow to load. Is there some third-party softare that would give me the same functionality in Win7 at a decent speed?

[flabort]

In this case though, the system is "normal", but does not kick on the fan until "ZOMG! THE NUKES ARE GOING OFF!" happens.  That's a thermostat sensor problem, probably attributed to shitty system design. (Acer related is a definite possibility.)  However, even without the fan blowing, the heat sink SHOULD be diffusing a great deal of the heat if the thermal paste is worth a shit.

I know that there are a fair number of programs out there that let you manually control your fans, and many of them let you set it to scale automatically on a certain sensor from X temperature to Y temperature. If the problem is just that the fans aren't turning on you can probably use one of those to force them to turn on when they should be.

I don't think I could use SpeedFan to control the fans on my Aspire, though. It didn't detect them.

Yeah, as I said I am using Afterburner to monitor my heat, and said program is theoretically capable of detecting and setting clock speed and fan speed, but the fan setting bar is greyed out, and the clock-speed bar jumps back to where it was when I try to change it.

[flabort]

Woo! We managed to get to the thermal pad and replaced it (It had melted into a thin layer of dust surounded by a ring of rubber-like goo), and get my computer back together. So far I haven't tested it to see if it heats up, but I'm making this post from it so it's so-far-so-good.

[wierd]

PLEASE tell me you replaced it with proper thermal joint compound, and NOT another horrible thermal conductive pad--- PLEASE!

[flabort]

PLEASE tell me you replaced it with proper thermal joint compound, and NOT another horrible thermal conductive pad--- PLEASE!

Ayup:

Like say, Arctic Silver

Hasn't gone above 54 this whole time, thanks.

[wierd]

YAY!!

You see what I mean now about those pads "Breaking down", right?  They get "Crispy", "Crumbly", and basically ineffective for the intended purpose about 2 years into service. Proper thermal compound on the other hand, can faithfully serve for over a decade.

In short, the thermal goo, (especially if you used arctic silver) will last longer than your laptop will continue being serviceable. (It will become too obsolete to be useful before that thermal compound stops working.)

[Thief^]

Arctic Silver tubes are tiny, but they never run out

[Azerty]

Hello!

I finally decided to just nuke the whole thing and to reinstall Windows.

Could you indicate me if I should use Avast and Malwarebytes to prevent further infection and, given my WiFi connexion is getting slow, how to make sure my USB key on which I intend to put the installers for these anti-viruses doesn't infect my laptop.

[Reelya]

As well as avast and malwarebytes, set up your admin account, then make a user account with no admin rights. Always use the user account except when installing new software. That's another line of defense - attackers will often hijack the user permissions of the account running the code, so if you don't have more privileges than needed for day to day operations, you will get less attacks.

As for infected USB sticks, are you sure that's happening? I remember having that problem once but many years ago. It was common on earlier builds of Windows XP which would automatically run autorun code from a USB stick, but was patched so that autorun didn't work like this any more. It's unlikely that you'd have a boot-infected USB stick now if you're using Windows 7 or 8. Just install the virus software, update the definitions, then scan and clean the USB stick just to be sure.

[wierd]

As well as avast and malwarebytes, set up your admin account, then make a user account with no admin rights. Always use the user account except when installing new software. That's another line of defense - attackers will often hijack the user permissions of the account running the code, so if you don't have more privileges than needed for day to day operations, you will get less attacks.

As for infected USB sticks, are you sure that's happening? I remember having that problem once but many years ago. It was common on earlier builds of Windows XP which would automatically run autorun code from a USB stick, but was patched so that autorun didn't work like this any more. It's unlikely that you'd have a boot-infected USB stick now if you're using Windows 7 or 8. Just install the virus software, update the definitions, then scan and clean the USB stick just to be sure.

There is malware that reflashes the firmware inside the usb stick, making it into a very hard to clean infection vector.  It does not need to tamper with the filesystem on the drive, it rewrites the drive's firmware and then does nasty things with USB protocol vulnerabilities.

sadly, other than religious zeal against plugging random usb drives in? no real solution.

[miauw62]

As far as I know, it's much like stuff that reflashes the BIOS with malicious code: really complex stuff,the sort of thing that comes from governments rather than criminals (well, ordinary criminals).