I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out to the community for some guidance regarding an issue I’m facing with my computer.
Recently, my computer has been experiencing overheating problems, leading to unexpected shutdowns, freezes, or slow typing. As someone who relies on their computer for work, this has become quite a critical issue for me. Despite several attempts to reach out to customer support via email, I haven’t received a response yet.
While I understand that this forum isn’t primarily for technical support, I’m turning to you all as a last resort. I’ve been a part of this community for a while now, and I value the knowledge and support that members here offer.
My computer is still under warranty, and I’m hoping to explore the possibilities of resolving this issue. Specifically, I’m wondering if there are any troubleshooting steps I can take on my own to address the overheating problem. Additionally, if there’s a way to purchase a new CPU fan and do the repairs myself, I’d be interested in exploring that option.
Furthermore, I’m seeking guidance on how to obtain a shipping label to send the machine for repair. Given the urgency of the situation, I would need to expedite the process as much as possible to minimize disruption to my work.
Any advice or insights you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for any assistance you may be able to offer.
Sorry to hear that you have not yet received a response from support via email; I have privately alerted support staff to your concern. They will work with you to troubleshoot, or create an RMA with expedited shipping if needed. As your unit is still under warranty, I would recommend opting for official repair/replacement (RMA) over replacing the CPU yourself.
In the meantime, the first things I would check are:
Remove any objects around the computer that may be restricting airflow from the fan exhaust port
Software hangs/glitches in PureOS (check for patterns of the most resource-intensive tasks in top via terminal or System Monitor via GUI)
some software issues may persist upon subsequent boots
Remove any dust accumulation, as @FranklyFlawless mentioned above (compressed air works well)
Ensure that you are not overloading any USB ports by daisy-chaining USB hubs or inserting many power-intensive USB devices
I checked, and there doesn’t seem to be anything obstructing airflow.
I’ve been using Qubes OS without any issues for over two years now, and everything has been running smoothly until last week when these problems started.
Thank you all for the suggestions; I’ll definitely give it a try.
None of the USB ports are overloaded.
Definitely want and waiting to use official repair or replacement. However, I’m really in need of support to respond. Unfortunately, I don’t have a backup computer capable of handling the specific tasks for my job.
If anyone can help get support to respond to the email associated with this forum account, I would sincerely appreciate it.
Thank you for everything you guys do.
Regards.
In meantime, will remove dust accumulation if that helps.
I would like to add a tip that has many times saved my day as a maintenance tech. Although I would not recommend it if the machine is still under warranty.
Overheating is sometimes caused by poor quality thermal paste or just dried-up paste; which then cannot properly conduct the heat produced by the CPU, PCH and discrete GPU (if any) away from those ICs. So carefully lifting the clamp over those ICs (usually there are 4 screws maintaining the clamp down onto the chip) and looking underneath at how the thermal paste looks like can tell you if you need to remove+clean+reapply thermal paste.
But in my experience, this is more of a problem for machines that have been used for a long time (dried-up thermal paste) and would not really apply to brand new still under warranty equipment. Unless maybe missing or incomplete application of the thermal paste at manufacturing.
Is the fan actually operating? Do you feel or otherwise detect air flow? Do you hear anything?
Those more knowledgeable than I may be able to give an incantation that will monitor fan speed.
If the fan is OK then I would wonder about recent updates. Can you LiveBoot an older version (i.e. older than current) to see whether you still experience similar issues?