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Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I used a quick .NET Program to export the DSDT data. Find it here.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.

Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I used a quick .NET Program to export the DSDT data. Find it here.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.

Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

CCC http://i28.tinypic.com/fdaolk.jpg

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I used a quick .NET Program to export the DSDT data. Find it here.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.

Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I used a quick .NET Program to export the DSDT data. Find it here.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.

Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

CCC http://i28.tinypic.com/fdaolk.jpg

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.

Turns out that with the ATI Video drivers for that laptop, for Vista, the GPU was always turned up high. Even if the CPU was doing nothing. And this generated lots of heat.

I guess this is to take advantage of the fancy graphics in Vista, but I wasn't using the graphics. I just wanted a cool, quiet laptop.

I went into the ATI "Catalyst Control Center":

CCC http://i28.tinypic.com/fdaolk.jpg

...and turned on the PowerPlay feature. This is a way you can turn down the GPU administratively.

By setting it to "max battery life" even when plugged in, the computer was no longer hot. The CPU temp is now 50C, and the fan is quieter.

It's now no longer melting the stickpoint things, too.

EDIT: After I lived with it for a little, I decided that the fan was still too loud, still running too fast for the temperature. Someone suggested a BIOS update - I've got the latest BIOS. But while investigating, I learned about the ASL Compiler from Microsoft, which lets me set the fan speed for various temperature ranges. It also lets me set the temp ranges themselves. I followed Eddie's advice, changing it for the nc8430.

Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but for superusers?

What I did was adjust the fan-speed % and the temperature brbeakpoints. Now the fan runs at 20% speed (v quiet) when the CPU temp is 50C.

I used a quick .NET Program to export the DSDT data. Find it here.

I also took one further step - and that was to reduce the CPU voltage via RMClock. I don't know if this made a big difference or not. But I honestly don't often do CPU intensive things on the laptop. I don't need the CPU running at max speed.

With all these changes, it's like a brand new laptop.

I hope this helps.