Super-overheating issue with laptop

[sb4ssman]

I just experienced the weirdest issue with my laptop where the entirety of the keyboard section and screen were both simultaneously giving off so much heat I could feel it through a leather laptop bag. The moment I felt the heat I pulled the laptop out of the bag and removed the battery.
 

It did cool off.

 

It had been in the bag for about 20 minutes, not in direct sunlight and the machine itself was giving off the heat. It’s an old machine, 4000 series i7, and I’ve serviced it well over its lifetime with periodic dust cleaning and otherwise best practices with software. I know it well enough to know the physical locations on the keyboard area where it generally gives off heat. This time it was giving off heat over the WHOLE keyboard area including the palm rest area and the screen. The screen has never been hot before.
 

It was HOT. It was not localized.

 

Nothing has caught fire and the battery is not deformed. The battery is still removed and the laptop is not plugged in. I don’t think I’m at risk of a lithium fire right now. 
 

A cursory googling returned nothing useful, so I am here. Has anyone seen anything like this happen before? 
 

I’m unsure of what details I can share that would be useful but I know the machine well enough to answer almost any technical detail without turning it on. I’m afraid to turn it on.

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you LTT Forum. 
 

edit: I’m trying to be perfectly clear, the WHOLE laptop was HOT. Every bit of it. And it was not in sunlight or anywhere near a heat source. 

[Bombastinator]

18 minutes ago, sb4ssman said:

I just experienced the weirdest issue with my laptop where the entirety of the keyboard section and screen were both simultaneously giving off so much heat I could feel it through a leather laptop bag. The moment I felt the heat I pulled the laptop out of the bag and removed the battery.
 

It did cool off.

 

It had been in the bag for about 20 minutes, not in direct sunlight and the machine itself was giving off the heat. It’s an old machine, 4000 series i7, and I’ve serviced it well over its lifetime with periodic dust cleaning and otherwise best practices with software. I know it well enough to know the physical locations on the keyboard area where it generally gives off heat. This time it was giving off heat over the WHOLE keyboard area including the palm rest area and the screen. The screen has never been hot before.
 

It was HOT. It was not localized.

 

Nothing has caught fire and the battery is not deformed. The battery is still removed and the laptop is not plugged in. I don’t think I’m at risk of a lithium fire right now. 
 

A cursory googling returned nothing useful, so I am here. Has anyone seen anything like this happen before? 
 

I’m unsure of what details I can share that would be useful but I know the machine well enough to answer almost any technical detail without turning it on. I’m afraid to turn it on.

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you LTT Forum. 

Is the battery still warm?  Old batteries can go bad eventually.  The fact that the battery is even removable says the machine is probably quite old.  Often with older laptop batteries they were actually a battery pack with individual cylindrical cells soldered together inside it much like the battery pack of, say, an electric drill.  It’s not impossible one of those cells has finally given it up. 

[sb4ssman]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Is the battery still warm?  Old batteries can go bad eventually.  The fact that the battery is even removable says the machine is probably quite old.  Often with older laptop batteries they were actually a battery pack with individual cylindrical cells soldered together inside it much like the battery pack of, say, an electric drill.  It’s not impossible one of those cells has finally given it up. 

Thank you but no the battery cooled off immediately when I removed it. Yes the machine is old, the battery is removable and it’s the second one I’ve purchased for it. This battery is about a year old? This machine has never been good with battery life so it’s almost always connect to the wall. 
 

I really want to stress that parts of the machine that have never generated heat  before were generating heat. The heat pipes don’t even get close to the palm rests and those were hot.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, sb4ssman said:

Thank you but no the battery cooled off immediately when I removed it. Yes the machine is old, the battery is removable and it’s the second one I’ve purchased for it. This battery is about a year old? This machine has never been good with battery life so it’s almost always connect to the wall. 
 

I really want to stress that parts of the machine that have never generated heat  before were generating heat. The heat pipes don’t even get close to the palm rests and those were hot.

The old ones can sometimes be refurbished by replacing the internal batteries.  Quite a job. Desoldering and sometimes that stuff is put together with a spot welder so you got to drill. Drilling on batteries is super scary.  You do NOT want to pierce the battery. Nice shallow point drill bits are warranted.  Finding non counterfeit batteries can be a chore.  They can be extremely hard to tell from the real ones.  Best bet possible is to get them direct from the manufacturer but they’re all made by big big companies like Samsun that don’t sell in small lots.  Got to find a wholesaler who gets them that way.  Liion wholesale had a good rep.  Been a while though.

[sb4ssman]

59 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The old ones can sometimes be refurbished by replacing the internal batteries.  Quite a job. Desoldering and sometimes that stuff is put together with a spot welder so you got to drill. Drilling on batteries is super scary.  You do NOT want to pierce the battery. Nice shallow point drill bits are warranted.  Finding non counterfeit batteries can be a chore.  They can be extremely hard to tell from the real ones.  Best bet possible is to get them direct from the manufacturer but they’re all made by big big companies like Samsun that don’t sell in small lots.  Got to find a wholesaler who gets them that way.  Liion wholesale had a good rep.  Been a while though.

Thank you for trying to help but that is not what’s going on here. 

[sb4ssman]

Update: I rolled the dice this morning and everything seems to be A-OK.

 

I have a theory. I’ve observed this machine get a BSOD on rare occasions after closing the lid if it’s been awake for a few days with a driver power state failure where it hangs instead of restarting. I’ve been there to hear the fan go nuts, open it up and hold the power button.

 

I had closed the lid and thrown it in the bag to take an Uber and I think it BSODed and cooked itself in the bag and that’s why it was hot all over. I can’t be certain but I’m satisfied for now.
 

I hope this helps anyone else who runs into a similar issue.