XPS 9360 Weird Noise & Running Hot

[David82]

Hey, I recently bought a used XPS 9360 for my son to use at school.

Got a decent deal because it needed a new battery which I managed to pick up for a decent price too.

We noticed it was running a bit hot so I started by doing the obvious blow into the vents to make sure they're not clogged with dust - they wern't BUT I noticed when I picked up the laptop it made a noise that sounded like something going in a frying pan, I noticed that this is worse if you pick the laptop up and hold it vertical (so the sides with the ports facing the ground and the sky).

I know these have issues with the thermal paste drying out so I opened it up and took the heatsink off and yeah the paste is dry so Im ordering some more - but that didnt explain the noise so I held a lighter under the heatsink for a split second to get it warm and then tilted it... Same crackling noise.

Any idea what that might be? never had a laptop do it before so dont think its normal - damaged heat pipe?

 

[Phantom218]

Ill take it you bought it second hand, I actually have a Latitude E5470, and I have similar problems, things that fixed my issue was opening the fan up, clearing debris, finding and loose screws, a couple were loose and screw em back in where they belong. Because if you're hearing a crackling sound, its almost definitely a fan problems, and with my history with dell laptops, yeah fans were notorious for having problems.

I know I am a new member, but I've been with dells from my childhood.

[OhYou_]

the heat pipe is damaged yeah. it probably cracked somewhere and lost its vacuum, so the liquid inside stays more liquidy and then boils rapidly when it comes in contact with the hot af cpu. it doesnt use like water, so the boiling point is much less than 100c, causing this rapid phase change

 

just replace cooler and it will be fixed. 

[Phantom218]

37 minutes ago, OhYou_ said:

the heat pipe is damaged yeah. it probably cracked somewhere and lost its vacuum, so the liquid inside stays more liquidy and then boils rapidly when it comes in contact with the hot af cpu. it doesnt use like water, so the boiling point is much less than 100c, causing this rapid phase change

 

just replace cooler and it will be fixed. 

yes probably the cooling system, maybe not the heat pipe, as its crackling sound, But very much can be!, just check every nick and cranny of the cooling solution, or get a new a new as @OhYou_ mentioned.

 

[David82]

19 minutes ago, Phantom218 said:

yes probably the cooling system, maybe not the heat pipe, as its crackling sound, But very much can be!, just check every nick and cranny of the cooling solution, or get a new a new as @OhYou_ mentioned.

 

Fairly sure its the heat pipe like OhYou_ said.
Here it is removed from the system with a little heat applied.

Ive literally never heard of this happening before, I assumed that once they broke the liquid just evaporated and they became less efficient.

Still they are only £12 for a replacement so Ive ordered one now - in fact the thermal paste Ive ordered cost more than a new (used) heatsink + pipe.

[David82]

1 hour ago, Phantom218 said:

Ill take it you bought it second hand, I actually have a Latitude E5470, and I have similar problems, things that fixed my issue was opening the fan up, clearing debris, finding and loose screws, a couple were loose and screw em back in where they belong. Because if you're hearing a crackling sound, its almost definitely a fan problems, and with my history with dell laptops, yeah fans were notorious for having problems.

I know I am a new member, but I've been with dells from my childhood.

Yeah its a used one, laptop prices are ridiculous at the moment so hes not getting a new one to take to school.

Got a good deal on it because it has a dead battery (I have a replacement on order) but this overheating was an undisclosed issue - not worth bringing it up with the seller as they could just say it happened in shipping (Which it very well might have).

Still £300 for the 9360 with 4k Touch Screen, 16GB of Ram and 1tb SSD is fairly decent.
The new battery, heat pipe + thermal paste will take the total up to around £400 but thats still a third of the price of a decent new laptop with the same spec.

The issue is definitely the heat pipe, Ive had it out and replicated the problem (See my reply to the thread) - Ive just never experienced a heat pipe failing in that way

[OhYou_]

That is actually an impressive price for £ land, your total is not that much more than like US pricing. 

Weird how the battery would be dead on such a newish pc. Internal cells are pretty crap when it comes to heat so I wonder if the issue was long lived and it killed the battery eventually. 

[David82]

4 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

That is actually an impressive price for £ land, your total is not that much more than like US pricing. 

Weird how the battery would be dead on such a newish pc. Internal cells are pretty crap when it comes to heat so I wonder if the issue was long lived and it killed the battery eventually. 

Yeah it's possible, the logs in the bios don't show any thermal events, but there was a fan failure not long after the purchase date (looks like it was replaced in warranty).

 

The battery isn't dead dead, it's at about 80% wear which on a 2018 laptop is to be expected, my 9550 needs a new battery every 2 years or so. 

 

Guess it depends on use, mine is a daily driver connected to power all day every day - I think Dells power management/battery protection might be a bit poo.

[David82]

Well, New heatpipe/sink arrived along with some noctua paste.

Temperatures still seem wild, its idling at around 50 degrees but then every now and then the CPU frequency jumps up and the temp hits 95 degrees (peaked at 100 for a second).

Doesn't look like its been over clocked at all, going to go and have a look online for other issues, I know I read about that generation of the XPS running hot - its a i7-8550U in a 13" chassis.

Any recommendations for things I could try/software that will give a chart of the temp over time? Using HWMonitor at the moment but it only gives min/max values.