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Solved Overheating and power usuage issues

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Seemingly very suddenly I've started having heating issues with my laptop (specs below). This is the first heating issue I've had and it's seemingly come out of nowhere. It's worth stating now that I have a fairly badly bloated battery, but as you'll see if you read on, I don't believe it is the cause of the issue. I am fairly certain it is a software problem.

Short version: I'm experiencing performance drops and severe sikes in FPS drops in almost all games/heavy applications. Most games are running about 20-30 FPS lower than usual and once every minute or so I'll experience about 5 seconds where my FPS drops to 1-2. My laptop is getting very hot when running anything, from low-load 2D platforming games to the more heavy 3D games. Task manager is showing my CPU, memory and GPU are at their usage load (normally around 70-80%), but tells me that the game and other programs (such as Chrome or Discord) are all at high and very high power usage. Running my fans at full blast seems to alleviate the problem slightly, but on some high-end games, I am still getting performance issues, and am worried it's going to be damaging my already badly bloated battery.


Long version: The problem started a few days ago seemingly randomly. I googled a bit and did various different things from resetting my power usage plan to running my laptop on low power mode etc. but nothing seemed to fix the problem. After a while I gave up and started to fear it would be a hardware issue, so shut off and opened up my laptop. I'm not that confident when it comes to the inner workings of my laptop so didn't poke around too much. I gave the inside a general clean down and unscrewed and cleaned out my fans with an old make-up brush and some compressed air. Found a few cat hairs in the fans and a good bit of dust but nothing too bad. Cleared them all out and put the laptop back together and turned it on.

Sadly this didn't fix my issue. I did some more googling to no avail and eventually decided to do a system restore and see if it fixed my issue (I think it was about a 1 week old restore point). I figured if it didn't fix my problem then I'd know it was hardware. After letting it restore for 20 mins I started playing some games and my problem seemed fixed. I was able to run as many applications as I wanted and was not experiencing any of the heat or performance issues I was getting and the task manager was happy everything was using the appropriate power. As far as I could tell the problem had fixed itself after the system restore. This is what made me think the problem is caused by software.

Anyway, jump forward to the next day the problem comes back, again seemingly randomly. I'd been playing games for a good 3 hours or so, completely free of problems, before it started again. It was mid-game, no change in load or application. Exact same issue, the laptop is getting very hot and task manager is saying everything is using high power, with some significant performance drops. I figured that if it was an issue with my hardware then the problems would have persisted even after the restore.

The last thing I can think of doing is completely resetting my system, which isn't a huge issue but I'd like to avoid it if possible. I'm open to any suggestions, whether that be looking at hardware to fixing the software. Thanks for your time! I'll list my specs below.

Windows version: Windows 10 Home 10.0.19041 Build 19041 x64 Bit
System model: Razer Blade 15 (2019)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz, 2201 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q Design (Intel UHD Graphics 630 - Drivers: 26.20.100.7261)
Driver version: 27.21.14.6079
SSD: SAMSUNG MZVLB512HAJQ-00000 (476.94GB)

If I've missed anything please let me know :)
 

Hi absolutesnek

1) Your battery swelling up is not a good thing. Should not be causing the problem However will the laptop run just plugged into power with the battery removed - most of them will but not all. Test.
2) You did a system restore and things were good.
could be an update either windows or video card.
Anyway, jump forward to the next day the problem comes back
So you rolled back before the update by next day update has reinstalled itself - Possible.
Can you right click on windows start >Device Manager> Click on arrow next to Display adapter Right click on Video Card>Properties
Driver Tab What is the driver date.
3) Go to control panel > programs and check when was the last windows update installed. And whilst you are looking are you running Java.
unscrewed and cleaned out my fans with an old make-up brush and some compressed air
Did you remove the heatsink/fan or just the fan. Did you start the laptop when opened to check if fans are running or can you feel air from fan slots ?
Have you changed where you use the Laptop are you siting it on something or sitting in bed with it on the blankets.
Not trying to be funny but has been an issue before. Client put laptop on felt blanket.

Cheers
PeterOz
 
Did you remove the heatsink/fan or just the fan... ...Have you changed where you use the Laptop are you siting it on something or sitting in bed with it on the blankets.

When I cleaned out my fans I didn't remove my heatsink, as I said I didn't want to do anything I wasn't comfortable doing, didn't want to make the problem worse! All I did was take out the 2 individual fan units and clean them out, and used compressed air to clean the vents at the back while they were still attached to the laptop.

Fans are definitely running and there is plenty of air flowing through the bottom and back of the laptop. I've used Razers software to adjust the fans from their slowest setting to their highest and it all seemed to work properly. My bloated battery was caused by my laptop being sat flat on my desk and running hot for long periods of time so I've been really careful since then to keep my laptop at a 45-degree angle on a laptop stand with plenty of clearance underneath and behind, so airflow isn't a problem.

I didn't change anything about my setup between the problem stopping after the restore and it starts again, so this backs up that it's not something physical I'm doing with my set up / hardware.

check when was the last windows update installed. And whilst you are looking are you running Java.

The last listed update for windows was on 13/02/2021 (KB4601050). This is a good while before my problems started.
I am running Java - Version 1.8.0_261 64 bit

What is the driver date.

The date for my drivers is 03/12/2020 (NVIDIA ver. 27.21.14.6079)

will the laptop run just plugged into power with the battery removed

My laptop does run without being plugged in, just at reduced power. Tried playing some games and getting the same issues when plugged in.

Hope this helps!
 
Downloaded fan speed and did two tests. One right after I installed it - I wasn't running anything, just chrome and discord.
The second image shows temps after about 8 mins or so of playing games. Worth noting that I didn't see much drop in performance whilst playing, it seemed to run fine.
 

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Temps will rise when gaming as it is maxing the laptop.
Worth noting that I didn't see much drop in performance whilst playing, it seemed to run fine.
All you can do now is test and watch speed fan. If things start to go backwards then we may have to look at replacing the thermal paste.
Keep me posted

Cheers
PeterOz
 
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