Acer Aspire One 722-C62kk running hot!

[ElevenFingers]

My girlfriend's computer (November 2011) was running slow (stuttering and shutting down) and I installed HWMonitor to see what the temperatures were at and I decided to open it u and clean it out. I also reformatted it (using the restore disks) and reapplied the heat sink and thermal compound (Radioshack stuff).

The computer is dust free and the drivers should be installed/up to date. I used the same thermal paste for other computers without any similar issues. The fan is blowing hard and the air coming out is warm. I've tried a few different methods of application to no avail.

I've since reassembled it and let it set for a week, however, the temperatures registered by HWMonitor are still quite high:
RAM = Micron Technology PC3-10700 core temp: 36-43C
Storage = Toshiba MK5059GSXP Assembly 29-31C
AMD Radeon HD 6290 Graphics
Voltages: 0.875-0.913
Temperatures 67-70C idle and quickly spikes to 85-98C+ (crash) when doing pretty much anything.

Do you guys have any recommendations on what my next step could/should be? Swap out a component? Try something else? If you need any more info, please let me know. I've been struggling with it now for more than a week.

Edit: CPU usage fluctuates around 50-90% even when idle, with minimal processes running. 2GB of memory is being constantly used.

 

[samm]

Welcome to the crazy club of aspire one and reapplying the thermal compound. If you want to continue the thermal paste method your gonna need a couple more tries. Try it on a bit thick, then try it on thin. on mine the heat spreader was a piece of thin steel. The steel matted to OEM pad to the CPU. However when i removed it, I used artic silver and initially went crazy over why this wasnt working.

Whats the CPU clock rate when the cpu is crashing

Easiest resolution:
Buy some thermal pads in the appropriate thickness. Its literally is the quickest fix.

Harder but cheaper I guess:
Try doing the different thickness, and let it settle in.

Last not suggested (as its tricky and can cause serious damage if not done properly):
Use the compound, but insert a copper shim. If the shim is secure, it will slip and short the computer.

as always, not responsible for any damage done, take advice with caution.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Sorry for reviving a dead topic but I'm having another look at the laptop right now.
I installed a copper shim (1cmx1cmx1mm), which seemed to help initially with the temperatures... but they're back up to 70 idle though they don't go all the way up to 80, even under use. I managed to lose the little black piece of plastic that you push in and out that keeps the touchpad connected to the motherboard and I can't find it anywhere. As a result the touchpad isn't working any more. Any ideas on what I could try in terms of fixing that specific connection?
The laptop still stutters and has graphical glitches when I try to watch 720p movies or even just youtube.
It still hangs sometimes even if all I'm doing is opening a browser. I will run a memtest later. Besides the RAM and the heatsink are there any other 'cheap' fixes I could try before sending it to a professional?

 

[ElevenFingers]

Newest update:

I very carefully cleaned the APU and the heat sink and applied a higher quality thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) to both sides of the copper shim and used a small piece of paper as a wedge to get the mousepad to work again. The temperatures are down to 55-65C idle which is about as low as I think I can get them without replacing the fan or tweaking the software. I ran memtest86 twice, both came back 100% clean.

However, I'm still having issues with performance. The computer still stutters under heavy load and the CPU usage under task manager fluctuates between 25-100% when idle. Could this be a software issue after all? Under processes svchost.exe and trustedinstaller.exe seem to be hogging most of the resources. These seem to be largely automated windows processes that can be tweaked in msconfig if I'm not mistaken. I'm currently tinkering with various boot options though I'm learning as I go. I had a look at the BIOS though I was fairly limited in my options while I was in there.

Combing through the internet I've found some reasons for why the computer might be under heavy load even when idle and those are mainly based on background programs hogging too many resources. I'm thinking of reformatting the computer and doing my best to limit the amount of software which is installed and runs on startup. Are there any programs that are particularly taxing that I could try removing first? Could the issue still be with the CPU?

Also, where can I see the clock rate for the CPU in real time?

Thanks in advance for your continued support!