I thought propping up your laptop could be beneficial

[Double_H_F]

WHOA, THE SCARIEST THING JUST HAPPENED TO ME RIGHT NOW!

DO NOT, DO NOT USE CANDLES UNDER! EVEN IF ITS UPSIDE AND TIN SIDE UP!

I ran my laptop overnight last night with 2 tiny mini candles each being the size of the back feet. Both candles were housed with metal covers so i put them upside down. Well this morning i go to use it, and i closed a program i had open. BOOM! The whole thing just shuts down out of nowhere. I was bit worried. :( I power it on, it gets to the toshiba screen and BOOM! again just shuts down. At this point I became really worried. :| I was thinking oh no, time to get a desktop now.

Well, I removed the candles, only to find that they were extremely hot, checked under the laptop to make sure nothing got on there and thankfully nothing did.

I then power it back on, and whoula its fine.

So ya I dont know if its the candles that did this or what - I hope that was the case. But how can it cause this? Odd...Anyone know?

[matkun]

Laptops aren't really designed to be on 24/7 or overnight. Seems like yours just doesn't have enough cooling to handle being on and chugging away for 12+ hours.

[Sylvestre]

I think this depends on make & model.
I have mine running for days at a time (sometimes weeks at a time) and it's running advanced modelling software (cpu @100%) and no probs.

But to be fair, it's less a laptop than a desktop replacement.

[Double_H_F]

Well pretty obvious that it was the candles giving off heat that caused it to shutdown.

When Ii went to remove the candles, there wasnt any wax left, and they were hot to the touch. so obviously it gave off some heat. This makes sense because my main fan is underneath the laptop right by where the feet are, where the candles were.

I just hope i didnt do any damage to the unit.Dont you find it bit ironic how I tried powering on 3 times with the candles under, after the first shutdown and it went out at the exact same screen everytime. Then once i remove the candles, let it sit for a minute its fine.

Didnt think this would cause any harm, but i wont do it again.

[Kainnon]

If you're going to run your laptop for hours on end, in one place, I'd suggest you get one of those laptop fan cooling systems.
Just my two cents.

Also, how do candles get hot, unless they're lit? Were they blocking the fan air input?

[Double_H_F]

If you're going to run your laptop for hours on end, in one place, I'd suggest you get one of those laptop fan cooling systems.
Just my two cents.

Also, how do candles get hot, unless they're lit? Were they blocking the fan air input?

The main system fan just happens to be right near the back, where the candles were holdng up the feet.

[ShadowVlican]

your laptop's feet should give it enough space for air to enter the bottom

my toshiba TABLET can be left on for weeks, no problems

[Double_H_F]

your laptop's feet should give it enough space for air to enter the bottom

my toshiba TABLET can be left on for weeks, no problems

Well theres nothing wrong with the unit itself. Just to be sure, I ran it overnight last night and no problems. it was definitely the candles that caused it to shudown out of nowhere the morning prior. >:(

[djpharoah]

dont know about other laptops but i know thinkpads are rock solid.
i have kept my IBM T20 on 24/7 for a month now.
no probs what so ever.

-dj

[GuiltySpark]

My old HP Pavilion N3438 is just brutal for cooling. When I ran it with ME, any time i had 2-3 apps open at once it would give off tons of heat and the teeny tiny cooling fan just literally screamed and stank of burnt plastic until I turned it off.
Now It runs XP Pro with a laptop cooler and It runs so much better.
Laptops really aren't meant for this (12+ hours of heavy usage)...well older ones atleast.

[JimG]

I haven't turned my notebook off for months. Transcodes overnight, and I use it during the day. Stay's around 50C usually. Had it for 2.5 years and it's never given me an overheating issue. I was thinking about getting a notebook cooler, but the reviews are mixed for a lot of them and they don't seem to be that effective.

[matkun]

Well theres nothing wrong with the unit itself. Just to be sure, I ran it overnight last night and no problems. it was definitely the candles that caused it to shudown out of nowhere the morning prior. >:(

Most likely what happened is the candles just absorbed the heat that was being blown out of the laptop. Since Wax has a fair bit of water in it, and the candle casing is metal itself, you've got a lot of thermal capacity there.

So what ended up happening is the laptop heated up the candles, which then made small parts(where they were touching) of the laptop very hot, which caused your problems.

[Double_H_F]

Most likely what happened is the candles just absorbed the heat that was being blown out of the laptop. Since Wax has a fair bit of water in it, and the candle casing is metal itself, you've got a lot of thermal capacity there.

So what ended up happening is the laptop heated up the candles, which then made small parts(where they were touching) of the laptop very hot, which caused your problems.

Yip, good theory and good thing i Removed it. Do you think it did any damage to the unit?

[matkun]

Yip, good theory and good thing i Removed it. Do you think it did any damage to the unit?

No clue. Most modern electronics shutdown from overheating before they fry themselves, but who knows.

[matkun]

Laptops are designed for 24/7 use on 100% CPU Usage

Says who? :P