BeeGee

UPDATE: 'maximum performance state of the processor" = 80% and the laptop is now stable. So far. Thanks, Trium, for your suggestion. It was excellent.

I do not run my computer on battery very often and it is constantly plugged in. But your suggestions, to lower the 'maximum performance state of the processor" is something no one has ever suggested. It is certainly the most logical. I have now set my 'Maximum..' at 80%. If this helps I will post that results here. Several years ago, when the installed hard drive of 125gig no longer functioned, I installed a 500gig hard drive (only size I could obtain with the correct profile). I have often wondered if this created this problem? When installing the drive, in the BIOS, I only did an 'Auto detect' to allow the BIOS to control the upgrade. I altered no other settings. Overclocking on my part never took place. But reducing the max CPU power may help. I have hope!

OK then. it has been some years since I opened up the case on this PC (I replaced the fan) so now it is time to so some hardware maintenance. Some may wonder why I make all this effort on a computer I purchased on 2010? Spending one thousand dollars is something I take seriously and I will make all efforts to keep it up and running. I do the same for my vehicle. Why not my computer?

No cats but lots of rugs here. I've even mounted the laptop on a rack that is 5 inches off the desk. At present, and this is the usual, in the evening the machine runs cooler. But I will open the case and check out the conditions in side. I've got several cans of air on hand. Thanks for trying to help. I've joined a Toshiba forum and have been asking around there. So far, no takers on the issue.

Or do you mean, open the case and check to see if there is physical dust? I've done that many many times. This pc runs clean. The fan is strong. Over heating location, physically, is on the left side under the heal of my palm.

I'd love to do just that. What is the BEST way of doing that???

I'm not fond of allowing a REMOTE analysis in these days. No longer comfortable with that. I have used Malwarebytes for YEARS and it has stood me in good stead. This overheating issue could be related to the very large harddrive I put into this computer 14 years ago after the 125gig drive died. It was explained to me that a 500gig drive might give me some issues later on. Maybe that 'later' has caught up with me. I do a backup to a Seagate 1Tb external drive using Acronis, just in case.

Thanks for answering this. I've used Drive Wiper only once, a 'one pass' and only 'free space'. I've had a "systems dump" six months ago but it came with a more serious situation. [PC locked up-no keyboard function-fan stopped.] Tried 'Restore' but my PC would shut down before it was complete, in SAFE MODE C:sfc/scannow, then a 'normal' restart at which time I got the BSOD and a SYSTEMS DUMP. I restarted in SAFE MODE, ran CCLEANER, registry cleaner/fix the Drive Wiper/freespace/one pass. Ran C:scannow again. It restarted normally and restart was successful. I recently did a 'kernal dump' manually in SYSTEMS AND RESTORE which helped my PC, keeping it from shutting down (which gave me the idea that an impending BSOD was about to happen. Forcing this dump cured this problem. I was just hopping that Drive Wiper would be an alternative to this manual dump I did but, well, guess not. This is my PC credentials: Toshiba Satellite A505 Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) (build 7600) 1.60 gigahertz Intel Core i7 Q 720 32 kilobyte primary memory cache 64-bit ready Multi-core (4 total) Hyper-threaded (8 total) 487.36 GB HDD 420.74 GB free (P.S. I like "Escape". Makes me dance!)

Will the use of Drive Wiper help prevent crash dumps? How often should one use Drive Wiper? I've read where the over use of Drive Wiper can hurt a hard drive.