The guy that mentioned not using it on a bed or similar soft surface has a very good point. The worst thing you can do with a laptop, oddly enough, is set it in your lap. Put it on a hard surface like a table / desk / lap board so you dont risk covering the fan ports. I'm on my 5th laptop in the last decade, and some are just prone to overheating. For those the answer is as stated, use a cooling pad until you can buy better hardware... then use the Compaq / HP / Toshiba for a doorstop, which is IMO their highest and best use. I've been using an ASUS since January and have had zero overheating problems.
Laptop Cooling pad will do the work for you, and if not make sure your processor fan is working and get replaced the fan if not. Compaq Laptops have this common problem of overheating.
Clean the fan, (or buy a new one) disable useless start up programs, (or reformat) and buy an external fan. And of course, make sure not to block the air flow.
Not just a cooler, but I would also open it up and see what kind of fanning system it has going on inside. You can add internal fans if it has some room within the case. Although, an external cooling fan should help A LOT.
Make sure you have your graphics card utility like Evga Precision or something similar that allows you to crank the fan to 100%, because it may be set on "auto" by default and think it needs less fan power then it actually does.
Another thing to check... Oddly there are some laptops with an intake or output for the fan on bottom of the unit. Even when placed on a hard surface the 16th of an inch that the rubber bumpers raise it will not provide sufficient room for airflow in the needed volume. [This is actually a plus if you need to flip it over and reheat a slice of pizza.] A quick low-tech fix is to set it on something that will elevate it a bit more and allow airflow, like two small pieces of wood the same size (two rulers will work fine). For extra credit, place a small external fan aimed to shoot under that gap. A quicker fix is to set it on a co-workers desk and go buy a laptop that doesn't incorporate a fatal design flaw.
I suggest you to clean out the fan and heat sinks as well as the screws which are holding the heat sinks with compressed air.
Many people think that laptop can be used for the whole day. Though it can last for a whole day, the fan in the laptop is normally insufficient to cool the heat generated inside. As a result, the laptop can get damaged. If you want a computer that can be used for whole day, you should get a desktop. The higher the performance specifications, the more the fan will keep on turning. For example, laptop with lots of memory, high CPU and powerful graphic card need a larger fan. You need to install more fan to cool down the machine. The fan cooler won't help.
I used to have a Toshiba laptop that would overheated very badly (turns itself off after being on for only 15 minutes). So I'd use it on an old cake tray designed for cooling cakes. Worked perfectly.
the most common reason behind it is that we really don't care that the laptop is a machine and we usually work on the mattress and the bedsheets on the bed this most of the time restricts the fan from blowing the hot air out of the laptop so I recommend to use the laptop only on a plan and a hard surface, and you will see that the laptop will reduce to overheat
if its a new laptop and heats, bad, buy cooling pad if its an old one and just started heating even on flat surfaces (not sofa or bed) then time to get fan checked, heatsinks cleaned
This is a very general trouble in computers. Even although this happen a lot extra reverse then, it immobile happen now, in particular in laptops. PC's have more space to offer airflow so they do not include this problem as much, but with Laptops
Laptops are notorious for having the fans go bad (usually the first thing to go). I had to replace mine after about 1.5 years and it seems like it's already going bad again... so frustrating. It seems that no manufacturer makes fans for laptops that actually last!
HP/Compaq's are notorius for collecting dust and debris and shutting down. The dust and debris collects near the fan assembly and heatsink. If you dont have the experience to open a laptop, use a vaccuum head to suck out the dust and debris near the fan and vents. you will be amazed how much dirt will come out. Becareful not to over-rev the fans as this could damage the fans ballbearings.