Windows Laptop Heating Up in Sleep Mode, How to Fix?

When a laptop enters sleep mode, Windows automatically reduces background activity in order to save power. The device enters a low-power state by reducing CPU and other components’ activity, which should result in minimal heat generation. But, many Windows users have reported that their laptops heat up in sleep mode. If you happen to be one of them, worry not. You will learn effective ways to fix this issue.

When you are temporarily leaving your desk, it’s good to leave your laptop in sleep mode. You do not lose your work. But if the device starts overheating, things get really tense. The issue has been reported by users from almost all laptop brands including HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Dell, and more.

A laptop may overheat in sleep mode because of the following reasons:

• Blocked vents: If you haven’t cleaned up the vents in a while, there may be a lot of dust and debris resulting in poor ventilation. When the heat can’t easily pass through the vents, there’s a high probability of overheating.
• Malfunctioning cooling system: The cooling system on your laptop may have malfunctioned. It may not be running when required, which could also result in the heating up of your laptop.
• Excessive background tasks: If the background processes continue to run even in sleep mode, the laptop may heat up. This could occur due to software bugs or glitches.
• Driver issues: Your laptop may have outdated or faulty drivers causing the laptop to generate heat even in sleep mode. You would want to make sure all the drivers are updated.
• Malware: If your computer has some malware, it will keep running in the background and generate heat.

Now that you know the reasons responsible for generating heat on your laptop, let’s start troubleshooting them.

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6 Ways to Fix Laptop Heating Up in Sleep Mode Issue

If your Windows laptop is heating up in sleep mode, fix it by implementing the below solutions.

Solution 1: Check Your Laptop’s Sleep Settings

When your laptop’s screen is off, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s in sleep mode. A possibility is that only the screen is turned off, but everything is running in the background.

Tap the Windows + I buttons together to open Settings.

Select the Power & Battery option.

Expand Screen & sleep. Make sure, the device sleep timer is not set to Never. If so, the device will never go to sleep and the processes will keep running in the background generating heat.

Solution 2: Clean Up the Vents

When you face heating issues on your laptop, the first thing you need to check is the vents. The dust or debris accumulation may be blocking the vents. If so, the heat won’t properly flow out and your laptop will overheat.

Use compressed air or a soft brush to clean the area around the vents and fan. After doing this, leave the device for up to 30 minutes while the heat goes out of your laptop. It should reduce the temperature inside your laptop.

It is advised not to place the laptop on a bed as the ventilation may not work properly. It’s recommended to keep the device on a table.

Solution 3: Check Background Tasks

Although Windows automatically reduces background activities in sleep mode, there may be some instances when the program keeps running. So, even if you flip the laptop screen, they will continue to run and generate heat.

To check the running processes, press Windows + X buttons together and select Task Manager.

If there are unnecessary applications running in the background, right-click on it and select End task.

To quickly reduce heat on your Windows laptop, close unnecessary applications taking a high amount of CPU.

If you are unsure whether to close a program/process or not, don’t do anything. That could be a critical Windows process. Stopping that could harm your device.

Solution 4: Update Drivers

Updating drivers is a critical step. If your laptop has corrupted drivers, related processes might not function properly and generate heat. Even if there are outdated drivers, they might not work very well with the latest software and cause heating issues.

Updating all the drivers one by one can be time taking. Rather, we recommend using one-click driver updater software such as DriverEasy.

After updating the drivers, restart your laptop and the problem should have gone.

Solution 5: Check if Your Laptop Fan is Running

If the cooling system on your laptop is malfunctioning, the device may overheat, even in sleep mode. Check if the fan is running.

A fan should automatically start spinning when the device starts heating. If it doesn’t, you will need to take it to the service center or a certified technician to fix the cooling system.

Solution 6: Reset Your PC

If you have tried all the above solutions but to no avail, resetting your laptop can be effective. It should fix all sorts of software bugs, which could resolve the issues with your laptop heating up in sleep mode.

Here’s how to reset your PC:

1. Press Windows + I buttons together to enter Settings.

2. Tap on System and select the Recovery option.

3. Tap on Reset PC.

4. If you want to keep your files, select Keep my files. Otherwise, select Remove everything.

5. Connect your device to the internet and select the Cloud download option.

After resetting your PC, you’ll need to set it up again.

Final Words

For a temporary break, putting your laptop to sleep is a good option. But if your laptop starts heating up in sleep mode, you have no other option but to shut down the device to reduce the heat. But, it can cause a loss of your work. Fortunately, there are some easy fixes that we have mentioned in this article. Try them (if you haven’t) and get the heating issue fixed.

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