Bottom Part of Laptop Screen Suddenly Feels Hot

[DarkPaladin]

Hi everyone.

Earlier today, I was playing a game when I noticed that the bottom part of my laptop screen suddenly began to feel hot. I haven't noticed this in the past so I'm fairly confident it's a recent issue for me, and I've tried looking online for a potential cause/solution to no avail.

I checked my system temps and overall, my laptop's thermal performance is excellent. It just seems to be the very bottom/plastic part and the absolute very bottom of the screen that feels hot regardless of what I'm doing on the laptop (idle + in-game). I was hoping someone here would have some insight as to why this has suddenly started to happen and if it's something I should be worrying about.

If it helps, the absolute hottest part of the bottom of the screen is directly in the centre/the plastic cover itself.

Extra info:
The bottom of the screen heats begins to up as soon as it's switched on, and the level of brightness seems to increase the heat output.

System Specs:

Chassis & Display	Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive	2TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive	250GB WD Black™ SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD (up to 3100MB/s R | 1600MB/s W)

 

[ubuysa]

Download and install HWMonitor and keep that running so we can see some actual temperatures.

 

[DarkPaladin]

Download and install HWMonitor and keep that running so we can see some actual temperatures.

Is there any specific temperatures I should be monitoring with HWMonitor? I typically use HWInfo64 to monitor CPU + GPU.

Also, if it helps, I drew where the heat actually is and the circle to show the hottest point.
Lastly, I just turned on my laptop to respond to this (without the charger plugged in) and within about 4 mins, the bottom of my screen already feels despite low system temps.

 

[ubuysa]

Is there any specific temperatures I should be monitoring with HWMonitor? I typically use HWInfo64 to monitor CPU + GPU.

Also, if it helps, I drew where the heat actually is and the circle to show the hottest point.
Lastly, I just turned on my laptop to respond to this (without the charger plugged in) and within about 4 mins, the bottom of my screen already feels despite low system temps.
View attachment 27575

None of those temps, are a worry. What's the GPU temp like?

You're probably best advised to phone PCS and talk this through with them.

 

[DarkPaladin]

None of those temps, are a worry. What's the GPU temp like?

You're probably best advised to phone PCS and talk this through with them.

GPU temps are about the same. 30-32 idle, absolute maximum temp I've seen is 71 degrees on Apex Legends (maximum performance mode).

I've sent them a message explaining the situation but I don't expect a response for a few days. I'll definitely give them a ring at some point today and hopefully get some explanation.

The only answer I've found about my issue is from a different laptop brand that apparently had something called an inverter board (?) suddenly begin to fail, causing noticeable heat in the same area of the screen.

 

[SpyderTracks]

GPU temps are about the same. 30-32 idle, absolute maximum temp I've seen is 71 degrees on Apex Legends (maximum performance mode).

I've sent them a message explaining the situation but I don't expect a response for a few days. I'll definitely give them a ring at some point today and hopefully get some explanation.

The only answer I've found about my issue is from a different laptop brand that apparently had something called an inverter board (?) suddenly begin to fail, causing noticeable heat in the same area of the screen.

The inverter board is the part that regulates the power to the LEDs and that would be the location and rough size of it, so that would make sense. On any LED monitor, if something fails it’s usually the inverter. I would definitely raise that with PCS.

Well done for spotting it 👍🏼

 

[DarkPaladin]

The inverter board is the part that regulates the power to the LEDs and that would be the location and rough size of it, so that would make sense. On any LED monitor, if something fails it’s usually the inverter. I would definitely raise that with PCS.

Well done for spotting it 👍🏼

I just got off the phone with PCSpecialist and I was told that this is normal in laptops, even though this heat issue has only began to occur yesterday. I was also told that it's fine to keep using it as long as the screen itself doesn't have any damage etc.

I'm not 100% sure I feel comfortable with that response since it's a very recent issue for a 2 year old laptop though.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I just got off the phone with PCSpecialist and I was told that this is normal in laptops, even though this heat issue has only began to occur yesterday. I was also told that it's fine to keep using it as long as the screen itself doesn't have any damage etc.

I'm not 100% sure I feel comfortable with that response since it's a very recent issue for a 2 year old laptop though.

Well, it won’t affect any other component if it does fail, it’s literally a swap for a new inverter fix. If PCS advise to carry on, do so, at least you’ve logged it so if it does crop up down the line they’re aware of when it first started looking suspect.

If it does start to go, symptoms are flickering backlight with eventual failure of the backlight, but the LCD panel will still work. Easy way to tell if the inverter has failed is that you’ll see a black screen, but if you shine a torch on it and look very closely, you’ll still make out the desktop image.