[zthaynes]

Greetings!

I have tried to figure out how to set up a full blown media center pc for a few months, and I think I have finally got it with XBMC! //awesome program by the way//

I am testing everything on my laptop until I get my tower upgraded and connected to my tv. (just wish there was a decent netflix app out there)

Anyway - here is my setup.

Compaq CQ-62
Processor: AMD Athlon II P320 Dual Core Processor @ 2.10 Ghz
Ram: 3 Gb
Windows 7 Ultimate 64

XBMC is set as user 1, and runs instead of Explorer as the shell
Windows is set as user 2, and runs Explorer (start menu, desktop, etc...)

My problem is this. When running XBMC, the laptop gets HOT, I mean really HOT. After less than one hour I have to get the laptop off my lap and onto a table because of the heat.

When windows is running, there are no problems whatsoever.

I'm sure this will not be a huge problem with a tower because of the large fan in the power supply and the room for airflow, but I still can't seem to wrap my head around why the system is getting so hot.

I have set the CPU to run at 50% max instead of 100%, I have made sure the fan is running, and yet the heat is still there. I am wondering if either:

1. XBMC just eats up that much cpu power
   
2. There is something in the windows startup that is being missed by using something other than explorer as the shell
   

Any ideas?

[jhsrennie]

Check System settings, System, Video output and make sure Vertical blank sync is set to "Always enabled". If not, this can make XBMC run at high CPU.

JR

[zthaynes]

Thanks for the quick reply...

Blank sync is set at enabled. That's not it.

[jhsrennie]

I've seen dodgy video drivers cause XBMC to run at 100% CPU. It happened on my development machine, but I've since replaced the old video card with 9400GT and now CPU at idle is a few percent. If you play a video (low res e.g. a DVD) does the cpu go down? The video drivers tend to cause high CPU when you're at the menu but not when you're actually playing a video.

JR