Beware laptop miners!

[overlode]

Hey all, before I start, please please no "I told you so" and "Stupid noob" comments, don't flame me!!

So, about 2 months ago I decided I was going to try my luck at solo mining some coins after reading a lot about them. As I have little cash I decided to use my lowly laptop to mine lower difficulty coins, seeing as I had no chance with the likes of LTC and BTC.

All was going well until a couple of days ago when my laptop started hanging and freezing. I thought it was just the usual adaptor stopped responding as the temps were good according to CGWatcher.

Unfortunately I failed to heed the warnings my laptop was desperately trying to give me. I left it happily (or so I thought) mining overnight and came down in the morning only to find a blank screen, a strange smell in the air and essentially a non working laptop.

I can only presume that the graphics card has given up the ghost which unfortunately has put an end to my solo mining career. I really don't have the cash to buy any rigs/laptops/desktops etc.

The purpose of my message is simply to warn others if using a laptop that you COULD put your hardware at risk and kill your GPU if mining. Unfortunately this is also my works laptop so unless a miracle happens I will not be able to replace it.

Remember, if mining on hardware that is likely to be pushed, especially a laptop just beware as it seems it does in fact cause damage if you are unlucky.

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[Kenshin]

You should have cooling fan blowing into your laptop. I use my laptop to mine CPU coins, and it is working perfectly, it has been hashing non stop 24/7 for almost 2 years.

[overlode]

Yeah, unfortunately I really was not aware of how much of a load this can put on it

Maybe if I ever raise the cash I will do it properly next time with ATI cards in a desktop

[Kenshin]

Yeah, unfortunately I really was not aware of how much of a load this can put on it

Maybe if I ever raise the cash I will do it properly next time with ATI cards in a desktop

Do you know if it is your GPU which is fried or the CPU or motherboard?

To get a replacement GPU for a laptop is actually really cheap.

[overlode]

All I know is that the GPU is onboard, not seperate like some higher spec laptops, whatever it is that is gone, it prevents the laptop from starting, no post, no fan, nothing

[jeppe]

as laptops are build so compact with all parts so close together they are nearly impossible to keep at good temps. sorry for  your loss but never ever use laptops for direct mining (meaning using there cpu or gpu).

[Cactusizer]

I did this for a short period of time but stopped after less than 3 hours because I knew it was a hardware risk and had a ASIC coming in the mail 

[Lamber]

Keep your laptop cooler, and out of dust, that's it.

[Kenshin]

All I know is that the GPU is onboard, not seperate like some higher spec laptops, whatever it is that is gone, it prevents the laptop from starting, no post, no fan, nothing

What CPU are you using? Maybe it is integrated in the CPU. Also some laptop CPU is quite cheap to replace.

[overlode]

It has a separate ATI graphics chip, HD7730M, definitely not on chip

[Kenshin]

You had a Dell laptop? Is it still under warranty?

[fractalbc]

I had a lenovo laptop that I used to search for ET.  Lenovo replaced the motherboard under warranty 3 times when the fan wore out before my extended warranty expired.  They balked but looking for ET is a legitimate use for the hardware so they had to honor the warranty.

FWIW, video chips rarely let out the magical smoke.  It is likely the power supply.  If you are lucky it is the external power supply.  If not, there are no field replaceable parts on the motherboard.  it is a complete gut swap.

[overlode]

It's a dell 4 months out of warranty

[jimmothy]

Even if you did manage to properly cool your laptop and let it mine for a few months it would still probably cost more in electricity than you earn.

[Kenshin]

It's a dell 4 months out of warranty

That is too bad. I always buy from Amazon. Because they always refund me if the electronic goods is broken.

If you got another dell with the same power supply, maybe you can swap it and see. Maybe like the other member said it is just the power supply.

Or get the power supply from Amazon or Ebay, test it, if it works keep it. If not return it within 30 days and get your refund back.

Come and think of it, most of the laptop I have seen damaged are the screen cracked or power supply or battery related. It is rare that a board can burn.

[crazyates]

I feel like this thread is along the same lines as "Guys! Don't do what I did and run your car for 6 years without a single oil change! I did it, and my engine stopped working!"

You ask anyone on here whether CPU mining on a laptop is a good idea, and 95% of people will tell you it's a bad idea. The other 5% don't care about throwing away a $500+ piece of equipment for a few pennies of alt-coins.

[elavenil]

I also tried cpu mining on laptop for one day. But my friend warned me. so i dropped the idea.

[jrrsparkles]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss... most laptops are not built to sustain long periods of heavy use. The ventilation system simply does not allow the heat to flow out fast enough. For short-term gaming, 4-12 hours on the built-for-gaming alienware/sager notebooks, its probably alright, but mining is a completely different beast. :-(

[Kenshin]

I feel like this thread is along the same lines as "Guys! Don't do what I did and run your car for 6 years without a single oil change! I did it, and my engine stopped working!"

You ask anyone on here whether CPU mining on a laptop is a good idea, and 95% of people will tell you it's a bad idea. The other 5% don't care about throwing away a $500+ piece of equipment for a few pennies of alt-coins.

Actually my laptop is $2000. 

[crazyates]

I feel like this thread is along the same lines as "Guys! Don't do what I did and run your car for 6 years without a single oil change! I did it, and my engine stopped working!"

You ask anyone on here whether CPU mining on a laptop is a good idea, and 95% of people will tell you it's a bad idea. The other 5% don't care about throwing away a $500+ piece of equipment for a few pennies of alt-coins.

Actually my laptop is $2000. 

Then why would you effectively burn out a $2000 piece of hardware for a few measly $ of altcoins? I just don't get it...