My Compaq Presario 700 laptop had a heat dispersal issue. It started to overheat and it shut itself down. I cracked it open and put a dab of heat sink compound right smack on the center piece of the Chip. I had done this on all my desktop units, I figured why not? Ok, I have had this unit on all day transferring multiple gigabyte sized files and this thing is now not getting hot. It was blowing cool air out the exhaust and working like a charm!
I bought the little tube of compound at Radio Shack. It is a silicone based type of putty. It sells for a buck or two.

Just thought that I would pass it along.

Did you had the non-starting issue too? or was just overheating?

remember though: too much thermal paste is as bad as no thermal paste, and messier too.