ChromeOS update is causing Chromebooks to overheat — what to do

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A new ChromeOS update is straining laptops

Asus Chromebook Flip C434
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

A recent Google ChromeOS update appears to be straining users' CPUs, causing machines to overheat and experience additional performance problems.

According to BleepingComputer, users with Acer Chromebooks, Asus Chromebook Flip and Galaxy Chromebooks running ChromeOS version 85.0.4183.108 or later may find the Google Play Store utilizing up to 100% of their machine's CPU.

As a result of the update, some users may be left with overheated Chromebooks, inconsistent app performance and poor battery life.

When users investigated the cause of their sudden machine issues, they shared in a Google Chromebook support forum that the Google Play task labeled "com.android.vending:download_service" is to blame.

Google has since opened a bug report, in which a company engineer said missing ChromeOS files is causing the CPU problems.

BleepingComputer believes the bug will be addressed in an upcoming ChromeOS update.

What you can do now

If you need your Chromebook back in commission now, there are a couple of workarounds you can try before a patch goes out. Users have reported varying success with these fixes, so you might need to try more than one method out.

You can first try quitting the "com.android.vending:download_service" task in the Chrome Task Manager. If the task is killed, you might see your CPU usage return to normal. 

But if you don't, you can uninstall the Google Play Store on your device. One user reported success with the standard re-install procedure, although another user on Reddit suggested rolling back to an older Google Play Store version.

"As a workaround for now, I rolled back to older Play Store version before it started to mess up and it works, also I disabled background WiFi and data to prevent it from self update," the user wrote. (For ways to save on your Chromebook purchase, check out our guides to the best Acer promo codes, Dell coupons, and HP coupon codes).

Kate Kozuch
Kate Kozuch

Kate Kozuch is the managing editor of social and video at Tom’s Guide. She writes about smartwatches, TVs, audio devices, and some cooking appliances, too. Kate appears on Fox News to talk tech trends and runs the Tom's Guide TikTok account, which you should be following if you don't already. When she’s not filming tech videos, you can find her taking up a new sport, mastering the NYT Crossword or channeling her inner celebrity chef.