So I was bored today and surfing through Intel's website looking for the 3D answer for the Core ix series CPUs with IGP. I decided to check Dell's site for updates for my Inspiron 1564 and there was a bios update available. Since I had booted into Windows 7 I just downloaded and ran the .exe to update. Ever since the flash update my machine has run much cooler in PCLinuxOS and no video crashes (screen locks to full bright in a bright gray, almost white color - only fix is to close and open the lid 2 times). I have yet to run with this update more than a few hours, but so far the machine fans are running less, running quieter and the heat levels are lower.
Just throwing this out there in case anyone else has similar hardware from Dell and hasn't checked for any BIOS updates lately.
Edit: my fans worked properly previously, running faster when heat rose and low or off when idle
