My usb ports are very near the exhaust ports for my Dell Inspiron and heat seems to affect the performance of the dongle. I first noticed it when I also had my projector parked in a location where it was blowing hot air in the direction of my laptop. I'm now careful to position it so the exhaust from the projector blows another direction. At that time, I had a "dongle not found" message and checked it and noticed the dongle was very warm. I adjusted machines, plugged it back in and was fine. Now I'm having a recurring problem, almost daily, "dongle not found" message, repeating 2 or 3 times before it stops. Sometimes I plug it into a different usb port, sometimes I add my "cool-pad" to increase air flow in the area. Should the dongle be so extremely heat sensitive? Just now it blinked two times. The base is barely warm to the touch, the majority of the blue exterior is less than skin temp. May I need to clean the laptop insides so it runs cooler? -or do I need a new dongle? 
--just wandering-
