Fan Error - Emergency Backup??

[revolutionary_one]

Hey guys, Noticed last night that my t42 was idling at 60C when it was working at 1-2% load at 600mhz. Rebooted and got a "fan error" the next morning.

What i'm looking to do is hook up the laptop to my backup server ( (*nix SMB Server) and do a quick backup. Probably a total of about 10GB...maybe.

That's roughly about 20-30mins worth of uptime. I've got a standing fan that i'll be using to cool the machine. http://www.argos.co.uk/wcsstore/argos/i ... 56057M.jpg

You think I can pull it off without causing significant damage to the machine? I've got the box coming tomorrow (Thursday) and I DO HAVE previous backups but they are a couple days old if that's any consolation to all those BOFH laughing their butts off

[christopher_wolf]

Why not just pull the primary HDD, put it in an external enclosure, and mount it on another system that way?

Also, I don't think that fan is going to cool off the T42 that well. For one that is simply external; you need to get an airflow going inside the chassis of the system to cool stuff off, else you end up simply putting a fan next to it for half an hour.

At least (to this BOFH ) you have pretty recent backups; unless you change your data alot per day and have high workloads, that is a pretty decent backup plan.

[revolutionary_one]

I dont have an enclosure. The box arrives tomorrow morning.
I've played games on this thinkpad at 70C+ for over an hour.

I know the external fan wont cool it that well. I was just hoping that that i could get 20-30 minutes of decent cooling so i can backup some stuff.

And yea, I run *nix and and have a buncha normal and sensitive data on the thinkpad (encrypted) but every single file is necessary.

I think i'll go a head and try my setup hoping it'll workout. If it harms some components, heck i've got TPP.

Cheers...John.

[christopher_wolf]

It shouldn't harm much at all. The HDD, CPU, and ethernet connection are going to be the only ones that are going to be really active in that order. Proportionally, the HDD will probably get that much hotter as compared to the rest of the system, but I haven't done any tests to see how cooling worked out on it and how much of a difference that would make.

[DIGITALgimpus]

If you can, try and do it in a cool room, keep the air conditioning on.

[EOMtp]

A cold sealed dry glass bottle of beer or water makes a very fine heat sink once you position it stably on top of the CPU.

[christopher_wolf]

A cold sealed dry glass bottle of beer or water makes a very fine heat sink once you position it stably on top of the CPU.

Wait, what are you recommending?!

[EOMtp]

I am recommending a half-hour workaround which will do the job. Perhaps I should have parenthesized "(beer or water)" ... otherwise, who knows?

[xkeithx]

just unscrew the keyboard (4 screws), remove it, and point the fan towards the motherboard.. use an external usb keyboard

[christopher_wolf]

Well, the CPU will be involved primarily via moving the files over the network and negotiating the transfer between the two systems, that doesn't really get it that hot. The HDD and the ethernet adatper will get hotter, but nothing that is going to cause damage. In either case, if the CPU gets hot enough, it will throttle *itself* back just fine. This is a built in hardware feature on all Intel processors and just about all CPUs nowadays.

Bit extreme to be opening the system up, fiddling with the heatsink proper, then putting a cold bottle filled with water or beer on it; if it is to be opened up, then why not used forced convection anyway and direct the airflow from the standing fan onto and over the heatsink?

I don't think this puts the CPU in mortal danger of overheating; besides, I can think of far better uses for the beer.