T43 bottom very hot

[bonjonno]

I have one of the refurbed T43 models from MetroPC. Got it yesterday. Fabulous machine and running all my stuff even on 512 RAM (I'll add more later). Only problem is the bottom gets toasty. Is this normal or a sign of impending graphic chip doom? Hardware Monitor shows ACPI as 62C (143F) and HDD as 35C (94F). It's a warm day here- 80's. Hottest spot seems to be just under the touchpad.

[ajkula66]

Your hottest spot is likely the GPU...

Try using ThinkPad Fan Control, Notebook Hardware Control, or both to regulate the fan and undervolt the CPU/GPU as needed.

Add more RAM yesterday...

[sjthinkpader]

Set the CPU to "adaptive" instead of "performance" in the Power Manager.

[Binh]

Hottest spot seems to be just under the touchpad.

It could be the wireless card. The IBM a/b/g wireless card is known to be hotter than the Intel a/b/g one.
Try to do the followings:
1. Turn off wireless card.
2. Enable PowerPlay in the ATI control panel (go to Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> PowerPlay)
3. Underclock the video card and video memory by using NHC or ATItools

P.S. The last two actions assume that your T43 has an ATI video chip, not Intel integrated one.

[bonjonno]

thanks for all your help. I have the Intel integrated video. On battery I run at about 46C and on AC still 62C. I have the max CPU speed set to adaptive for both and use a much lower screen brightness on battery; max on AC. Wireless is Intel 2915ABG.

[underclocker]

I would suggest removing the fan, cleaning off the thermal paste from both the fan and CPU, properly applying Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (which means a tiny amount), replacing the fan, and seeing what happens.

However, if the heat is felt in the touchpad area, it is obviously the wifi adapter that is hot. I might also try another wifi adapter, the 2915's aren't known to run hot.