Odd freezing problem with T43

Message

Fishbreath · #1 Post by **Fishbreath** » Mon May 31, 2010 6:53 am

My T43 is currently dual-booting between Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows XP SP3. In Ubuntu, it deals with heat like a champ--I've done a bunch of long compilations with it, and last night (in the interests of science) I ran a graphically-intense screensaver to the point where the palm rest and keyboard were uncomfortably warm to the touch.

In XP, though, whenever the laptop's under anything even remotely stressful--having too many Firefox windows open, installing something which takes a while, or God forbid playing a game--after some amount of use the laptop will lock up hard, requiring me to hold down the power button to fix it.

Can anyone think of a reason why I might be seeing such a problem in one OS only?

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Mon May 31, 2010 1:40 pm

In Windows, run tpfancontrol in 'BIOS Mode' and report CPU and GPU temps and fan speed after a lockup.
http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

Fishbreath · #3 Post by **Fishbreath** » Mon May 31, 2010 2:32 pm

CPU: 84C
GPU: 82C

Fan speed: ~4000RPM (in the minutes leading up to the crash)

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Mon May 31, 2010 2:58 pm

Ok, 84*C is way too hot for a T43 under load. Minimally you need to remove the keyboard and hold the fan blades still while blasting the fan cavity and fins with compressed (canned air) to remove the dust bunnies. Be sure to blast air out through the fan outlet/s too. If that doesn't help you'll need to remove the fan/heatsink, clean off the old thermal paste and reapply new. There are hundreds of threads here that discuss how to do this. Download the T43 maintenance manual for reference. We're not talking rocket science here ...
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58791

Fishbreath · #5 Post by **Fishbreath** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:58 am

The thermal paste on the CPU was looking pretty bad, and some of the black rubbery stuff between the thermal pad and the heat sink melted onto the GPU. What can (or should) I do about the latter problem?

#6 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 11:46 am

Remove all of the black gunk with 91% isopropyl alcohol. This thread might help ...
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=85490

Fishbreath · #7 Post by **Fishbreath** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:19 pm

New thermal paste and cleaning the graphics chip resulted in load temperatures of 73*C and 71*C CPU and GPU, at which point the laptop froze again in Windows XP. I still am unable to make it lock up in Ubuntu.

#8 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:30 pm

What happens if you run Windows in safe mode?

Odd freezing problem with T43

Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Re: Odd freezing problem with T43

Who is online