My T23 shuts down unexpectedly. Running too hot? Please help

[Ochoa]

Hi,

I am having problems with my T23 when using graphic appls (photoshop, Picasa), sometimes with eMule and sometimes even doing quite trivial things. The computer just shuts down instantly.

Since I suppose the CPU temp might be reaching maximum y installed ptfancontrol and ran Super Pi to see how far the temp goes on a cpu demandin task. It reaches 93 deg C on smart mode or setting it to manual "7" level. I tested running PI in Bios mode and the computer shut down after 2 minutes; it did`t shut down on a 4 MB test with smart or manual settings. The Bios mode seems to handle temperatures much better than the smart mode (al leas with the default amart settings and with the ones I played with). The fan goes up to 5040 RPM.

Here are usual temp marks:

Idle 51-54

Open Firefox hits 68, fan does not turn on and temp goes back to 51-54

After the computer shuts down, if I restart it right away, sometimes it shuts down again when it is loading the antivirus (F-secure, but I have tried several). I installed the latest bios and turned off severall XP services that are nor required and the problem seems to be worse now, it shuts itself a bit more often.

What should I look at? Is it the fan? Thermal grease? Memory?

I would really appreciate your help!

(Sorry for double posting on the Utility forums, I`ll try to remove it right away)

Moderator edit: I got it.

[rkawakami]

Some things I would try:

- Open up Windows Task Manager and see if there is a process grabbing an inordinate amount of CPU cycles.
- Download PC Doctor for the T2x and run both the fan and thermal sensor tests; ref. this thread
- Assuming those tests pass, disassemble the system and apply Arctic Silver 5

Several questions:

- What is the CPU speed of your system?
- How much memory is installed?
- What BIOS revision is installed?
- Where are you located? (Gentle nudge to update your profile with your location )

[Ochoa]

Hi, Thanks for your help!

No, there is no process using much CPU, I have monitored that.
I did a test a quite a while ago with PC doctor, complete, every test was ok, but I`ll try again the two you suggest.

My CPU is 1.2 GHz, SXGA, Wi-FI, Bios 1.20 (latest), located in germany! I´ll uptdate my profile!

Could it be a memory controller problem? A long time ago I bought an extra stick of 256MB memory (now I only use 256), had loads of problems (shut downs), took the memory out (which I had bought second hand) and the problems almost dissapeared (back then I didnt use Photoshop or similar appls). I gave the memory to my girlfriend who also has a T23 @ 933 MHz and it worked ok. Ah..I did the PC-Doctor memory tests back then with the 2 256 sticks and the result was "ok", but talking the one stick out made a big (positive) difference!!

Do you find the temps too high? At what temp does the bios shut the system down?

Opening normal websites with Firefox averages 60 deg C (from 50 to acational peaks up to 71 deg C (bios mode), Firefox uses some CPU while opening pages (peaks shortly at 96%) and then use falls back to 95% unused.

[rkawakami]

I am also using a 1.2Ghz T23 but with 1GB of memory and an old BIOS (1.08a). With Firefox open and no other major applications running in the foreground (total of 33 processes running; Norton AV is the biggest one) my CPU temps are usually around 50-55c. I've seen it get up to about 75c but by then the fan has turned on. That usually happens when something like Adobe Acrobat has locked up on me (99% CPU usage). 90c+ is not a normal temperature (to me anyway).

Generally with a memory problem you would get a blue screen and not a system shutdown. I would assume that MobileMeter is correct in saying that the "Critical Temperature" of 96c is when the system will shutdown.

You probably should put some thermal grease on the heatsink and check the fan to see if there is any dirt/dust on the blades. You can also try using the Power Management functions to lower the CPU speed and see if that helps.

In any event, I would recommend running at least 512MB in the T23, especially with demanding programs such as Photoshop.

[Ochoa]

Hi rkawakami,

that was the information I was looking for, I also had the feeling the CPU is working too hot. I´ll open it and put some new thermal grease. The one thing I would still like to ask is if the one parameter for determining if the fan is ok is the upper limit RPMs it is able to deliver. I`ll clean the blades anyway when opening it up. Something else I should check for there?

And yes, I should have more RAM, but the problem should be speed and not the shutting down. I`ll get some ASAP.

[rkawakami]

Don't know about the RPM limit of the fan. I do know that the PC Doctor diagnostic for the fan turns it at different speeds and then gives you a passing notification. I would suppose that it would say "fail" if the fan is not spinning at the proper speed, but I've never had one fail on me, nor have I tried unplugging the fan to see what it would do.

While you have the keyboard and bezel off, look around for any dust that might have accumulated inside and tighten up any screws that you can find (the ones holding the speaker assembly, the hard drive rail, the PCMCIA cage, a couple on the motherboard). This may help preventing any extra chassis flex from occuring. Also, if you are in the habit of picking up the laptop by one corner, don't. That's about all I can think of for now...

(edit: I re-read your system description.. by any chance do you have a 2647-HNU? That's what I'm using right now.)