Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys. I was forced to upgrade to a T60 after Lenovo repair depot destroyed my T42. I miss my T42 - she was quiet, especially with undervolting. With this new T60 there seem to be a barrage of noise making problems.

The X1400 being the worst of all. I'm reading it's temps and they are around 70-73C at idle, which keeps my fan spun up at atleast 3500RPM - it sounds like I'm playing some 3D game when I'm simply web browsing or even in the BIOS. Is there any way to get this machine to behave more normally?

Also, I've noticed that the wireless card makes sounds, hard to describe, but it occasionally makes some high pitched whining sounds.

I've got a t60 with 2.00 BIOS, a core 2 duo, an x1400, and the intel 3945abg wireless card.

Please help! This machine is driving me crazy!

Antioch wrote: The X1400 being the worst of all. I'm reading it's temps and they are around 70-73C at idle, which keeps my fan spun up at atleast 3500RPM - it sounds like I'm playing some 3D game when I'm simply web browsing or even in the BIOS. Is there any way to get this machine to behave more normally?

Also, I've noticed that the wireless card makes sounds, hard to describe, but it occasionally makes some high pitched whining sounds.

Please help! This machine is driving me crazy!

You may want to look up the pinned thread in T4x board which provides information on how to 'tune' the machine.

It seems to me that you have no other options except for undervolting GPU using ATI tool or returning the machine for a quieter one.

I had the same problem with my T43p which ended up returning. Rumors go that x1300 is much quieter.

Yea, but hasn't Lenovo changed IBM's policy that you can't return machines, even within the 30-day grace period?

Antioch wrote:Hi guys. I was forced to upgrade to a T60 after Lenovo repair depot destroyed my T42. I miss my T42 - she was quiet, especially with undervolting. With this new T60 there seem to be a barrage of noise making problems.

The X1400 being the worst of all. I'm reading it's temps and they are around 70-73C at idle, which keeps my fan spun up at atleast 3500RPM - it sounds like I'm playing some 3D game when I'm simply web browsing or even in the BIOS. Is there any way to get this machine to behave more normally?

Also, I've noticed that the wireless card makes sounds, hard to describe, but it occasionally makes some high pitched whining sounds.

I've got a t60 with 2.00 BIOS, a core 2 duo, an x1400, and the intel 3945abg wireless card.

Please help! This machine is driving me crazy!

why dont you bring ur T60 to ur local IBM repair center to check it?

There's a problem with the GPU thermal compounds, take a look here

To achieve 100% heat conductivity there should be metal to metal interface, it seems that Lenovo put a gummy thermal pad in the heatsink that do not do the job, that kind of pad resembles to the pad used on top of the T4x series heatsink (the gray patch):
http://web.mit.edu/leeadam/www/IMG_2547.JPG

There's a discussion regarding T43p heat & noise here

You could place a piece of cooper, then apply Arctic Silver 5 and assure the metal touches the GPU core. Those thermal patches are to blame, IMO.

benottomex wrote:There's a problem with the GPU thermal compounds, take a look here

To achieve 100% heat conductivity there should be metal to metal interface, it seems that Lenovo put a gummy thermal pad in the heatsink that do not do the job, that kind of pad resembles to the pad used on top of the T4x series heatsink (the gray patch):
http://web.mit.edu/leeadam/www/IMG_2547.JPG

There's a discussion regarding T43p heat & noise here

You could place a piece of cooper, then apply Arctic Silver 5 and assure the metal touches the GPU core. Those thermal patches are to blame, IMO.

for this case, he should bring it to local Lenovo service center.

Yes, well even if the pad is replaced with a thin strip of copper, it won't lower temps by much. I'm guessing it will still idle in the 60s.

However, even with TP Fan Control, setting 1 only lowers to fan to 3000RPM, which is still quite loud. So, even if the temp dropped some and lowered the BIOS control to a slower speed, the fan will still be at a loud 3000RPM. Is there ANY way to lower the fan speed? There should be some way to get the fan to run at 1000 or 1500RPM - that would be excellent.

Also, I don't think the thermal patches are entirely to blame. I've heard that the X1300 runs 20C cooler than the X1400 with, I assume, the same pads, so even if it were the pads, the X1400 will still be hot.

Antioch wrote:Yes, well even if the pad is replaced with a thin strip of copper, it won't lower temps by much. I'm guessing it will still idle in the 60s.

However, even with TP Fan Control, setting 1 only lowers to fan to 3000RPM, which is still quite loud. So, even if the temp dropped some and lowered the BIOS control to a slower speed, the fan will still be at a loud 3000RPM. Is there ANY way to lower the fan speed? There should be some way to get the fan to run at 1000 or 1500RPM - that would be excellent.

Also, I don't think the thermal patches are entirely to blame. I've heard that the X1300 runs 20C cooler than the X1400 with, I assume, the same pads, so even if it were the pads, the X1400 will still be hot.

Since u are japanese, maybe u can sent it back to Japan, I believe Lenovo lab in Japan will take it serious, for all lenovo thinkpads are designed there.

Maybe it is worth to mention that the X1400 is NOT to blame. It runs up to 30°C (usually 20°C) cooler in the R60 if you turn on the fan manually. Usually it is off and only kicks in after an hour of working.
Usual temp is around 40°C to 44°C...


I had two T60s before - one with X1300 and one with X1400. Difference was only about 5°C and the X1400 ran at 72°C when idle...

I do not have any software on my T60 w/X1400 to measure the temperatures but mine runs very quiet and is barely warm to the touch.

SlyD wrote:Maybe it is worth to mention that the X1400 is NOT to blame. It runs up to 30°C (usually 20°C) cooler in the R60 if you turn on the fan manually. Usually it is off and only kicks in after an hour of working.
Usual temp is around 40°C to 44°C...


I had two T60s before - one with X1300 and one with X1400. Difference was only about 5°C and the X1400 ran at 72°C when idle...

I agree. As I said, my roommate has a T60 with a Core Duo and an X1400 - they run at the same temp as my T60 Core2Duo X1400 except his fan is silent or off. I suspect that my BIOS, 2.0, is to blame (his is 1.10) combined with a bad fan or improperly seated heatsink.

Antioch wrote:

SlyD wrote:Maybe it is worth to mention that the X1400 is NOT to blame. It runs up to 30°C (usually 20°C) cooler in the R60 if you turn on the fan manually. Usually it is off and only kicks in after an hour of working.
Usual temp is around 40°C to 44°C...


I had two T60s before - one with X1300 and one with X1400. Difference was only about 5°C and the X1400 ran at 72°C when idle...

I agree. As I said, my roommate has a T60 with a Core Duo and an X1400 - they run at the same temp as my T60 Core2Duo X1400 except his fan is silent or off. I suspect that my BIOS, 2.0, is to blame (his is 1.10) combined with a bad fan or improperly seated heatsink.

when u sarch the fourm, u will notice a lot of ppl have this problems. so it wont be a bad fan.

My x1400 idles at ~75 and reaches 86 when gaming. But the machine never feels uncomfortably warm or hot.
Kudos to Lenovo/IBM for superior engineering!

Yes, I know the chip is hot but on a similar machine my roommate's got a silent fan.