Thinkpads Forum

I desperately need the advice of all the experts out there.

I have a relatively old (3-year) T60. I usually upgrade my laptop every 1 1/2, but I used it a lot longer than I used to because I didn't really need a faster PC. It still functions well, but it cannot deceive its age, and began to show signs of trouble.

Starting from about a week ago, it suddenly shut itself down a few times, and I had to wait for a while before I could reboot it. I thought it was just another Windows problem, but after some investigation, it happened because of overheating. I checked the temperature using TP Fan Control, and the temperature of CPU and GPU was hovering over 90C. Obviously, it shut itself down because the temp went over 95C. I also realized that laptop was very hot to touch. Following the advice I found in this forum, I opened it and cleaned dust using compressed air. I saw some serious dust buildup in the fan. After that, the immediate threat was gone, but the temperature still hovers around 80-90. GPU was always hot (70C+), but CPU was around 60C, and now even CPU is in the 80-90 range.

How should I interpret this situation? Should I just assume that it is the end of its life span and get a new T400? Or, is there something that I can do to extend its life? I will get a new laptop from work in about 6 months, so if I buy one now, I need to use some of my own money (which I would like to avoid). So, if I can extend its life for 6 months (reliably), that will be great. On the other hand, my laptop is absolutely important for me, and I cannot live a single day without it. So, having a laptop with a ticking time bomb makes me very uncomfortable, and if this laptop has a high potential to fail within the next 6 months, I better get a new one now. I have to make a choice, and would like to have your expert advice.

Thank you very much in advance.

Hmmm...based from experience, the moment I air dusted the processor area of my T61, the temperature registered there significantly dropped. My only problem right now is the heating palmrest, but I think I can manage it.

I am no expert in these matters, but are you sure you've blown every bit of dust in the CPU? Maybe it still needs some air dusting to clear some blockage.

I hope you'll get over with your problem. I know the feeling of having to live a day without a laptop; every time I leave my T61 in the service depot for a day, it's as if I'm experiencing "withdrawal" symptoms. Not only is my T61 my workhorse, it also has loads of sentimental value to me (when I was a student exchange in Singapore, it's the only thing that kept me sane for months since there's not so much to do there! ).

Good luck!

drblue wrote: How should I interpret this situation? Should I just assume that it is the end of its life span and get a new T400? Or, is there something that I can do to extend its life?

Well, this shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. Sounds like your cooling system isn't operating properly for some reason (stating the obvious, but the solution may be less obvious). You have cleaned out the fan area, which is the first step. It's actually not that simple to properly clean out this area. Did you remove the fan and heatsink completely to do this? Did the heatsink(s) have thermal paste or a heat pad to line up with the CPU and GPU? The heat removing capabilities are very dependent upon how efficiently the CPU and GPU can transfer heat to the heatsink as well as how well the heatsink can dissipate the heat. Finally, if all else fails, try a new fan/heatsink assembly. It is possible that the thermal sensing circuitry on the motherboard has gone bad and, if that's the case, it may be time for a new laptop but I think this is an unlikely scenario.

Good luck!

Thank you, Bostista & sktn77a. I haven't removed the entire cooling unit yet. That is on my next agenda. I ordered a tube of Arctic Silver 5, and plan to undertake the task as soon as it arrives. If that fails, I will probably replace the cooling unit. I will keep you posted. Thanks.

I wouldn't use the arctic silver if the heatsink has a thermal pad (only if it has thermal paste already). Be very careful taking off the heatsink if it looks like it has a grey thermal pad between it and the GPU/CPU.

drblue wrote:Starting from about a week ago, it suddenly shut itself down a few times, and I had to wait for a while before I could reboot it. I thought it was just another Windows problem, but after some investigation, it happened because of overheating. I checked the temperature using TP Fan Control, and the temperature of CPU and GPU was hovering over 90C. Obviously, it shut itself down because the temp went over 95C. I also realized that laptop was very hot to touch. Following the advice I found in this forum, I opened it and cleaned dust using compressed air. I saw some serious dust buildup in the fan. After that, the immediate threat was gone, but the temperature still hovers around 80-90. GPU was always hot (70C+), but CPU was around 60C, and now even CPU is in the 80-90 range.

Cleaning the fan is the obvious first choice.

But, there are many recommendations on this forum that address the "heat related shutdown" issue and they basically always say "Set the CPU to 'adaptive' instead of 'performance' in the Power Manager."

There is also a BIOS setting for CPU (I can't remember the exact name) which should be 'adaptive' and not 'maximum performance'.

Our refurbished T60 had this problem when it was perfectly clean inside and changing the BIOS setting and making sure that the Power Manager settings were not set for 'maximum performance' totally solved the problem. We went from a failure every 2-3 days to no failures in the 9 months since making the changes to 'adaptive'.

As sktn77a suggested, I took apart the fan unit, and cleaned the inside of the PC using compressed air. There was not much so dust, but the air blew a fair amount. Then, I clean the thermal unit, applied Arctic Silver (for CPU; GPU units had thermal pad), and reassembled the PC.

Then, I checked the temperature of the unit, and that was MUCH BETTER than I expected. The CPU temperature dropped to 50-60C, and the GPU temperature dropped to 60-70C. That was an amazing improvement over 80-90C. The new temperatures readings are actually much better than the ones when my laptop was brand new (the GPU temp never went below 70C)!

Thank you very much for your suggestions.

sktn77a wrote:I wouldn't use the arctic silver if the heatsink has a thermal pad (only if it has thermal paste already). Be very careful taking off the heatsink if it looks like it has a grey thermal pad between it and the GPU/CPU.

I realize that OP already used AS but i wanted to post that i agree wholeheartedly with you. I would go so far to say i don't recommend AS in any case. I used to use that religiously but have found a far safer and much better one: Arctic-Cooling MX-2. No metal particles, better durability and in every one of my cases, way better cooling.

Congrats on getting the temps back into a more normal range. I recently had to go through and totally clean the cooling system on my T60 and it was pretty much the same procedure you went through. I pulled the HSF, blew it out then cleaned off the HSF and CPU and finished by applying a new layer of AS5 and re-assembling. My temps dropped from the 90's down to about 48 at idle. My system uses integrated graphics and as such does not have a separate video chip that requires cooling. The HSF does have a cooling pad on it for the northbridge and that had its own pad attached to it.

I cleaned up the cooling system for the same reason as the OP. My system was locking up due to heat related issues and hasn't experienced any problems since. It has been about a month since I cleaned the cooling system and I feel pretty confident that I should be good to go for about a year or so before I have to clean it again. Once every couple of months I like to blow out the fan though.