X60S heat issue w/ L2400

[thevt]

Isn't the Core Duo - L2400 processor - supposed to be low voltage? My right wrist area is still pretty warm, anyone have any luck getting the heat to dissipate?

[Hanson]

The right wrist area is where the hard drive is located.

[thevt]

Right. I was referring to some posts about adjusting drivers, etc to bring the heat level down. Just wasn't sure if people had similar experiences with the same processor.

[thibouille27]

Either hard drive or Wireless card.
Do you have Intel or Atheros Wireless ?

[smvp6459]

The right wrist area is where the WiFi and (if you have one) where the WWAN card is. The harddrive is nearby, but not directly under the palm rest; it is under the keyboard between the modem connector and the microphone jack.

I think some heat comes from the HD, but more heat comes from the WiFi. If you reduce the WiFi power settings it will be cooler. If you set the HD to spin down, that helps out a little. Shutting off the WiFi keeps it almost as cool as the left palm rest.

[thibouille27]

And some report that Intel might get warmer than IBM/Atheros cards.

[smvp6459]

And some report that Intel might get warmer than IBM/Atheros cards.

After switching from Intel to Atheros, I found:
-Atheros can find many more access points.
-Intel produced less heat on the lowest power settings than the Atheros does. I haven't used a device to measure the surface temperature, but my hands and tpfancontrol confirm my anecdotal evidence.
-Intel in its lowest power settings consumed less power; on average it consumed 1-2W less than the Atheros card with the lowest power settings.

[sugo]

smvp6459, thanks for the very helpful information.

For temperature and power consumption, I think I will stick with intel on my X60s for now.

[thibouille27]

I will play with power settings other than minimal then.

Thanks smvp6459. I just received my Atheros card a week ago so it is a bit early for me to have definite conclusions.

[smvp6459]

smvp6459, thanks for the very helpful information.

For temperature and power consumption, I think I will stick with intel on my X60s for now.

No problem. It was great at home, but I had problems connecting to some kinds of APs and APs with weak signals. Once I installed the Atheros I stopped having connection issues.

[thevt]

smvp6459 - great info!

Unfortunately I need the wifi to connect to my router, but I'm wondering if I can get away with reducing the power settings somewhat since I'm not terribly far from the access point.

How would I even go about changing those settings?

[sugo]

thevt, in Windows XP My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Right click on Intel 3945ABG -> Properties -> 2nd Tab, there are transmit and overall power management options you can change.

[smvp6459]

smvp6459 - great info!

Unfortunately I need the wifi to connect to my router, but I'm wondering if I can get away with reducing the power settings somewhat since I'm not terribly far from the access point.

How would I even go about changing those settings?

You can also alter the transmission & power saving mode in the Access Connections for each AP you use, but there are a few more settings in the device properties.

[gunston]

Decrease the Transmission Power to lowest helps to reduce ~5degC.
the heat dissipated from Right palm rest still bearable.

[sugo]

While I decided not to bother with Atheros, I keep transmit power to max on the Intel card.

The sensitivity of Intel card isn't great to start with. The range becomes miserably short when I lowered transmit power from max.

The right palm rest does get hot quickly during heavy transmission. For example, after Winamp plays a few songs via WiFi.

Lenovo should have put the WiFi card under the trackpoint buttons, similar to what IBM did for T4x.

[workingTeacher]

I actually removed the wifi card (IBM) from my new X60S --I couldn't stand the heat. The right palmrest was still "warm" though so I took out the little modem daughter card that was next to the wifi card. That was totally unnecessary! But I don't use either right now. With those devices removed, there's now some space for an adroitly placed strip of styrofoam (from a disposable plate) and with some foil backing. I'm waiting for some reason to open it up again, and then I'll put in the foam and foil. That'll do it. I didn't explore disabling the wifi card sufficiently --I might not have had to remove it. If I needed wifi and didn't want the heat, I'd probably get a PC card.

[workingTeacher]

I actually removed the wifi card (IBM) from my new X60S --I couldn't stand the heat. The right palmrest was still "warm" though so I took out the little modem daughter card that was next to the wifi card. That was totally unnecessary! But I don't use either right now. With those devices removed, there's now some space for an adroitly placed strip of styrofoam (from a disposable plate) and with some foil backing. I'm waiting for some reason to open it up again, and then I'll put in the foam and foil. That'll do it. I didn't explore disabling the wifi card sufficiently --I might not have had to remove it. If I needed wifi and didn't want the heat, I'd probably get a PC card.

[gunston]

I actually removed the wifi card (IBM) from my new X60S --I couldn't stand the heat. The right palmrest was still "warm" though so I took out the little modem daughter card that was next to the wifi card. That was totally unnecessary! But I don't use either right now. With those devices removed, there's now some space for an adroitly placed strip of styrofoam (from a disposable plate) and with some foil backing. I'm waiting for some reason to open it up again, and then I'll put in the foam and foil. That'll do it. I didn't explore disabling the wifi card sufficiently --I might not have had to remove it. If I needed wifi and didn't want the heat, I'd probably get a PC card.

cooler after removing it....?
photos.

[christopherjpreston]

I actually also had a right palmrest heat issue with an X60. I sent my PC back to Lenovo and they replaced the Planar and Wireless card. I already had an Atheros and they just replaced it with another one. They mentioned the temp was about 2-3c better and they are correct. It came back yesterday and it has improved a lot.

However, the new planar is noisy with this high pitch sound coming from the fan area and the CPU temp is about 15c higher at idle and spiking. I rang them today and told them to fix it so that it would be similar to the original planar which was running at 37c and no noise at all. I even told them to put back my original planar because I prefer the heat to this disturbing noise. They are picking up my PC on Monday. This noise is driving me nuts

Actually regarding the noise from the fan area, one thing I noticed is that if I lift up my x60 and tilt it vertically the noise goes away. Only when it is sitting flat does the noise exist.

[workingTeacher]

gunston: photos of where the card used to be? I'm not sure I know what you mean. But taking it out totally cooled it down. There is some residual warmth from the computer as a whole that seems to migrate to the right palmrest area but it's nothing like when the card was in. For anyone thinking of taking it out, Lenovo has videos that walk you through it (under mini PCI express card for the X60). http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... PAD-MOVIES And I'd definately get a wrist strap anti-static discharge cable (Rat Shack has them for $10).

[gunston]

workingteacher: taking out the wireless card isn't practical at all.
unless, you don;t use your wireless card.