x61s burnt smell ?

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apbudha · #1 Post by **apbudha** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:43 pm

Hi,

I've been using my x61 for about 2 weeks. recently I have noticed a burnt smell coming from the machine and from the fan. I don't know what to think. Also a couple of times the machine randomly turns itself off and then on, but this happened only a total of three times and twice when doing heavy file reading from a usb hard drive. I just sold my acer today (great timing) so I need to sit on this for at least a week longer to close out the semester. I'm compelled now to pop open the hood and see what I can find. I ran PC Doctor on it last night, ran perfect on all tests, but there is nothing in the diags about fans.

#2 Post by **ryengineer** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:53 am

Burning smell is normal for new machines:

Burning smell from new X61s.

The random shut down on heavy load is a sign of overheating, to be certain download a temperature measuring utility like NHC, PCWizard, SpeedFan, Mobmeter, Core temp etc. etc to time the values on heavy load.

apbudha · #3 Post by **apbudha** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:01 am

ryengineer wrote:Burning smell is normal for new machines:

Burning smell from new X61s.

The random shut down on heavy load is a sign of overheating, to be certain download a temperature measuring utility like NHC, PCWizard, SpeedFan, Mobmeter, Core temp etc. etc to time the values on heavy load.

the only thing is I didn't notice this smell in the first week, just over the last few days... i hope this goes away because I can ill afford to depot it right now.

by the way, another thing I have noticed is after I have suspended it, and it is suspended, out of the blue the moon starts blinking and I have to hold the power down, and then hit it again for it to come up, but is says coming out of suspend instead of coming up from boot. this weird blinking moon thing has happened twice in the last 4 days. this is under Vista Home will all updates.

thank you, ryengineer. I will try check out those utils shortly.

EOMtp · #4 Post by **EOMtp** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:36 am

Burning smell is normal only for machines which are burning! ... and certainly not something that is even marginally normal for a machine which ran odorless for one week. Get the machine checked if the smell is indeed the smell of something burning.

(The fact that another thread discusses this is indicative of nothing more than another person also having a machine ablaze!)

apbudha · #5 Post by **apbudha** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:47 pm

EOMtp wrote:Burning smell is normal only for machines which are burning! ... and certainly not something that is even marginally normal for a machine which ran odorless for one week. Get the machine checked if the smell is indeed the smell of something burning.

(The fact that another thread discusses this is indicative of nothing more than another person also having a machine ablaze!)

good points. there might be some paranoia involved in my case. still monitoring. I did look under the hood, by the way. I noticed there are 2 pci slots around the right side of the palm rest. The wifi adapter is in the slot closest to the trackpoint. Does anyone have it in the outer position or taken to moving it themselves? I was thinking it would be better since it would be closer to the vent, but probably wouldn't make a difference. I was able to take off the rightmost "connector" but the next one to the left wouldn't budge, so I just left it.

There is some adapter of some sort to the left of the pci slots. I don't know what it was (it was not a fan however). Anyone know what this device is?

When I put all the screws back, I tightened them good. It feels a lot more solid now typing and less rattling for the left click button , I guess they had gotten lazy on the assembly line.

apbudha · #6 Post by **apbudha** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:17 am

Does 131 degree Fahrenheit seem abnormal for reported cpu temperature? Hard drive also reported at 32F, through NHC.

EOMtp · #7 Post by **EOMtp** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:49 am

Perfectly normal temperatures. Enjoy!

#8 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:11 am

EOMtp wrote:Burning smell is normal only for machines which are burning! ... and certainly not something that is even marginally normal for a machine which ran odorless for one week.......snip

The matter of fact is the OP has noticed it recently and burning smell is of course not normal however what people perceive as a burning smell in new machines often turns out to be the odor from the heat sink and the thermal conductivity between it and the newly applied paste. Another source of such smell as pointed out by the member in the other thread is the flux residue deposit left on the machines after soldering operations. I have found this so-called burning smell present on not only thinkpads but also machines from other manufacturers that I've owned or seen currently or in the past.

#9 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:18 am

apbudha wrote:snip.....There is some adapter of some sort to the left of the pci slots. I don't know what it was (it was not a fan however). Anyone know what this device is?.....snip

It should be Modem card.

gunston · #10 Post by **gunston** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:15 am

i think this is the New machine smell instead of the burning smell

apbudha · #11 Post by **apbudha** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:59 am

gunston wrote:i think this is the New machine smell instead of the burning smell

I'm starting to believe the same thing, its what I would like to believe. The only thing that really bothers me about it is I didn't really notice it until the third week. So I am/was slightly inclined to believe it is a result of one of the overheat reboots the machine went through, and maybe something got too hot and melted. I can't confirm this, everything inside looked OK. If what I have read about similar experiences is accurate, this should go away with time. All the same, I am very aware of it only the last 2 days and now, still which is concerning.

gunston · #12 Post by **gunston** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:51 pm

so serious, hardware got burnt?

apbudha · #13 Post by **apbudha** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:57 pm

gunston wrote:so serious, hardware got burnt?

don't know, I will depot it shortly to see what's up. gives me some time to see if it goes away and finish out the semester with it.

gunston · #14 Post by **gunston** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:58 pm

Good luck

apbudha · #15 Post by **apbudha** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:56 pm

I have now closed the book on this x61s experience.

gunston · #16 Post by **gunston** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:58 am

apbudha wrote:I have now closed the book on this x61s experience.

meaning?
sold or solved?

apbudha · #17 Post by **apbudha** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:23 pm

gunston wrote:
apbudha wrote:I have now closed the book on this x61s experience.
meaning?
sold or solved?

long story to a single lexeme; returned. well soon anyway. i may update this post in a couple days.

apbudha · #18 Post by **apbudha** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:33 pm

I have put through for a return and am just waiting for shipping labels to send it out. I really wanted this to work out, as I really liked this laptop. ultralight screen, 2 gb of memory, fast and spacious 7k200 hard drive, even nmb keyboard, and NO dead/stuck pixels.

The smell is not necessarily plastic; it is metallic-like and coming from the left side of the board. I recall and dont' mind the "new laptop smell" and this isn't quite it. It might be the thermal paste burning smell that someone mentioned before. Regardless, it is not going away at all, and I cannot get used to it. It may have been possible that a motherboard replacement would have removed the problem, but I pushed for either a return or exchange, and only the return was doable. This decision is still reversible as of right now, but at this point I don't know how I can keep it with this issue (any suggestions or others experiencing similar problem?).

So I picked up a gateway for a good price recently. It's a pound heavier than the acer I sold the day before I started having problems, so not exactly better off then where I started : |

x61s burnt smell ?

x61s burnt smell ?

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