Thinkpads Forum

I've had my new X201 for around 3 weeks now and have used it every day. The burnt electronics smell doesn't seem to be diminishing at all ? It smells whether it is plugged in or not and comes from the exhaust vent on the left side. Any thoughts?

Hmm. Maybe it's hot dust, try blowing the fan out with canned air.

hunterman223 wrote:Hmm. Maybe it's hot dust, try blowing the fan out with canned air.

Dust in a brand new laptop? To the OP, welcome to the forum. This is a very subjective reply because the sense of smell is in itself subjective, but if it is truly a 'burning' smell, that is not normal and should be looked at by Lenovo service. As a side note, it's an interesting exercise in self control discussing 'smells' with a member calling himself Chumbucket .

Harryc wrote:

hunterman223 wrote:Hmm. Maybe it's hot dust, try blowing the fan out with canned air.

Dust in a brand new laptop? To the OP, welcome to the forum. This is very subjective because the sense of smell is in itself subjective, but if it is truly a 'burning' smell, that is not normal and should be looked at by Lenovo service.

Welcome to the forums, stupid iPhone app has no post count.

Sorry, skipped over new and right to X201, assumed secondhand or refurb. Still worth a shot before having it checked out, could be any number of things from the assembly line or, who knows. If it persists, definitely have lenovo check it out. Even if it works fine now it may cause problems down the line.

That smell is almost always a bad capacitor. One of 3 things can happen:

1) It shorts out and your system board blows.
2) It burns out open and is redundant - so the system works anyway.
3) It just smolders for 5 years or so before 1 or 2 happens.

I've seen all 3 - but I've seen #1 most often. I would send it in for replacement.

I had #2 of awolfe63's suggestions happen to me with an old laptop, 3 times. the second time it happened, sparks shot out the back, where I was leaning over at the time to make a connection - the only other time I have jumped that fast was when I shorted a wall outlet . If you think something is wrong, and it is under warrenty, then send it in and see what they say. (it also depends on how noticeable it is - see if anyone else can smell it)

awolfe63 wrote:That smell is almost always a bad capacitor. One of 3 things can happen:

1) It shorts out and your system board blows.
2) It burns out open and is redundant - so the system works anyway.
3) It just smolders for 5 years or so before 1 or 2 happens.

I've seen all 3 - but I've seen #1 most often. I would send it in for replacement.

It doesn't smell like a bad cap. Maybe I should clarify that it isn't quite a "burnt" smell but closer to overheating electronics. The fan is still working though. It seems to perform fine?

My X201T also smells a bit like hot electronics at the vent. It could well be that what you are smelling is normal. maybe you should ask someone else what they think? smell is subjective.