Z61m 8521-NTM Overheating/Crashing Issue

[smiffy]

My Z61m has an issue whereby it tends to get very warm at the back left of the machine.

Leaving the fan to do its own thing, this can cause the machine to lock up - a complete freeze. I was dual-booting Windows/Linux and this is what would happen:

1) Machine locks (both OSs)
2) Remove battery and mains connector
3) Reboot Windows - freezes at the Windows logo screen.
4) Reboot Linux - freezes as the kernel gets to the ACPI stuff.

(3) and (4) do not occur if the machine is allowed to rest for several minutes - depending on ambient temperature.

I no longer have a Windows partition (I run XP under VMWare, if I need it), so have more control over the fan. After some experimentation, except in the dead of Winter when my office gets like an icebox, I need to set the fan to 'disengaged' (full speed, all the time) through ACPI to guarantee normal operation.

The machine is out of warranty - although I doubt that warranty would have been of any use from my experience of Lenovo Australia - so getting a replacement machine is out.

Looking at /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal, it would appear that the GPU is the part getting hottest (at least the part with a temperature sensor). Once it gets up to about 70 degrees Celsius, things are likely to start misbehaving.

I am considering upgrading the machine - adding RAM and an even larger disc (shipped with 80Gb, upgraded to 120Gb, going to 250Gb) - because I want/need to do more virtualisation. However, I'm a bit dubious about throwing any money at this machine as this thermal/crashing issue means that I don't entirely trust it.

Has anyone had any similar experiences and/or can anyone shed any light on the cause of this issue? I have heard of a problem with NVIDIA (I think) GPUs not being correctly bonded to their heatsinks or something, but this machine has an ATI device, so I assume that it's not that.

I'm quite happy to pull the machine apart if there's anything that I should be looking for/at.

Cheers

M

[blaeks]

do you know is there any way to change the fan?
my z61m today showed a
"fan error" while booting and than shut off.

is that something like your error?

[smiffy]

There is no error logged anywhere when my machine locks up and the fan seems to be operating normally (variable speed).

You don't say what operating system you are using. If you are using Linux, you need the ibm_acpi kernel module to be able to control the fan, monitor temperatures, etc.

As part of my bootup process, I run this:

Code: Select all

modprobe thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1 experimental=1
echo "level disengaged" > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

That sets the fan to running at full speed all the time - the only way that I can prevent the machine from locking up. Even then, I get problems in higher ambient temperatures but as I can't stand heat either, I normally have the air conditioning running when this would otherwise be a problem.

[RealBlackStuff]

First thing that comes to mind: have you cleaned the fan of it's dust bunnies?
If you have a cat, his/her hair magically appears inside fans and clogs it.

Depending on your type of fan you may have to take fan and cooler apart to be able to clean it properly.
Don't forget to clean the fan blades as well.

E.g. my R52 has a separate cooling element that sits on top of the GPU to provide that extra bit of cooling.
Perhaps a similar fan is available for your model?

[smiffy]

Thanks for your reply.

To summarise: pull it apart. I was considering doing this anyway, but wasn't really sure what I should be looking at.

I am hoping that the GPU has a separate cooling system - heatsink or whatever. If it will come off, it can be replaced/fixed/etc.; if not, probably not much I can do.

But yes, I'll start with a strip-down and clean.

Just speculating here - is it possible that a fault in the GPU itself could cause this issue or is it more probable that heat removal is inadequate? If the latter, I'd guess at a thermal bonding problem somewhere. Maybe a job for the old Arctic Silver.

[blaeks]

hm...

the GPU is always several degrees hotter then CPU. on all thinkpads I had.

so, do not bother.

but I WILL video record when i hammer this z61m to the death!

it is actualy the third for the one purchase, the first one had a power issue and I got a brand new 10days after buying the first. and that second one had overheat issue and they serviced it by replacing the MB and HDD....
this one had a FAN ERROR while booting several days ago.

lenovo sucks.