[Solved] X230 hot to the touch but temps are normal

[Dro]

So this is weird, I swapped the motherboard in a x230i from an i3 to an i7 (model 2325), it works fine but the keyboard as well as the underside are getting uncomfortably hot, with an ambient temperature of 25c, idle is between 45-50c, and about 80c with 100% load, it doesn't make sense to be that hot to the touch.

fan seems to be working normally, the vents are clean, and I put new thermal paste thinking that it might have been the issue, nothing seems to work.

I should add that I have swapped the keyboard and palmrest from an x220, and flashed the EC, current bios version is 2.67 (updated from a pretty old one, can't remember the exact version but it was from 2012) but it was hot to the touch from the start even before flashing a new bios and EC.

If i set the fan speed to maximum (with TPFanControl) and the system is idle, temperature drops to 35c and keyboard is just lukewarm.

Anyone ever experienced an issue like this? any ideas?

[RealBlackStuff]

Get the X230 frubom list and check old against new motherboard.
Your i3 probably had a low voltage CPU, which needs a weaker fan than the i7.
That's your problem I guess.

[Dro]

Get the X230 frubom list and check old against new motherboard.
Your i3 probably had a low voltage CPU, which needs a weaker fan than the i7.
That's your problem I guess.

Thanks for replying, I didn't re-use the heatsink from the i3 motherboard, it came with a heatsink that the seller says it's original to the board, I will try to take it apart again and check the FRU though as you suggested.

The problem is that the temperature doesn't seem to be that high per se, it's the fact that the keyboard and base are very hot to the touch, even at 35c they are lukewarm, at 50c they are quite uncomfortable, I checked the temperature with every possible program I could find, they all report pretty much the same, I'm completely baffled with this one.

[Dro]

After taking it apart again I noticed that the area around the keyboard connector was getting incredibly hot, turns out that taping those pins in the classic keyboard on the X230 is not optional as with the T430s (or I just got lucky, but I've done 3 T430s so far)

Moral of the story, if you are going to use a classic keyboard on your X230, isolate these 3 pins!



Source: https://imgur.com/a/fsRe6

[Thinkpad4by3]

Well it is optional if you live in Alaska, for then it is a nice keyboard heater .

[dr_st]

After taking it apart again I noticed that the area around the keyboard connector was getting incredibly hot, turns out that taping those pins in the classic keyboard on the X230 is not optional as with the T430s (or I just got lucky, but I've done 3 T430s so far)

Ah, that explains it; my modded T430s also has not had the pins taped, and does not get hot. I wonder what the differences are.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Possibly got hot enough to melt the flatflex disconnecting the pins permanently.

[Dro]

After taking it apart again I noticed that the area around the keyboard connector was getting incredibly hot, turns out that taping those pins in the classic keyboard on the X230 is not optional as with the T430s (or I just got lucky, but I've done 3 T430s so far)

Ah, that explains it; my modded T430s also has not had the pins taped, and does not get hot. I wonder what the differences are.

Did you disable the backlight in bios? that's what I did on T430s and I think it could be the reason that I didn't have any issues, X230 doesn't have any option to do that.

Next time that I'll take apart my T430s I'll disassemble the keyboard too and check if there are any burned out contacts.