X61: actual heat measurements... and remedies (revised)

[cogitordi]

I have been reviving a stripped X61 that I recently bought. I added some components to the X61 and discovered what everyone else here knew long ago: the X61 with a stock Atheros wireless card is UNUSABLY hot.

How hot? I used an infrared thermometer to measure the temperatures once the Atheros began heating my home.

X61 open, left side of palm rest: 38C
X61 open, right side of palm rest: 41C

UNDERSIDE OF X61: 45C.

If you're planning to have children, don't buy an X61. (Maybe you should keep wifi radios away from your beytsim in any case.)

For anyone wondering what to do about the X61's heat and who doesn't have time to do much searching, here's the information that I have gathered from this great site and other striking of the Internet pinata.

Buy an Intel 6200 (62xx series) wireless card and the half-bracket. (At the time of writing, both can be had together including shipping for under $20.)

Apply the following modified BIOS to enable the X61 to use the new wireless card:

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http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443

I had no success creating the bootable USB flash key by any documented method, so I booted from the HIREN boot cd's "mini XP" OS and ran the flash tool. The HIREN boot cd is a useful set of tools.

You'll be in trouble if you strip the screws retaining the Atheros wireless card. I stripped the screws and tried mauling them with short-nose wirecutters. That didn't succeed, so I used a rotary tool with a grinding bit to cut a groove in each screw. (In retrospect, I can't believe I did this, but I'm glad that I finally can justify the cost of the rotary tool.)

The hardware manual for the X61 is here:

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http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=MIGR-62866

Here is a video of the full disassembly:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ezBEotJL4

The removal of the heat sink and fan from the CPU is shown at the 10:00 point of the video. Some experienced folks recommend adding fresh thermal paste to the CPU.

Use this fine program if you want to control the CPU fan:

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http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

[cogitordi]

If you do massacre the screws that secure the wireless card and choose to use a rotary tool with a grinding bit to cut grooves into the screws, remember that sparks will fly and you will be holding the spinning grinding bit less that 2cm from the circuit board. So do try not to a) burn down your house, and b) gut your Thinkpad.

Temperatures during heavy use with performance set to "maximum" are now:
X61 open, left side of palm rest: 37C (slightly lower)
X61 open, right side of palm rest: 38C (much lower)

UNDERSIDE OF X61: 45C. (unchanged)

The X61 definitely needs to be on a ventilation stand when in performance mode. When in "optimal battery mode", it runs with comfortable temperatures.

Next, I think I can bring the temperatures lower by installing an SSD. But the CPU of the high-end X61 models runs hot and the only mitigation is to define a conservative power plan.

[mariol90]

if you're using windows 7 (or possibly vista), go into the computer's power settings and change the wireless adapter settings to medium or maximum power savings. i felt like this helped a lot with heat issues. you can also go into device manager and reduce the transmit power of the wireless adapter.

[cogitordi]

Thanks, I will try that setting later.

Edit: Later -- mariol90 is right, the power level for the Intel 6200 can be adjusted in Vista. With Transmit Power set to Medium, the right side of the palm rest cools by 1C to 2C in conjunction with the "Power Saver" power plan.

[RealBlackStuff]

I have an X61s with Intel 6250N wifi card.
This hardly gets even luke-warm!

[cogitordi]

What is your CPU? My X61 has the T8300.

[RealBlackStuff]

CPU is Low voltage L7300 @ 1.4GHz.
I have a 32GB Patriot SSD in it, which never gets warm.
4GB RAM and W7-Pro 32-bit.
I use my X61s only when I (rarely) travel somewhere.
At home I'm always at my desktop.