X201 heat issues in Linux

[lparsons]

I could only find one thread here on X201 heat issues, and I didn't see any good suggestions in it. I have an X201 that has been overheating (100 degrees) lately. I run Kubuntu Linux 12.10 on it the vast majority of the time, and it is currently set to shut down safely once it reaches 100. It shuts down fine, and then boots back up fine. The problem is I can't find a good way to prevent it from getting that hot; more frustratingly it seems to do it when I'm doing things that sometimes don't cause it to overheat.

Is there anything I can do to perhaps improve the ventilation inside the laptop? I have it on a thinkpad dock currently that I bought off of ebay; the dock sits on an inclined laptop stand (with a fan) on my desk at work, so the airflow should be pretty good around it. In terms of hardware I have a 300gb SSD and 4GB RAM. I have no drive in the expansion in the dock currently; I use the dock just to make it easier to bring the laptop to and from work as I have ethernet, a USB keyboard, my power supply, and a monitor all plugged in to the dock so I just put the laptop in position and hit the power button then away I go. I guess I could explore a USB docking station instead of this base, if it would improve air circulation.

[mrj47]

I think you will see the best improvements if you replace the thermal paste on the cpu.

Also use thinkfan if you are not already: http://staff.science.uva.nl/~kholshei/thinkfan_guide/

This is the config I use:

Code: Select all

sensor /sys/devices/virtual/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp4_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp2_input

(0, 0, 51)
(1, 50, 52)
(2, 51, 55)
(3, 54, 58)
(4, 56, 63)
(5, 60, 70)
(6, 66, 79)
(7, 74, 85)
(127, 85, 32767) 

[lparsons]

I think you will see the best improvements if you replace the thermal paste on the cpu.

Thank you for the suggestion; I was wondering if that would be worth doing or not. I'll look to see what I can source locally for that. Is there a paste that people find to work better on this series thinkpad than others on the market? I remember a long time ago when everyone was going nuts over "arctic silver" but I don't know if it is still that great or not. Looks like I have a few different options at my local microcenter, and they have kits for getting the old gunk off as well...

Also use thinkfan if you are not already: http://staff.science.uva.nl/~kholshei/thinkfan_guide/

This is the config I use:

Code: Select all

sensor /sys/devices/virtual/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp4_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp2_input

(0, 0, 51)
(1, 50, 52)
(2, 51, 55)
(3, 54, 58)
(4, 56, 63)
(5, 60, 70)
(6, 66, 79)
(7, 74, 85)
(127, 85, 32767) 

I'm not currently running thinkfan, though my thermal management through thinkpad-acpi seems pretty reasonable. I'll look into thinkfan.

thank you!

[Tasurinchi]

I was wondering if that would be worth doing or not

It's always worth doing it IMO, the X201 is known as being a little hottie

AS5 is still one of the best thermal paste out there. I'm also using Artic Cooling MX-2, which was recommended in some desktop modders, it's easier to apply and so far all the machines with it are running cool. But I'm still sticking to AS5 for the hotter CPU's, yesterday I used it in my "old new" X201 btw.

I managed to install Debian and after playing around with the options for like one hour the X201 was still cool. I haven't stress it though...

My 2 cents...

[mrj47]

Thank you for the suggestion; I was wondering if that would be worth doing or not. I'll look to see what I can source locally for that. Is there a paste that people find to work better on this series thinkpad than others on the market? I remember a long time ago when everyone was going nuts over "arctic silver" but I don't know if it is still that great or not. Looks like I have a few different options at my local microcenter, and they have kits for getting the old gunk off as well...

Yep, definitely recommend the Artic Silver Cleaner Kit, AS5 should be fine, other options may be: Tuniq X2, IC Diamond "7 Carat" Thermal Compound, and so on. There is probably maybe a 1-2 degree difference or something. Either way you should see some improvement with some new paste!

I'm not currently running thinkfan, though my thermal management through thinkpad-acpi seems pretty reasonable. I'll look into thinkfan.

thank you!

thinkpad-acpi wasn't doing a very good job for me, when temps were reaching 80c+ the fan wouldn't be running at 100%. With thinkfan, now it does.

Cheers!

[whalepirot]

Having owned my X201 for many months, with flawless ops, I was surprised when it began the random shutdowns. I could find no reason, but suspected a possible thermal issue.

I took the machine apart and replaced the paste; no special cleaner or paste and it seems fine.

I wished I'd known of this thread's statement that this model has heat issues earlier.