T60p: Diagnosing a (Probable) Heat Problem

[ArtShapiro]

I'd welcome some informed advice on the misbehavior of one of my T60s.

In the last few weeks, it's been shutting down under moderately heavy loads - say, playing a video clip.

Yesterday it happened twice: once searching for the Patch Tuesday updates, and once during the monthly virus scan by Symantec Endpoint Protection.

I've noticed that the air coming out the side vent seems to be uncomfortably hot - certainly a bit surprising and enough to get one's attention, and clearly warmer than that pumped out from my other T60p.

Any ideas on how to go about troubleshooting this issue while it's still at the only-annoying stage?

Art

[ajkula66]

Are you running TPFC - and if you are - what temps is it reporting?

If you're not, download and install it now...

[Medessec]

You can download it here:
http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/donate.html

You do have to scroll 3/4 down the page to get to the links. The one you want is "tpfc_062.zip"

If your laptop is pushing heat, then it's being cooled... does the fan vibrate or make any noise? Even if your laptop is effectively pushing heat, it my be a good idea to get some fresh thermal paste for that beauty. In that case, You can buy a tube of Arctic Silver 5 at any old RadioShack for $10.

[ArtShapiro]

Are you running TPFC - and if you are - what temps is it reporting?

Just installed it.

The GPU is idling at 69° C. The 7600 CPU idles at 56° but went well into the 70s under a moderate load and briefly hit 86° as things were settling down during a reboot. I'll be firing up some mainframe emulation software soon, which should give it a nice workout. Other readings are in the 30s and 40s, which obviously isn't anything exciting.

Art

[Medessec]

That sounds a bit hot. Also-does the fan always run in State 7 at 3000+ RPM?

You probably want to dismantle your laptop to get to the cooler... and see if everything's properly seated. You'll also want to make sure to reapply thermal paste to the CPU. If you need advice on taking apart your T60p to the cooler(which isn't too difficult) then please let us know.

[ArtShapiro]

That sounds a bit hot. Also-does the fan always run in State 7 at 3000+ RPM?... If you need advice on taking apart your T60p to the cooler(which isn't too difficult) then please let us know.

Thanks. I've done it any number of times, so no disassembly help needed, but appreciate the offer of advice.

I don't know what state 7 is (is that like Plan 9 from Outer Space?), having not yet read any documentation, but I noticed that figure whenever I looked at the display this afternoon. Presumably that's a max setting in some sense that can be dialed down if desired?

The machine is powered down right now; it isn't my primary T60p being only 1400x1050; I tend to use the ultra-resolution T60p a lot more. This guy was routinely getting into the 70s and 80s this afternoon.

Got some A-S around here somewhere, although it isn't where it is supposed to be. Don't think it's 5, but even the original stuff was first rate. Still, I don't think that's the issue because there is plenty of very hot air being exhausted, so clearly heat is being transferred and directed out of the machine. Maybe I'll experiment and swap the 7600 with the 7200 in the ultra machine, although that takes a fair amount of ambition.

Art

[GACrabill]

In the last few weeks, it's been shutting down under moderately heavy loads - say, playing a video clip.

Does it 'shutdown', *or* does it 'freeze' ?

Which operating system and what is the graphics driver version ?

[ArtShapiro]

Does it 'shutdown', *or* does it 'freeze' ?

Which operating system and what is the graphics driver version ?

Shutdown.

Win7 Ultimate x64, ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 8.561.0.0 dated 12/1/2008.

Art

[RealBlackStuff]

Definitely overheating.
Since you have a T60/p (with max. 3GB RAM), you may as well go 'down' to 32-bit W7, less power-hungry.
And if you have done fan-exchanges, a CPU-exchange takes only a few seconds longer.
And the T7200 will also run cooler than the T7600.
And fresh AS5 has never hurt any computer/laptop.

[hhmcsv]

See this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=113079

seems the same problem - I hope I have fixed mine