T60 - heat sink over GMA 950 GPU

[Muse]

When I did some maintenance on my T60 a few years ago I removed the thermal pad from on top of the integrated Intel GMA 950 GPU. This may not have been smart, don't know exactly why I did this, maybe it was damaged or I reasoned that a layer of Arctic Silver 3 would be as good or better. I think the thickness of that thermal pad was more than the Arctic Silver and as a result the GPU overheats. Well, that's my theory because often when I reboot the machine it doesn't get past the Windows start screen (where it says Windows XP in really big letters). Instead of the bright "Windows XP" it's very dull and the machine just sits there indefinitely. If I turn the machine off and let it sit a while it will boot normally. Once booted it continues to operate. My theory is that this is because of improper cooling of the GPU and I've got a plan that was suggested somewhere, being to insert a shaved-down high silver content dime between the heat sink and the GPU, with Arctic Silver 5 between the surfaces. Not sure it will solve the problem, but I figure it's worth a try.

The training videos on servicing the T60 and T60P are here: http://service.lenovo.partner-managemen ... index.html

I'm wondering (not having been in the T60 for a long time), which video shows what must be done. Is it the CPU Fan video? In removing the assembly over the CPU, is the GPU surface then exposed?

[PowerPC]

It... never occurred to me the idea of using a filed silver dime instead of a copper coin.

Pure genius.

[Muse]

It... never occurred to me the idea of using a filed silver dime instead of a copper coin.

Pure genius.

I don't know if you're putting me on... or not!

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Yes, it is that video. The CPU fan is actually the fan, fixed to one fixed construction of heatsinks and heatpipes. Underneat are CPU, chipset, GPU.

I wouldn't use a coin; way too much trouble to get them flat. Rather pick some thermal pad from the box with unused stuff. Silver coins are heavy.

My guess is that it's a software issue, not related to overheating. If you reboot right after a cold boot... will it do the same?

If it really overheated, you should see more funny behaviour. Does it smell?

[Muse]

Yes, it is that video. The CPU fan is actually the fan, fixed to one fixed construction of heatsinks and heatpipes. Underneat are CPU, chipset, GPU.

I wouldn't use a coin; way too much trouble to get them flat. Rather pick some thermal pad from the box with unused stuff. Silver coins are heavy.

My guess is that it's a software issue, not related to overheating. If you reboot right after a cold boot... will it do the same?

If it really overheated, you should see more funny behaviour. Does it smell?

I don't smell anything. No weird behavior such as strange screen anomalies. You may be right about the software issue. Well, my intention right now is to install an Intel 180GB SSD and clean install Windows 7 32 bit. I have all that on hand right now. I just thought I should put that dime in there first. Given what you say and thinking about it now I think it makes sense to install the SSD and Win7 and then see if I have a problem rebooting when the machine is hot.

I think if I reboot right after a cold boot it won't do this... not unless the machine's been on for a long time. I am not at all sure. Fact is I keep the machine in suspend most of the time. I awaken it by raising the lid, put it to sleep by closing the lid. The times I reboot it's almost always after it's been on for a while. It does not happen all the time which is the reason for my theory that it's being hot that does it. But you're right, it could be software, and the software I'm thinking (and you too, probably) is something OS related that may shake out (I'd think) with the clean Win7 install. Anyway, it will save me the trouble to opening the T60.

The dime I've already shaved down to virtually flat surfaces using a whetstone. It's ready, but I'll try the SSD/Win7 first. Thanks for the help/suggestions!

[Muse]

Today the behavior has been worse than "usual." I was unable to watch Youtube videos, decided the only remedy was to reboot the machine. It had not been on too long, maybe 15 minutes (?), but again it would not boot, hung at the Windows XP splash screen, which was about 1/5th the usual brightness (the typical behavior when this does happen). Pulled plug (they only way to proceed, AFAIK), plugged in a started the machine and Windows said the last boot failed, would I like to start Windows normally. I hit enter and nothing happens! The count down was 30, 29, but it stopped doing anything. I pull plug, reattach again and same thing happens next time. Let cool 15+ minutes, the same stuff happens. An hour or more later the machine would start "normally." So, here I am. I really kind of think that a cool down was the difference and the only thing I can think of is that GPU overheating. Could be totally wrong. Well, I suppose I should just put the SSD in there and install Windows 7 and see what happens. If I have a similar problem, I'll open up the machine and slip that dime, thinly slathered with Arctic Silver 5 on top of the GPU... (unless someone has a better idea).

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Just don't remove thermal pads...

Last time I had a machine taking forever on the XP logo was with wrong SATA drivers. Might have been the nVidia IDE_SW drivers for nForce 4

[Muse]

I did this this afternoon:

Checked in BIOS, SATA mode was already set to AHCI.

BIOS version is 2.6

Removed the original HD, replaced with the virgin Intel 330 180GB SSD.

Started the machine and slipped the Windows 7 32bit install disk in the optical drive.

Files loaded for quite a while and then the screen changed to Starting Windows. I should mention that after installing the SSD drive I put the machine back in its customary place, in a mini-dock which is attached to a 23" monitor by HDMI and a 19" monitor by VGA. It's the 19" monitor that always displays everything until the Windows sign-on screen appears.

So, the 19" monitor is saying Starting Windows but this has gone on for 4.5 hours now. Is something wrong? I've known Windows to have the Starting Windows on the monitor for a long time when installing but I don't think as long as 4.5 hours.