T41 running hot

[billz1983]

Hi,
I have a thinkpad T41 that is about 1 year old. My system board has been replaced twice now during easy-serve service. Last spring my machine would routinely overheat and crash. It apparently lost the ability to downclock itself and manage its temperature. I sent it off and the system board was replace for the first time. A couple weeks later my computer would not turn on, it got sent off again and came back with a new system board.
Currently I am experiencing sluggish performance because the machine occasionally gets pegged at about 58 degrees C, and does not down clock. Usually when the fan has been working hard and I go to shut the machine off it fails to power down and windows says it cannot end rundll.exe
Most other times when the machine has not been on for too long it powers off just fine.

My situation is rather frustrating and I appreciate any advice.
-Bill

[GomJabbar]

Pull up Task Manager (ctrl + alt + del), and see what process is using all the CPU power. (You can ignore the System Idle Process.) This may give you a clue to what is going on.

[UCI2CI]

hmm...the service guys that replaced your motherboard might have not reapplied thermal compound on your CPU. I even asked one of the onsite service techs and he said he never uses thermal paste.....not good. No matter how hard you punish your system with software, it should not freeze or downclock. You could check and reapply thermal paste yourself, if you have the heart. But you might mess up other things while your in there, so if you dont mind sending your system back again, calling IBM is a better option.

[FTC]

Hi,

First of all, 58 degrees (for the CPU) is *very good* under load. Dothan based T42's normal temps under load are around 65 C, and Banias based T41s are even hotter (up to 80 c) Note that this processors do only throttle down at around 90 C, so you are quite safe. *idle* temps should be around 40 C (more or less).

Now, your case, as mentioned, is more likely due to a software problem. Try to identify the process eating your CPU and / or the one that does not want to be *killed* at shutdown.

[billz1983]

Cool, Thank you guys for the responses. I will try to investigate which programs gobble up my CPU power.

Thanks,
Bill