T43 gets extremely HOT - what to do?

[jabberup]

Hi, I'm new here, and unfortunately don't know much about hardware, though I've been very happy with my T43.

However, it now gets extremely hot (bottom is uncomfortable to touch for more than a couple seconds, keyboard gets warm but touchable) after only about 1/2 an hour of use. The hot area is mainly at the center of the left hand side (if you are facing the keyboard/screen).

It's just under a year old, and the problem is fairly recent. I did a quick search and it doesn't seem like this is a typical problem for this model.

Is this something serious that I need to worry about (other than the extreme discomfort of using it in my lap)? Can the overheating damage internal parts? Does this mean my fan isn't working properly? Any suggestions?

Thanks much.

[christopher_wolf]

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

Well, you can try the TP FCU to control the fan speed (increase it, in your case) and then you might want to look into getting a cooling pad for your T43.

Also, what are the temperatures it is getting to?

[jabberup]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Sorry for being so clueless, but how do I access the fan control and determine the temperature? (Apologies--I did try Googling for this but no luck...)

Thanks...

[christopher_wolf]

Linky link link

Download and unzip, then follow the readme.

It gives a list of the temperature readings (around 9 total for the T43), that should help you get a quantifiable number.

[jabberup]

Thanks!

Well, today the laptop is not getting quite as hot to the touch (there is quite a difference between today and yesterday -- maybe I was overworking it yesterday? but I think this was more of a general trend than a 1-day occurrence).

The highest temp reading (CPU) is now 55 degrees. Is this normal for this laptop?

At what temps should I start being worried?

Thanks again!

[christopher_wolf]

What power scheme are you running it under to get 55°C? Maximum Performance or Adaptive?

That is about right if you are pegging the CPU at around 80% of full clock. The PCI can also get that hot even if the CPU usage hasn't been as high as 80% for an extended period of time.

[jabberup]

When I checked the Power manager, it didn't show any power scheme being used (it was blank; didn't show it optimizing for anything), oddly enough. I set it back to the default scheme that was there, "Power Source Optimized".

Interestingly enough, my CPU temp is currently reading at 63 degrees (but CPU is barely running at 2% and hasn't been doing much of anything recently). Even more strange is that even at this temperature, the laptop itself doesn't feel nearly as hot as it did the last couple days.

Now I'm really quite confused. Is this temperature a bad sign given the CPU hasn't really been running? (Laptop's been on maybe half an hour). At what temperatures should I start to worry?

[danny_isr]

what worked for me was NHC + power play.
not using the fan controller anymore. i realized the fan control just changing the start point of the fan for me.
so it's or working with cooler laptop with fan , or having it start later with hotter laptop. i prefer the whispering fan ...

[christopher_wolf]

When I checked the Power manager, it didn't show any power scheme being used (it was blank; didn't show it optimizing for anything), oddly enough. I set it back to the default scheme that was there, "Power Source Optimized".

Interestingly enough, my CPU temp is currently reading at 63 degrees (but CPU is barely running at 2% and hasn't been doing much of anything recently). Even more strange is that even at this temperature, the laptop itself doesn't feel nearly as hot as it did the last couple days.

Now I'm really quite confused. Is this temperature a bad sign given the CPU hasn't really been running? (Laptop's been on maybe half an hour). At what temperatures should I start to worry?

You shouldn't really worry unless it starts pegging at 70°C to 80°C really quickly after a minor amount of work. No damage is incurred to the CPU as it will throttle back if it hits the threshold temperature. What is a problem, however, is getting high temps in the first place when not doing much.

That sounds near the upper bounds you should get for a workload that uses 80% of the CPU adaptively for around 45 minutes to an hour. You might want to try clocking it to 800MHz, turn off wireless, and use the drives sparingly to see what is the major cause of the, rather quick, heat build up. Right now I am at 56°C for the CPU and that is under a fairly heavy workload @ adaptive for 2 hours with the fan around an RPM equivalent to the level 2 range set.

Have you changed the profiles via the Power Manager or simply through the CPL provided by the Windows Control panel?

[jabberup]

I changed profiles with the Windows Control Panel as I'm not sure what the Power Manager is?
My CPU starts at about 50 degrees (coming off hibernate) and gets to 58 easily within 15 min (not sure if it's faster than that), with CPU not doing too much (at least I don't think so--I have Outlook, Word, IE & wireless running; everything is very responsive, and I'm basically writing emails and occasionally just surfing the web). It seems to climb up steadily from there.
I'm not sure how to do what you suggest (clock it to 800MHz...) but maybe I can try some tests to figure out what is causing the fast climb in temps if I know what some of the likely possibilities are?

What are NHC + power play?

[christopher_wolf]

NHC is Notebook Hardware Control, it also you a higher level of precious at the HAL level in controlling your Thinkpad's hardware. You can download it and it should operate just fine.

PowerPlay is the ATI power management system for their mobile GPU chipsets. It can be found under the ATI context menu for Display Properties.

Power Manager should have come by default on the preload with your T43 Thinkpad. It is IBM's tool that lets you change power profiles faster and more efficiently than the CPL power context in the Windows Control Panel. I would recommend getting it if you do not have it as a download from the IBM/Lenovo Support Website for your T43 model.