Thinpad A20m shuts off by itselff

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gregorykay · #1 Post by **gregorykay** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:13 am

My thinkpad a20m automaticly turns itself off. The time its on for before shutting down varies. The fan goes on at startup but once booted into windows i have not seen it spin. Once it turns off by itself i have to unplug power and battery then plug in again to turn on. I think it is overheating cuz after it turns off right away i felt the processor and its boiling, but the fan never turns on while in windows , it only turns on when the laptop just starts to bootup, then the fan spits very fast, but when winows loads the fan stops. I think the way to fix this is manually turn the fan on, but how would i do this for the a20m?
Any ideas whats wrong?

asadniazi · #2 Post by **asadniazi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:28 am

I tried all sorts of stuff (read the extended thread here). Finally, I just went and replaced the motherboard. So, I guess I know as much as you do...well, maybe more in hindsight - try to find a replacement motherboard unless you know how to locate the part that is failing and can replace it. Look on Ebay/equivalent. Of course you'll need to download the tech manual from Lenovo., Philips screwdrivers, and Arctic Silver 5 or equivalent to replace the heatsink on the CPU. Keep track of the screws

All the best.

gregorykay · #3 Post by **gregorykay** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:08 pm

Uh that sucks my tech level isn't high enuf to do tht lol. Is there any other way to maybe fix it? What im thinking is maybe get the power for the fan to come from a diffrent place, that way the fan would always be on. Is there any place on the lappy i can get power from the fan from?

Do you think its turning off cuz of the overheating due to the fan not spinning or cuz of the power cut?
Thanx

asadniazi · #4 Post by **asadniazi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:46 pm

As far as I managed to figure out, the issue is to do with whatever controls the thermal management since the fan would not come on till it would be too late. There could also be some other reason. I stopped trying to figure it out.

How much voltage/current does the fan need? You could run the fan from the USB/PS2 port if it works on 5V and < 500mA. But that, in my opinion would be a crude workaround with the fan being permanently on.

Replacing the motherboard is not a very difficult operation. You just have to follow the manual, use the proper screwdrivers, keep track of the screws and the order in which you extract them, and use a decent heat-sink thermal compound when you put back the heatsink on the CPU.

spuddog · #5 Post by **spuddog** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:52 pm

Hey, I've got an A20m. the timing of the fan turning on and off can be somewhat erratic. The first thing to do is get a monitor, to check exactly what the temps are when your comp shuts down. Next go to the lenovo website and download the maintenance manual. It will tell you step-by-step how to dis-assemble your laptop. It maybe as simple as adding some thermal compound between the cpu and heatsink. I have played around with the fan tool utility, but haven't had much sucess. Do asearch of heat related problems in this section and see what you get. Don't give up too soon. I did replace my motherboard but it was for a different problem. It's not that hard, have separate contaners for each set of parts and their screws. Takes a couple hours and several beers.

gregorykay · #6 Post by **gregorykay** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:00 pm

Haha i cant legally drink beer in canada seeing as im only 16

Anyways i have tried apllying new heat grease and didnt work. The laptop is turning off at around high 60 c to mid 70c fan never goes on once bios is loaded though. It seems as though some other ppl in this forums had almost the same prob wih a21m where their lappy would boot, fan would turn on at bios and once the bios was loaded the fan would turn off thus their laptop overheating and shutting down. Once their lappy was shut off they had to unplug power and batery. My symptoms are exactly those and they said the way they solved it is by installing a new motherboard. As a workaround i think im gonna make a power adapter for the fan and plug the fan into that. That way the fan will always be on.

It says this on the fan; DC 5V O.21A . So basicly i have to get a power adapter with those specs i think. Anyone know where i could get one hat either plugs into a electricity outlet or where to get that power from the comp itself. Also is DC 5V O.21A the max so if i put that much into it will it run fullspeed? Can i put more electricity? Any help with this would be appreciated aswell as alternatives.

Thanx again

gregorykay · #7 Post by **gregorykay** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:51 pm

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Thinpad A20m shuts off by itselff

Thinpad A20m shuts off by itselff

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