Loud fan noise du to “rubber like” thermal compound?(Pic)

[oarnoe]

Got my T60p a few months ago, it was a big disappointment.
The fan was running of high speed and was really noisy, the lap top was sent back to IBM and they changed the mother board. When the machine came back I was not really satisfied. The fan speed was lower but the machine was still noisy, especially on AC power.

The machine was once more sent back to IBM; this time they changed the fan. And needless to say the fan is still noisy.
Earlier I was using a T20 and a T41p and none of them makes the same noise. The T41p is still in operation, and has a much lower noise after 3 years of heavily usage.

When using the T60p with a video projector placed next to the machine the T60p fan exceed the projector fan in noise. The installed HD is a 7200rpm said to give some noise, I have never heard the HD!

I have installed upgrades from Lenovo, also latest BIOS, and all Windows upgrades are installed.

I have been searching this forum for advice, I have downloaded software that displays temperature (NHC , Speedfan, CPU Cool), they show temperature up to 50°C for CPU, when not stressing the system. I have not managed to get any readings on fan speed, but the fan is loud.

Today I opened my computer to look at the fan and the thermal grease. I found that the fan was connected to 3 chips on the mother board. 1 is the CPU, 2 is the GPU, and 3 I do not know? (See attached picture T60p motherboard)

When I look at the back side of the fan I see that it’s installed a thermal grease for the CPU but the 2 other connection points has a rubber like compound to it whit a plastic film on it (1mm thick or so) (see picture T60p fan mark 2A and 3A).

So to my questions.
1: Is it normal with this rubber like compound as a connection point for the pos 2B and 3B?
2: Is it normal with plastic film on this compound (pos 2A and 3A)?
3: Which chip is installed at pos 3B, that needs cooling?







MOD EDIT: Picture warning added in the subject line.

[Pascal_TTH]

Hi oarnoe,

First, you can read this file : http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... &start=150

3B is Northbridge or MCH (i945PM)

When I look at the back side of the fan I see that it’s installed a thermal grease for the CPU but the 2 other connection points has a rubber like compound to it whit a plastic film on it (1mm thick or so) (see picture T60p fan mark 2A and 3A).

According to what I read, since Thinkpad are *made in china* issues like forget to remove protection film from the thermal pad occur from time to time.

So high thermal pad are not efficient. I remove and replace them by a copper plate. You can read about within the link above.

About 50°C is normal for a Core 2 Duo during idle.


PS : Never use thermal grease and those pad at the same time. It will be worth.

[oarnoe]

Thanks Pascal.

I see that you have good knowledge and done a lot of research on issues with fan speed and temperatures.
I see that I need to remove the plastic film on the thermal pads and to replace the thermal on the CPU with some better quality.
The next step will be to be able to get TPfan control to function. I’m struggling to be able to control the fan speed. I will browse around for tips.

oarnoe

[agarza]

Yes, you should get rid of those nasty thermal pads.
New T61's do not have those thermal pads, the copper come in direct contact with the GPU/Northbridge.

For sure modding your T60p would be worth it.

[oarnoe]

If the T61 has copper in direct contact with the GPU/Northbridge, will purchasing a T61p fan solve my issue?

Since the T60 and T61 is so similar.

[Pascal_TTH]

If the T61 has copper in direct contact with the GPU/Northbridge, will purchasing a T61p fan solve my issue?

Since the T60 and T61 is so similar.

No one have try to swap the fan from a T60 with one from a T61. We are not sure it will fit. According to a reviewer from laptopreview, they look *compatible*. I have modde the fan assembly of my T60p and now, it run fanless with TPfancontrol :

1 CPU 58°C (0x78)
2 APS 44°C (0x79)
3 PCM 45°C (0x7a)
4 GPU 68°C (0x7b)
5 BAT 50°C (0x7c)
6 X7D n/a (0x7d)
7 BAT 38°C (0x7e)
8 X7F n/a (0x7f)
9 BUS 44°C (0xc0)
10 PCI 54°C (0xc1)
11 PWR 55°C (0xc2)
12 XC3 n/a (0xc3)

It really works fine.