Lenovo 3000 v100 Overheating

[plucker]

My Lenovo 3000 v100 laptop is always turning itself off with no warning whatsoever and the bottom feels really hot.

Do any of you Lenovo 3000 v100 owners experience overheating issues too? Or is it just me?? Does anyone know of any software that could be interfering or causing this?

I have temporarily solved the overheating problem by using Notebook Hardware Control to keep the CPU Clock at 998MHz (the processor is actually 1.66GHz) and that seems to have solved the overheating problem at the cost of slower processing speed. Before I limited clock speed the processor would get up to temperatures of 85+ degrees Celsius!! Now the CPU temp is around 50 degrees, which seems normal. But I'm not sure why it all of a sudden started overheating since the first couple of months, it was running fine.

Do you think that it is because I don't have the laptop plugged into a surge bar? I just have it plugged directly into my wall.

Does anyone have any ideas before I send it in to Lenovo for a check up? Thanks in advance!!

[AlphaKilo470]

Is the fan spinning up? Make sure the heat sink is clean and free of obstruction. Usually, when I get a computer that overheats, I'll thoroughly clean the fan and heat sink as well as the area around it (compressed air is good) and clean away all the old thermal solution and replace it with something of a higher quality (most people I know recommend Arctic Silver but I find Ceramique and Arctic Alumina [do NOT confuse the thermal compound with the 2 part adhesive!] which are both from the same company to be sufficient).

I'm not sure if this is the case on the V100 but my N200 has an access panel on the bottom that screws off to reveal the CPU and heat sink/fan assembly.

Also, make sure that when you're using the computer, the fan vent isn't obstructed and that the laptop doesn't spend too much time on a surface that doesn't distribute heat well such as a bed mattress. I once left one of my ThinkPads on my mattress running for an hour or two and when I picked it up, it was almost hot enough to burn.

[mlf]

Plucker did you ever solve the overheating problem? I am having exactly the same one and would like to know if the solution offered worked. Thank you, Mervyn

[krchapman]

I am also having this issue. At this point the laptop only stays on a few minutes before shutting off.

* The fan is running.
* The fan area has been cleaned out...no pet hair or dust.
* The laptop is on a surface that would not cause the machine to overheat.

I even tried a cooling laptop tray but it did not make a difference. Any luck on getting this problem fixed or is this just an unresolved issue with the 3000 series?

I've only had this laptop a year and this problem started at about 8 months. Unfortunately it was a demo machine so no warranty. At this point I'm thinking about just tossing it out and buying something new but thought I would try this forum first. Lenovo has a live chat but it cost $100 so I am hoping I can find a resolution here.

[mlf]

I have solved the problem. In Power Options section accessed from the Control Panel I had changed the setting from Laptop to Desktop because I did not want the machine shutting down every time I left my desk. For some reason this caused the overheating. Once I set this back to the Laptop option, things have been fine. I hope this works for you too. Best wishes

Mervyn

[krchapman]

I checked the Power Options section under Control Panel and Lenovo Default was selected so I changed the setting to Portable/Laptop.

It stayed on for about 30 minutes then shut off...as usual. Oh well, thanks for the idea. It sure didn't hurt to try.



Someone mentioned they heard it was a motherboard issue. Has anyone else heard this?

[mlf]

One other thing to try. There is a small little program called Speedfan which I downloaded from the web. It monitors the temperatures of different parts of the laptop and also regulates the fan speed. This might do the trick.

Mervyn

[krchapman]

Tried that too...that's how I figured out it was shutting off because of overheating.

Thanks though!

[Phil_L]

Hi

I have solved the problem. In Power Options section accessed from the Control Panel I had changed the setting from Laptop to Desktop because I did not want the machine shutting down every time I left my desk. For some reason this caused the overheating. Once I set this back to the Laptop option, things have been fine. I hope this works for you too. Best wishes

The reason the improvement is because with Windows XP2 SP2, setting to Home/Office Desktop disables SpeedStep, so the processor runs at full voltage and speed, even when just flashing the cursor!

When you set this to another power scheme, Windows enables SpeedStep, so during 99% of use, i.e. when the computer isn't doing a lot, the processor ramps down it's clock speed and this also means it doesn't need so much voltage. This reduces power consumption and so waste heat is also reduced.

Only Lenovo will know if the laptop's thermal system is designed to cope without SpeedStep enabled.

Incidentally the same is also true for most desktop PCs where heat and power consumption is reduced by selecting Portable/Laptop power scheme, as all modern Intel desktop chips also support SpeedStep, often seen as EIST in the BIOS. Enable in the BIOS and set the Portable/Laptop scheme and get some power savings. It hardly affects performance because the processor automatically ramps up to full power when needed, which for most people is hardly ever.

Regards

Phil