A21M (2628-GSG) CPU Fan kicks in too late, cpu very hot

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frankiepankie · #1 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:25 pm

Hello,
I am having a little problem with my A21m.

I have bought it last week, and reinstalled XP on it.
I had to dissamble it completely, because i had some mechanical problems (PC Card eject buttons were stucked).

I also had to unscrew the mainboard.

I reassembled it, but sometimes the laptop would shutdown.
I was wondering why, and did several tests.
I also looked at the temperatures.
Then i almost fainted....

Sometimes the CPU temp reaches 95°C, and if i run a program like "CPU Burn in", then it reaches 99 °C, and it shuts down (thermal protection).

I opened up the A21m, and looked at the fan assembly. It all looked fine, and looked exact as it did before i had to dissamble the A21m.

The fan works, but it kicks in too late (it starts at 85°C, and then the temperature is dropping, because the fan is running, but if it has dropped to 79°C, the fan stops turning).

I have ran the A2x PC Doctor tests, and the items like Thermal sensors, and Fan passed without problems.

I have also renewed the thermal paste when i reassembled the Thinkpad.

Help me please

frankiepankie · #2 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:31 pm

System specifications:

BIOS version 1.09 (KXET36WW)
Embedded Controller version: 1.01

CPU Type: Pentium III 800mhz SpeedStep technology
RAM: 384MB.

OS: Windows XP MCE SP2

Oh, and when i feel the CPU Cooling Assembly (the metal part), i can feel that it is hot, so it isn't an incorrect reading from software.

Will try now with Ubuntu LiveCD
Edit, same stuff: Critical temperature reached (98C), shutting down

Phazer · #3 Post by **Phazer** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:52 pm

I've recently installed Thinkpad Fan Control and am really happy with it. If you do a search, there is a couple of threads on it. I'm using it on a T23 and an A30.

frankiepankie · #4 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:57 pm

Phazer wrote:I've recently installed Thinkpad Fan Control and am really happy with it. If you do a search, there is a couple of threads on it. I'm using it on a T23 and an A30.

I know the program

I have it installed on my T40, where it is working fine.

But the A21m should work properly without the ThinkPad Fan control program, won't you think?

Phazer · #5 Post by **Phazer** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:01 pm

True. My daughter has an A22M, (at school), and I never noticed any problem with that. I did however install it on my T23 and it "cycles" more often and quicker than the A30, (and I never thought the T23 ran warm or hot). Did you put thermal paste on the fan/cpu when it was apart?

frankiepankie · #6 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:06 pm

Phazer wrote:Did you put thermal paste on the fan/cpu when it was apart?

How do you mean?

I had the A21m lying apart, and when i reassembled it again, i wiped off the old cooling paste, and applied some fresh (a little drop, just how it is meant).

Phazer · #7 Post by **Phazer** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:26 pm

Yeah......that's what I meant.

Hmmmmm.....I'm not that experienced in ThinkPads to suggest much more, maybe someone else will chime in.

Does the fan control program cure the problem/symptom?

frankiepankie · #8 Post by **frankiepankie** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:42 pm

Phazer wrote:Yeah......that's what I meant.

Hmmmmm.....I'm not that experienced in ThinkPads to suggest much more, maybe someone else will chime in.

Does the fan control program cure the problem/symptom?

No, fancontrol software didn't fix the problem, because i can't get the fan control software to work on this A21m (not supported i think).

But fan is running if the temperature is too high, and the laptop didn't shutdown. But the idle temperature is still way too high (over 55 °C

)

load temperature (only FireFox with this forum open) is 93 °C

But fan is running

This is insane

sjthinkpader · #9 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:23 pm

For the A2x/2628 series, the fan is only attached with 3 screws internally to the CPU. Some models has a heatpipe attached.

Assuming you didn't remove the spring metal bracket around the CPU, assemble the heatsink/fan with the 3 screws first without the heatpipe detached. After you have the fan on properly, then attach the two heatpipe screws.

When you reattach the single short screw in the case bottom for the heatsink, just below the back louver, don't tighten it too much or it may tilt the heatsink off the CPU.

Just to be sure, cross check the fan FRU number to your model. There are many fans in the A2x series. The fans with the highest thermal capacity are for the 900mhz/1ghz CPUs for 2628-Sxx, 2628-Txx and A22p. They have a sheet metal plate on he CPU side of the assembly.

frankiepankie · #10 Post by **frankiepankie** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:54 am

I think i forgot to screw back one of the keyboard bezel screws.

There is one screw at the back part of the underside, in the middle, that holds the back part of the cooling assembly.

I hadn't that one attached, and the cooling assembly was tilted like you said.

I attached that screw, and idle temperature is 40 °C

When CPU is stressed at 100% usage (with CPU Burn in program), the highest reached temperature is 95 °C, but at 87 °C, the fan kicks in, and the temperature drops to 76 °C

It won't shutdown because of thermal protection anymore, so i think the problem is fixed.

Thank you sjthinkpadder, never thought i would forget something small as a screw

sjthinkpader · #11 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:18 pm

Great,

Haven't worked on the A2x for a while after moving to the A3x series. But somethings are hard to forget.

A21M (2628-GSG) CPU Fan kicks in too late, cpu very hot

A21M (2628-GSG) CPU Fan kicks in too late, cpu very hot

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