T400 How can I tell if my fan is working properly?

[futurejp]

Hey,

A couple months ago I got my fan replaced free under warranty because it was starting to make noises, and my previous ThinkPad (G41) died of fan problems.

I'm not getting fan errors on startup, nothing of the sort. It seems the fan is working fine. But my laptop is always hot. I can come back from work at 5:30, open my computer, and the whole thing will be hot - bottom, palmrests around the touchpad, etc. And the only things that have been open during the day would be things like Thunderbird, Firefox, a couple explorer windows, AIM, and maybe Opera. Nothing intensive at all.

Is there any way for me to see if my fan is working properly? When I put my hand by the vent on the left side, I feel warmth, but it doesn't really seem like it's blowing out. I also don't really recall hearing the fan any time recently, though like I said, since my old fan was recently replaced with a new one, you'd assume it would be running quiet.

So yeah, any ideas for fan diagnostics? I just can't imagine my laptop should be this hot, especially after hours of inactivity.

Thanks a lot.

[Colonel O'Neill]

Do you happen to have switchable graphics?

[redhook]

When you got the fan switched out did you have the heatsink cleaned? Dust and lint builds up in there over time and restricts the airflow.

[hunterman223]

Here is an excellent little piece of software that allows you to adjust fan speeds. It was designed to fix the pulsing on pre *61 ThinkPads, but it can be used for many other things, including testing your fan.

Install it, open it up, set the toggle to manual, and adjust the number as you wish from 1-7 to test the various fan speeds. Colonel O'Neill just revealed to me in another thread that setting it to a speed of 64 will bring it up to 4500rpm, useful for gaming or other intensive tasks for short periods of time. Just remember to switch it back to "BIOS" mode once you are finished.

Another thing, you mentioned that your T400 is hot as soon as you open it up. Do you leave it running? Why not put it into standby? Closing the lid on a running laptop for long periods of time is bound to heat things up a bit. I would also as mentioned above take off the keyboard and palmrest and blow it out with canned air yourself. I don't know how familiar you are with tasks like this, but it's 5 screws on the bottom, (they're marked) pop off the palmrest, and lift off the keyboard. Just remember to fully shutdown and remove the battery and AC adapter before you start. Side note: when blowing the heatsink\fan area be sure hold the fan still.