overheating thinkpad t420

alphis · n00b Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 70

Hey guys.

I have overheating issues that I initially thought to be related to my CPU governor settings and have since switched over to the powersave governor used by the (apparently better for core i5/i7) intel pstate driver. However I've noticed that I still have issues with overheating even with my cpu verified to be both using the powersave governor and scaled at about 800mhz frequencies.

Then I noticed that going to a certain website caused my cpu temps to instantly rocket up to 96deg C. I closed the tab and the temps slowly went down. I opened various OTHER sites with no issue then loaded the one site again and the temps again flew through the roof!

That site is www.ign.com. This site used to be flash heavy but now I believe they're using more modern javascript libraries to facilitate fancy animations etc. Needless to say I am very surprized and since there is no governor for GPUs my i915 intel HD 3000 is uncontrollable. Apparently the powersave cpu governor cannot help in this situation.

My question is, what are my options to fix this overheating issue? Can I lower the power of the GPU somehow via module params? I'm currently running latest ~amd64 kernel and intel video drivers:

x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel 2.99.906
sys-kernel/gentoo-sources 3.12.0

Thanks.

s_bernstein · Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:59 am Post subject:

You probably should check first if your cooling system is still working. I've never seen a T420 which reaches 96°C even under full load. In general they top out at about 75°C with a fan speed of over 5000rpm. So, I think there is something broken. Probably your fan is not working at all or will not reach the need rpms.

If your core i is reaching 96°C, your cpu will protect itself by switching to termal throttleling.

alphis · n00b Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 70

Unfortunately reaching such temps is commonplace for my laptop. I'm not sure why. How can I determine what the issue is with the cooling system? I can verify this same issue occurs when I manually set the fan to full-speed. Fan speeds were at least 5K rpms.

Do you suggest I open this up and re-apply thermal paste to the CPU? Can I also at the same time exchange the pathetic heatsink they put in there? What are my options?

Thanks in advance!

s_bernstein · Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:55 pm Post subject:

The cooling system of lenovo thinkpads are in fact quite good. I would like to discourage you from using a different part than the original one. These thinkpads are fine-tuned machines which probably won't tolerate a different cooler.

If you still have some kind of warranty on your laptop you should make use of it. If not, maybe there is some authorized lenovo dealer in your area who could check it out. Your last resort will probably be the lenovo service. In my experience, the service is rather good, fast and not to expensive.Sometimes, they even repair laptops out of warranty free of charge.

toralf · Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:46 pm Post subject:

at a x86 system of a T420 (i5, i915) I'm fine with the ondemand governor since years here's my config : http://bpaste.net/show/153258/

Clad in Sky · l33t Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 887 Location: Germany

Using ondemand on a T420 here too. It's never getting really hot unless this one time when the fans didn't speed up. I don't know why this happened, and apart from that one time, I've never experienced it again.

I'm playing Path of Exile on that machine without it getting very hot.
Did you install some fan controlling programme that might prevent the fans to go over a certain rpm? If so, remove it. Or take a look at the bios and check if there is some fan setting that looks wrong.
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toralf · Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:23 pm Post subject:

Well, when I switched from T400 to T420 I had to install thinkfan, b/c Lenove's default settings are too conservative, meaning the fan started too often with a too fast speed. My settings with current 3.122 kernel :

alphis · n00b Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 70

Thanks for the replies.

I am amazed that you can play path of exiles when I can't even load a webpage! I'm using the intel pstate driver set to powersave and it seems okay. I could switch back to the acpi driver and set to powersave and I'm sure I'd have the same issue. Seeing as how it happens immediately when I load certain sites I can only imagine there is some underlying issue here.

I haven't installed any fan control programs at all. The only thing I've done was to ensure the kernel module thinkpad extras was selected.

s_bernstein · Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 8:14 am Post subject:

FYI, I own a T410, which uses the older Nehalem Core i5 instead of the Sandy Bridge version, and my CPU temp never exceeds 75°C even under heavy load like compiling gcc with 8 threads. So, you may want to check, if the airflow is unrestricted. But otherwise, I would send it in.

Clad in Sky · l33t Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 887 Location: Germany

If your fan speed never changes, like you say, then there seems to be something wrong. Either you forgot something in your install or some internal sensor does not work correctly. What happens when you run a live environment (like Knoppix, Mint, Ubuntu, or whatever else there is)?
_________________
Kali Ma
Now it's autumn of the aeons
Dance with your sword
Now it's time for the harvest

toralf · Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 5:36 pm Post subject:

again : I doubt, that the intel-pstate is ready for production.

PaulBredbury · Watchman Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 7310

alphis · n00b Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 70

I've taken the advice regarding checking airflow and used some compressed air on the heat sink fan and now my temps average 43 C! I didn't realize how much that mattered but it seems to have solved the issue. I've reloaded that content heavy site again with no problems as well. So thanks for all your suggestions.

Side note I added fan speed to the list of outputs on my screen so I could see if it ever changed and it does indeed change a bit. It stays around 1.5K at 38ish and 3.5K at higher temps. I'm just glad it actually does something. I am still using the intel pstate driver in powersave mode atm but its looking good.

I will be sure to clean out the fan of my laptops every month or so from now on.

Thanks all!