overheating thinkpad t420

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alphis · Post by **alphis** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:33 am

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 · Post by **s_bernstein** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:59 am

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 · Post by **alphis** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:40 pm

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 · Post by **s_bernstein** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 4:55 pm

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.

Post by **toralf** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:46 pm

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 · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:13 pm

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.

Post by **toralf** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:23 pm

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 :

Code: Select all

tfoerste@n22 ~ $ eix -I thinkfan
[I] app-laptop/thinkfan
     Available versions:  0.8.1-r1 0.9_beta2 {atasmart}
     Installed versions:  0.9_beta2(07:28:18 PM 08/18/2013)(-atasmart)
     Homepage:            http://thinkfan.sourceforge.net
     Description:         simple fan control program for thinkpads

tfoerste@n22 ~ $ cat /etc/thinkfan.conf

hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input      # physical id 0
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp2_input      # core 0
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp3_input      # core 1

{ "level 0"                             # the fan level
        ( 0  0  0)                      # LOWER limit
        (30 30 30)                      # UPPER limit
}

{ "level 1"
        (31 31 31)
        (51 51 51)
}

{ "level 2"
        (49 49 49)
        (57 57 57)
}

{ "level auto"
        (56 56 56)
        (99 99 99)
}

tfoerste@n22 ~ $ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/ondemand/ignore_nice_load
1

alphis · Post by **alphis** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:04 pm

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.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan 
status:         enabled
speed:          3573
level:          auto
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))

Its set to auto by default but I've observed it stay around 3.5K rpm despite ANY thermal conditions whatsoever. In fact I have no idea what the purpose of auto is as it doesn't change from 3.5K at ALL. Ever.

That being said I've set it manually via the proc filesystem to full-speed which reduced the temps by about 2 degrees or so but I've achieved 96 deg in full-speed mode as well.

Does this sound like a hardware problem? I'm assuming so. I've also had heating issues with my x60. I'm wondering if I should try an asus zenbook or something. I've had heating issues with almost every thinkpad I've ever owned. I will see about a lenevo repair shop but I doubt there are any around me.

At this point should I just send it over to lenovo service?

s_bernstein · Post by **s_bernstein** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 8:14 am

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 · Post by **Clad in Sky** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:26 pm

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)?

Post by **toralf** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 5:36 pm

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

PaulBredbury · Post by **PaulBredbury** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 5:41 pm

alphis wrote:What are my options?

Undervolt the CPU, for starters - everyone should do this, especially with laptops.

Also see post.

alphis · Post by **alphis** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:34 pm

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!