My Lenovo T60p is hot... too hot!

November 9, 2008 8:49 AM

My Lenovo T60p gets very hot at the bottom, under the area where the fan exhaust is. So hot I worry that it might burn something. So hot that my computer occasionally shuts down with no warning. I contacted my company's help desk, and they send me a replacement -- all i retained from the original was the disk drive and the CD drive (which i rarely use). Problem solved... for a month or so. But now i am having the same problem again. Is it possible that the disk drive could be getting this hot?? Can anyone suggest other alternatives?
posted by ubiquity to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Is the fan working? You might also be taking in a lot of dust where you are, which could gum up the works.
posted by lou at 9:14 AM on November 9, 2008

Park your laptop on a cooler like this one.

Laptops are designed to run hot. What youre probably touching the piece of metal that is connected to the heatsink of the processor.

You can also spray some compressor air in there and make sure that you dont have any processes running the cpu and graphics card 100% 24/7. Set it to go into standby after 15 minutes of idle.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:17 AM on November 9, 2008

Using a laptop stand keeps some air underneath the laptop, which helps keep it from overheating. I'm pretty happy with my 3M LX500. There are also stands that have external fans if this isn't good enough. You'll need an external keyboard and mouse to use it.

You can ask for more suggestions on the thinkpads.com forums, but it seems that others also think their T60/61 are too hot. Although someone reported success by replacing the thermal paste, I don't recommend it on a computer you don't own, and it seems like the sort of thing that would void a warranty.

Are you using the laptop in a dock? This may affect the temperature.
posted by grouse at 9:18 AM on November 9, 2008

what surfaces do you usually sit it on? they don't call them laptops anymore for a reason - modern CPUs and all that get really warm. setting it down on things that are soft and fluffy (or your lap) can screw up the laptop's ability to cool itself. I've had this for years and it works great.

it may be good to get some software to monitor the computer's temperature. you'd at least know what temperature the machine is. the parts inside have a rated maximum and if it's getting close to that all the time, you might have a broken machine. i don't remember what's good for that on Windows, though.
posted by mrg at 9:58 AM on November 9, 2008

Best answer: Likely your exhaust fan area on the laptop is getting clogged with dust.

Buy a can of compressed air, and blast the dust out of your fan area on the laptop. This method has worked for several friends of mine that have experienced the same issues over the years.
posted by xotis at 10:42 AM on November 9, 2008 [2 favorites]

What xotis said, and also, the Lenovo T60p has been out a couple years now. You might want to consider selling it to a student, or harvesting it for parts, and getting a more recent model.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:07 AM on November 9, 2008

Make sure you're not using your laptop in bed. (I've seen a surprisingly high number of laptops destroyed this way.) Your laptop should always be used on a hard, flat surface. I recommend a laptop fan and also remember that some degree of heat is normal.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:56 AM on November 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

One last thing, verify you have the newest BIOS installed. It may be that a new update runs the fan longer or earlier.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:52 PM on November 9, 2008

What xotis said, and I'd add that it helps to blow the air into the exhaust vent, reversing the normal direction of flow. Do it outside, as a bunch of nasty dust will come out, and you don't really want to breathe that in. Also, do it while the computer's off.

I have to do this once every few months on my laptop, or it will overheat during intense tasks such as gaming. This is considered normal, as far as I know.
posted by knave at 3:36 PM on November 9, 2008

Do you have cats? When my laptop overheats, it's usually because cat fur is gunking up the fan. Try blowing it out with compressed air (you can buy compressed air cannisters at Rite Aid, etc)

And 2nd the "keep it on a hard, flat surface" advice
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:53 PM on November 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I bought a can of tetraflouroethane from Radio Shack and sprayed it into anything that looked like a vent, both on my laptop and my docking station. Although it was difficult to see that this had an effect (no visible clouds of dust emerged, for instance), the machine has been operating within what I presume are normal limits ever since. (I have a T41 sitting next door to it which feels exactly as warm). Thanks to all of you for your helpful advice.
posted by ubiquity at 2:47 PM on November 11, 2008