IBM T30: more thermal problems

[Michael Collette]

Not sure how much different your T30 is from my T23, but let's work from the 
assumption that their pretty darn similar.

First off, the laptop should be monitoring its own temperature without needing 
futher help from anything software related.  In short, it's doubtful that you 
have an OS problem here.

If that CPU fan isn't blowing like it should you can hope for it just being a 
bit dirty.  First, power down and remove your battery.  Now remove the only 
other panel that "is not" covering the memory.  This panel should be covering 
the modem and ethernet cards.  Behind that panel the CPU fan should be 
visible.

Using compressed air, blow out the fan from both the panel side and the vent 
side.  Do not just use your own breath. You won't be able to generate enough 
force, and you'll be blowing moisture on in as well.

If you're still not getting proper cooling, you may very well have a fan 
that's going bad.  My T23 is in the shop now for that very problem.  The fan 
is like $70, but IBM won't sell it to you unless you're a for real service 
center.  If you're under warranty, get that sent back to them ASAP.  Poor 
cooling will cause long term problems with that box.

Lastly, you might also consider picking up a Targus CoolPad.

http://www.targus.com/product_details.asp?sku=PA239U

I picked up one of these a while back for my laptop.  I rarely ever use my 
laptop without it now.  It does help cooling a bit.  Best of all, it gets 
that Thinkpad into a far more comfortable typing position.  Slides right on 
into my laptop bag too.

Here's the bigger one of them things.  Never had one of these, so I can't 
really comment beyond giving you a link.

http://www.targus.com/product_details.asp?sku=PA241U

Later on,

Tobias Roth wrote:
> Hi
> 
> The days are getting hotter and my T30 coredumps more and more. I get
> the usual sig4 and sig11 during buildworlds, which are strong indicators
> of hardware problems.
> 
> I run current wich is only a few days old. The bios is up-to-date. The
> errors happen with both apm and acpi.
> 
> hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature peaks at 3332, which is 60 deg celsius.
> Is this acceptable?
> What are other peoples temperature values with this model when doing a
> buildworld with acpi enabled?
> Did someone else besides me experience thermal problems?
> Did someone with a T30  manage to read temperature values with apm?
> Can I do something else besides a test with the memtest86.org utility
> (memtest from ports fails with an 'out of swap' error)?
> Or do I just have to call IBM support and convince them to replace my
> system?
> 
> thanks in advance, t.

-- 
"Always listen to experts.  They'll tell you what can't be done, and why.  
Then do it."
- Robert A. Heinlein