[SOLVED]: Does your CPU temperature reach 90°C or above?

[Member rayluo]

Hi antiX community,

I am trying to “enlist” a Thinkpad T430, manufactured circa 2012. It would otherwise run largely fine, but I notice that its CPU temperature (displayed both at the bottom-right corner on the icewm desktop, and via command line “sensors”) would idle at 70°C above, easily reach around 90°C with just web surfing, and peak at 100+ °C under continous workload such as watching video. Within 10 minutes of video playing, it would auto-shutdown at 105°C.

Since then, I tried adjusting BIOS settings, attempting (and unable) to upgrade BIOS version, switching the Linux kernel from the default 4.9.235 from antiX 19.3, to 5.10.x (which wasn’t easy on my LiveUSB+frugal setup but I eventually made it), however none of them makes any tangible difference on the temperature (or on other functionality, for that matter).

At this point, I suspect it would be some physical issue rather than software issue. But I’d like to hear second opinion. Does any of you happen to use a similar model and can confirm that it does not have such an overheat problem?

Regards,
Ray

• This topic was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Brian Masinick.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Hi rayluo, I do not use this particular model,but I have been following this and other forums for many years. Occasionally there are people who report temperature related issues, but I’ve not seen or recalled specific instances of repeated problems on this or any hardware models reported here.

If there are others who are experiencing these issues, please let us know. Otherwise, I’m inclined to believe that there are hardware issues that are leading to issues. One potential issue is physical: just to rule it out, check inside your unit and make sure that there is not an accumulation of dust or dirt; this will definitely contribute to the equipment running at a higher than intended temperature, enough to cause physical damage.

Once this is ruled out, it might be helpful to search across the Internet and see if tbere are any trends indicating temperature issues on hardware either similar or identical to your equipment.

--
Brian Masinick

[Member Robin]

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Hi rayluo,
notebooks tend to need frequently to having been cleaned inside from dust blocking the heat sink, which consists of many narrow plate fins. Also all the air intakes are to be cleaned from within. This can be a difficult task, and you should make sure to have sufficient potential equalisation, preventing from static electricity discharge damaging the circuitry.

Whether 90°C are still fine depends on the exact model of your CPU. You should look it up in database of cpu manufacturer.

In case problem exists only while playing video, you should make sure the driver makes use of GPU rather than soft-decoding by CPU, which stresses your equipment without need. Especially viewing video in browser instead of dedicated video playback program is known to cause incredible high cpu load and consequently high temperatures also.

Just my experiences. I’ll have to clean my notebook next weeks also this way, before true summer heat comes. Inside temperatures can lower significantly after this procedure.

So long
Robin.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member Robin]

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Additional thought: By default the heat sink (pipe) is mounted with a thin layer of thermally conductive paste to the cpu. Depending what they have used, it can dry over the years, decreasing the transport of heat away from the source to the sink. In this case you simply need to remove the old paste, clean it carefully and put some new paste in between before remounting. But be warned, if you never did it before yourself, let an expert do it, looking carefully how it is done correctly. You may easily render your hardware unusable if you try it first time on your own.

Moreover there is a slight chance the heat sink isn’t fastened correctly anymore after years of usage, preventing also heat from getting transported away.

But first and most common reason is, as Brian already pointed out: simply DUST. So make sure first this is ruled out.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member olsztyn]

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rayluo wrote:

I am trying to “enlist” a Thinkpad T430, manufactured circa 2012. It would otherwise run largely fine, but I notice that its CPU temperature (displayed both at the bottom-right corner on the icewm desktop, and via command line “sensors”) would idle at 70°C above, easily reach around 90°C with just web surfing, and peak at 100+ °C under continous workload such as watching video. Within 10 minutes of video playing, it would auto-shutdown at 105°C.

Hi rayluo…
I have several Thinkpads T410, which are very close to your T430. Running web browser as I am writing this note is showing temperature 53 degrees centigrade, showing on Conky, which is typical. I have not noticed any excessive temperature on any of Thinkpads T410, also two Thinkpad T520, which are just wider screen, similar processor do not have excessive temperature running even round the clock.
On the left and back side of your T430 you have vents. I suggest check if air coming out from fan ventilation seems too hot. I assume if temperature is that hot your cooling fan must be running all the time and never shuts down, at high speed, over 3000 rpm.
Update as I am typing for reference:
-Temp is still 53
– Fan speed 1969
Regards.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by olsztyn.

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[Member olsztyn]

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Robin wrote:

But first and most common reason is, as Brian already pointed out: simply DUST. So make sure first this is ruled out.

@rayluo:
Robin has an excellent suggestion. Check dust accumulated on and around fan. To do this I suggest you do not blow compressed air to the vents on left side as you would spread dust inside on motherboard. You should take out keyboard – this is extremely easy in Thinkpads, just a screw from the bottom, well marked with keyboard picture and remove keyboard on top, shifting forward a bit. Then you will see the cooling fan on top left. use compressed air so dust would go out of vents.
Regards.

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[Member ex_Koo]

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@rayluo

I own a T430 If I were you buy some thermal paste like MX-4 or NT-H1, take your laptop apart and clean the fan and fan vent also replace the thermal paste. If the fan has stopped working just replace it.

Lenovo ThinkPad T430 – fan and heatsink cleaning

fan clean T430

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by ex_Koo.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by ex_Koo.

[Member andyprough]

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I had this problem last year with a non-Thinkpad laptop. Opened it up and found the fan was dying, and barely working. I cleaned it out, got a new fan and some thermal paste for a total of $15 off of ebay, and since then it has run in the range of 35-60 degrees. Money and time well spent, as the laptop certainly would have experienced premature part failure at those high heats.

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi Rayluo, T430, great device, as others pointed out usually a blocked cooler,

Just a warning note, never clean a computer fan with compressed air, either through vents or after exposing the component
unless the roror is carefuly prevented from rotating. I use a soft brush, you can also overspeed a fan with a vacuum cleaner
so please be careful.

Up to now never needed to change thermal paste on T series laptop cpu, gpu cooling. T430 I5 of mine will reach about 60
Celcius if pushed hard.

T series Keyboards are an issue as no more OEM components available, anyone opening the device be careful with the cable,
I routinely cover the chassis below the cable where it can rub with capton tape, biggest problem case is T410 where that
was/is OEM recommended Mod.

Keyboards from ali express etc are unfortunately hit and miss.

[Member rayluo]

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Wow, the amount of informational responses exceeds my imagination. This is a very friendly community indeed! I learn a lot from all of you.

In particular, Moddit you seem to use the same model and CPU of my device, so your “reach about 60 Celcius if pushed hard” comment gave me a clear benchmark. Thanks!

ModdIt wrote:

…Just a warning note, never clean a computer fan with compressed air, either through vents or after exposing the component
unless the rotor is carefuly prevented from rotating. I use a soft brush…

Up to now never needed to change thermal paste on T series laptop cpu, gpu cooling. T430 I5 of mine will reach about 60
Celcius if pushed hard.
……

I already ordered a kit of thermal paste, because I assume the original paste – even though still functional – would become ineffective when/if I remove the heatsink from the CPU thus breaking the bond between original thermal paste and the heatsink. However, based on your hint of “never needed to change thermal paste”, did you mean a soft-brush is good enough, without detaching the heatsink from CPU? But I guess you would still need to remove the keyboard to expose the fan and the inside of fins.

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi Rayluo,
Before starting work check if your fan is pushing any air out of the cooling grills at rear left side, without the keyboard you can not start
the system to check if the fan is running. At start my fan is inaudible but a couple of minutes after boot plenty of air gets pushed out of
the vents.
The junction to the cpu is not the place you need to clean. that is after the fan which sits at the left side in front of the case vents,
it is a exchanger and consists of a finned copper block connected to CPU GPU with heat pipes, on top of CPU and GPU are copper pick
heat in to the heat pipe system.
To access it, the heat exchange block that is, you will have to remove top casing not just keyboard. If the cooler is clean and fan working,
maybe a sensor issue. Change board battery and do a bios reset, try again. It is a bit of work but many other laptops are way worse to work on.
You have a pro device which is designed for quick and easy work.

On youtube searching Lenovo ThinkPad T430 – fan and heatsink cleaning or fan problems will give you some better idea of how to dissasemble check
and and replace if neccesary.

If you break the bond CPU GPU you need thermal paste, be very careful should you wish to do so, warm up the heat sinks with a hair dryer to a point
where touching feels pretty warm, that is about softening the paste which can stick like glue. I use arctic silver paste for replacement.
Be extremely careful when cleaning off old paste, it is conductive so if you get it over board connections you can kill the laptop.
Maintenance manual should be easy to find, probably still on OEM site.
Use an old check card, opening tool or similar to remove palm rest, not as some persons on tube do levering with a screwdriver, that usually leaves case
damage..

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by ModdIt.

[Member olsztyn]

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ModdIt wrote:

Just a warning note, never clean a computer fan with compressed air, either through vents or after exposing the component
unless the roror is carefuly prevented from rotating.

To be extra careful you might want to follow the above advice and immobilize the fan before blowing compressed air to clean dust. However, from my own experience, I have routinely done such cleaning of my many Thinkpads and never had problems resulting from spinning fan when blowing away dust.

Also, in the past I have bought spare keyboards on eBay for my Thinkpads, although for a different reason – in case some keys go bad.
Looking at eBay for T430 keybord – currently they are typically about $32, although as low as $21. However if your keyboard is still good there is little chance you will damage during cleaning operation.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by olsztyn.

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[Member ModdIt]

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Please can we stick to solid and safe advice on the forum, persons may get away with many kinds of improvisation but that is I think
better not posted in a forum where users may be led to try unsafe methods.

Fan failure is one of the most common issues on T430, one of the 2 kinds of fan is not the most reliable on the planet.
I warned knowing of that issue and having seen many failures and even blades
fly off due overspeed when a compressed air can was used. That was on both desktop devices and laptops.

That also does not clean the fan correctly, leads to imbalance and spreads debris all around the inside of the device.

If the fan has failed the device will in any case have to be opened,

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by ModdIt.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’ve replaced 2-3 fans and power supplies over the years. On desktop computers and “tower-based” desktops or servers, making the change is trivial. On 1-2 laptops, because I’m not very well coordinated, I had a little more trouble with a few models, though I think the IBM T series was NOT one of the “difficult” models to deal with. Nevertheless, my next door neighbor was a really good “hardware engineer” and I was more of a software engineer, so he’d come to me for software questions and I’d come to him with any quick hardware fixes. He could put in a fan or power supply on the one or two systems with clips or tight fitting parts, and I could help him decide on the best software solutions; we both “taught” each other a few tips. I still suggest first looking at the fan and power supply and any dirt/dust. The “paste” could be an issue; quite frankly I’ve never once encountered that particular issue on any of my systems (yet).

--
Brian Masinick

[Member olsztyn]

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ModdIt wrote:

Please can we stick to solid and safe advice on the forum, persons may get away with many kinds of improvisation but that is I think
better not posted in a forum where users may be led to try unsafe methods.

Fan failure is one of the most common issues on T430, one of the 2 kinds of fan is not the most reliable on the planet.
I warned knowing of that issue and having seen many failures and even blades
fly off due overspeed when a compressed air can was used. That was on both desktop devices and laptops.

That also does not clean the fan correctly, leads to imbalance and spreads debris all around the inside of the device.

Wow! This is a stern warning from forum moderator! My careless mentioning my long time experience with my 12+ different Thinkpads…
I should better be more careful…

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