Just got my T420! Fan noise and what now...

My T420 just arrived today!

After booting it up (and filling out all the required info) for the first time, I opened up IE and then the fan kicked in. It wasn't incredibly loud, but it's definitely audible in a quiet room. But even after exiting IE, the fan continued and never stepped down. Any suggestions? I have experience with a T61 that was dead silent at all times, so I'm a bit surprised by this.

Also, what should I do first? Is there a recommendations thread somewhere here that I'm not seeing? Quick and easy way to update everything? Any essential software? For reference, I'm coming from a MBP (previous to that, I had an XP machine). Thanks!

 

This isn't very encouraging. I have a T410 with the exact same fan noise issues, and since I got the 90 watt adapter it's even more exaggerated.

 

Could they be defective CPU fans? try calling up lenovo and getting warranty repairs if the fan noise is really bad.

 

No, they're not defective, it's just their "owl" fan design, it's supposed to be able to move more air, but they are more noisy.

 

Go into the Power Manager by clicking on the battery icon on your taskbar and switch from Basic to Advanced.

Under the Power Plan tab expand System settings and you can trade off some performance and higher system temperature for a less aggressive fan control by setting the fan control to balanced or reduce noise dynamically. Do this for your AC settings.

I hope that helps!

 

Actually, I'm starting to notice this fan noise, too! I found a post with some CPU from various T420's: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/574851-t420-cpu-temperatures.html

My i5-2520M is currently idling around 41C after a few passes of Prime95 which took it up to 80-85C. It certainly doesn't help when the ambient temperature is close to 30C...

Does anyone have any before/after numbers when reapplying thermal paste on these? I have a tube of AS5 somewhere... I might be tempted to try it out unless someone says that it's not worth it.

 

I applied some thermal paste quite awhile ago, but I don't have any numbers for you. I was thinking of doing it again though, and doing a thorough cleaning of the internals while I'm at it.

 

If your temperatures are within reason, you might want to try TPFanControl. (If it works with the T420.)

 

Some good news (knock on wood)! I used ThinkVantage to update all of the software and drivers, and it seems to have piped down considerably. Now if only I can get my MBP and Time Capsule to be quiet!

 

Interesting. Can you tell us what Power Manager settings you are using?

How to open Power Manger:
Windows start buble > type "power manager" > It's the program with a red battery icon, click it > choose "advanced" if you are in "basic" view.

Scroll down to where the cpu management settings are. what are they set at?

 

I've been running this via AC and it's currently set to Energy Saver:

Battery settings/AC settings
System Performance: Balanced/Turbo
CPU Deeper Sleep: Enabled/Enabled
Optimize fan control to: Balance all parameters/Maximize performance
Display brightness: near high/high
Automatic optical drive power off: Enabled/Enabled
System cooling policy: Passive/Active

There are other settings that I haven't posted. Let me know if there is anything specific that you're looking for.

 

I was just curious to see if your Power Manager setting had been set to their lowest setting (lower performance & max power saving). But they haven't, which is good.

I have an x61s and T60, I turned the Power Management settings down (lower performance & max power saving) to keep the fans from coming on.

 

Lenovo's fan settings mean that the CPU temperature has to get very cool for the fan to stop. I use TPFanControl on my T420s to stop the fan for CPU temperature <55C. The version here is more compatible with the latest Thinkpads.

John

 

John Ratsey - that's good solution but you'll end up with idle temp around 50-55 degress celcius. With fan even on slowest speed it would get around 45 depends on CPU and that is much more healthier than keeping it with high temp all the time

 

Once your processor gets in the 80's and above, especially for extended periods, that can shorten the lifespan of the processor. But constantly in the 50's and 60's in my opinion wouldn't make much, if any difference.
If you have the fan set to turn on at say 55, and stay on until it reaches 50, that would be perfectly fine.

 

It was thermal cycling (repeated wide variations in temperature) that killed the Nvidia CPUs a few years back. In that context, it is probably better to let the CPU temperature vary between warm and hot and not between cold and hot. Cutting the fan out at 55C does probably result in a slightly higher external temperature on the base but I've never had problems of heat when using my T420s as a laptop.

John