R60 is beginning to overheat

My Thinkpad R 60 is getting old. It overheated last week and completely froze up. I use it for work with a docking station, running 8 to 10 hours a day, and around 3:00 p.m. it froze up, and when I felt the laptop it was fairly hot. I unplugged it, opened up, and sprayed it with compressed air. It came back alive, but I am getting worried.

1. What could be causing this? Is it possible that the laptop fan isn't working properly? It has always been a very quiet laptop (and cool running) and I've never really noticed any fan sound. So any suggestion as to test whether this is a fan malfunction? And if it is fan malfunction, would replacing the fan solve the problem for me, you think?

2. What other possible causes are their for the over heating?

3. Perhaps it is about time for me to get a new laptop. Is this a good time to buy? I do need a business class laptop with a docking station port. Any suggestions? My R 60 was 14.1 screen, which I like.

Any suggestions, wisdom, tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Normally clogged vents are one of the causes for poor cooling but it seems that you already addressed that with a can of compressed air. Sometimes the stock thermal compound can harden up over time making it ineffective, you can try applying aftermarket thermal paste to see if it improves matters plus they're not that expensive.

But before you do that check whether the fan is spinning properly, if its struggling then you probably need to replace the CPU fan which hopefully will resolve the overheating problems. Do a stress test to see if the fan is up to the job, apps like Core Temp, Prime95, TPFancontrol can also help monitor the temperature situation.

 

Can you feel any hot air coming out the vent? Even if it's silent you should be able to feel some fan air coming out the side. You might want to download TPFanControl to see what your temps are and crank up the fan to see if you can hear it. A new gob CPU paste probably wouldn't hurt.

I'd say if the R60e is meeting your needs otherwise, fixing it is probably cheaper than a new one.

 

Thanks, all. I installed the TPFanconrol and the fan appears to be working. When I cranked it up, I did feel warm air coming out of the side. I haven't had the time to duplicate the situation, but what I have noticed generally is that my palm rest appears to be noticeably warmer of late.

Even though "fixing it" is usually cheaper in the short run, if my laptop dies all the sudden, it is going to be a minor disaster for me. I do save my data quite often, but I do need a laptop for my work.

I've been looking at T410 and it's beginning to look mighty tempting. It is too bad that Lenovo changes the damn docking stations for their laptops and I would probably need to get a new one if I buy a T410.

 

If you're looking for value, you'll usually find the best of it in the Outlet. There's some nice R400s in the outlet that are new for less than $600, like this, and you can still use your old dock with it.

You can find a new heatsink on eBay for less than $30. That and a fresh application of CPU paste may fix the problem. You could test it out for a few days and if it doesn't fix it, you can always buy another laptop. You can still get a new notebook too. If you sell your R60, if doesn't have an overheating issue, it's probably worth more.

You should learn the benefits of autosave too.

 

Thanks, ZaZ. I looked inside and the heatsink looks fine. It looks shiny and new. I will test out the machine on Monday at work to see if the problem continues when it is docked. I've since used it without being docked, and it does not appear to be overheating. Maybe it was software glitch that froze up the machine. I don't know. It is possible that I may have jumped the gun.

 

Fortunately you can still backup your data with windows. Please do...
Renee

 

i second Zaz's suggestion for buying R400?

 

Thanks once again everyone! But I think I solved the problem! It was a software-related issue after all. I've been using KiGoo to synchronize Outlook Contact with Google contacts, and it worked fine for a while, and when I upgraded my antivirus-program plug-in for my Outlook, it must have conflicted with KiGoo, and KiGoo would often go into some sort of infinite loop trying to synch. I've been meaning to uninstall it, but I also wanted to try to fix it before I resorted to that.

What I've noticed ever since I've got the TPFanctrol was that whenever KiGoo goes into that loop thing, CPU temperature would shoot up, and as soon as I force close the loop, it would calm back down. And because the loop window runs in the background, I never really notice it until I close all other windows, and I think this is what's been overheating my computer. I've uninstalled it, and I am going to see what happens now.

Thanks everyone for your help. Oh, and of course I've been backing up my data frequently, with or without any noticeable issues.

 

It is confirmed. I've been using it at work for three days and the laptop has been behaving normally. It runs quiet and cool. I've got my old reliable back, ever since I uninstalled KiGoo. Or was it because I installed TPFancontrol? I don't know. Either way, it's working beautifully. Thanks, everyone! You guys rock.