T400 randomly shutting down

I thought it was me or a virus, or a strange coincidence, but after doing a bunch of digging, I think I have found the problem with why my laptop will just turn itself off without warning.

I upgraded to Windows 7 SP1 today, as I thought this must be some sort of weird software issue, but it turns out, this laptop must be overheating. After the second time it happened today, I pulled the laptop out of my docking station and I couldn't even touch the corner where the fan is as it was so hot.

I noticed that the BIOS was version 3.21 and 3.22 was the latest, so I upgraded that and downloaded the tpfancontrol program. I am not really sure what to do with this program, but I started it up after my latest boot. Using the maximum performance power manager profile, the cpu and gpu were 85+ degrees for a while. The fan kicked into state fan 64 and it was loud/blowing, which got the temperature down. I created a new power profile to not use the highest performance settings and the cpu is around 72 while the gpu is around 77.

Current temperature reading for active sensors according to tpfancontrol with one VM running and my lower cpu power scheme, using the ATI graphics:

Code:

1 cpu 74°C
2 aps 58°C
3 crd 48°C
4 gpu 78°C
5 no5 50°C
7 bat 38°C
9 bus 52°C
10 pci 62°C
11 pwr 65°C

I am not using this machine for gaming, but I do have one or two VMware virtual machines running most of the time.

The laptop is under warranty until October, and Lenovo support said I would need to send it in to have the fan replaced, but they would need it for a few days. I am still waiting for my T420s to be shipped, so I can't really send it in until I have a new one. Is there something I should tweak or do with this application (saw that I could install as a service, but I chose not to) or the system in general to not make me lose my work at random times and mess all my virtual machines up?

 

Have you tried cleaning the fan area out? There might be a pretty decent accumulation of dust and other detritus in the fan and heat sink area which may be causing your high temps. Unless your fan is making horrible noises or you're getting a 'fan error' message upon boot, your fan might be salvageable at least until you get your T420s.

 

Either your fan is clogged, your heatsink is loose, or the thermal paste has dried.

Each has it's own fix.

 

Per your suggestion, I took the laptop apart this morning and blew air into both sides of the grills around the fan and a ton of dust came out. I have been running much cooler today:

Code:

1 cpu 55°C
2 aps 48°C
3 crd 42°C
4 gpu 62°C
9 bus 45°C
10 pci 54°C
11 pwr 53°C

I took the battery out of the back (have the 9 cell) and switched my cpu to adapative from highest in the power manager settings. It seems to be running much cooler. I still will send it in to lenovo and have them check the fan and paste since it is still under warranty.