T61p Constantly running fan. Help needed!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got my T61p yesterday and I'm custumizing it now. I have Vista and hade preformed some of the Tweaks recomended here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

and I have compleatly shut down all the visual effects in ''Preformance Informations and Tools' but still Vista uses 1.3GB Memory (44%) in Idle and CPU is 4%. This causes the fan to run constanly and somehow loud. The
lap top is also relatively hot.
One of the reasons for buying this lap top was because I belived it was cool and quiet. Is it all because of Vista or do I have to send it back? Please help.

I have the following config:
8891CTO CTO THINKPAD T61 1YDW
39T6440 SBB 56K V.92 DESIGNED MODEM
39T6442 SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
42V8193 SBB INTEL TURBO MEMORY 1GB
42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
42V8285 SBB 14.1 SXGA+ TFT
42V8296 SBB UN(TRCKP+TOUCHPAD)FINGERRE
42V8301 SBB 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHZ
42V8604 SBB NO INT.WWAN ANTENNA 14.1"R
42V8606 SBB INT.WLAN ANTENNA 14.1"
42V8611 SBB ST LCD COVER/BEZEL 14.1"
42V8619 SBB 14"SXGA+W/BTW/OWWANW/11N
42V8650 SBB CL.PLATE T61P WLBLTH
42V8663 SBB MT 8891 SYSTEM LABEL
42V9665 SBB FCC, LABEL
42X0806 VBB PC CARDSLOT SM CARDSLOT
42X0850 SBB MECH MISC PARTS
42X0996 SBB PC CARD SLOT SMART CSLOT
42X1232 SBB NEWINTELLAB_DUALCORE/CEPRO
42X1482 SBB BLUETOOTH W/ ANTENNA
42X1483 SBB BLUETOOTH SCREW
42X1524 SBB LP-US ENGLISH
42X1754 SBB MS OFF H+STD.07-ENG
42X1954 SBB MSWVISHMPRM64 US ENGLISH
42X5208 SBB INT.CORE2DUO PROCES.T7800
42X5227 SBB 200GB HDD,7200RPM,DISKENC
42X5950 SBB NVIDIAQUAT.FX570M(128MBOGL
42X5967 SBB NVIDIAQUAT.FX570W/ WWAN,W/
62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
93P7250 SBB THINKPAD LOGOPLATET-SERIES
39T6651 SBB 9 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
41W1592 SBB PACKAGING US
41W1749 SBB GEO LABEL US WLAN BT
41W2068 VBB 4GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
41W2300 SBB LOGO PLATE
42V7972 SBB MS LABEL (VISTA PREMIUM)
42V8011 VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME PREMIUM
42V8063 SBB MS WAU ENGLISH NA-U MODELS
42V8172 SBB DVD REC.8XMAXDUAL LAY UB-S


Thanks.

 

Did it make all the fan noise before you did the tweaks?

 

"42X5208 SBB INT.CORE2DUO PROCES.T7800"

I suspect this is why your fan runs all the time. I also have a 7800 and my fan runs all the time too. it's the largest and thermally hottest chip in the Santa Rosa line. I have the feeling the condition is normal.

 

Yes it did, that was partly why I did them. Changing the battery usage to low preformance/power saver helpt some. but the fan is still running and the memory usage is 1.2GB.
but thanks anyway.

 

Renee,

you dont think that 1.3GB memory usage has something to do with it? I would think even if its the largeast chip it wouldn't be hot if its potential wasn't fully used? Do you have any suggestions of what to do? downgrade chip?

 

I'm assuming you are running Vista with full lenovo bloatware.

My t61p is the second Lenovo Vista Machine I've had and at first boot, they both ran 1.3 gb. I think that's normal too.

My advice would be to enjoy your wonderful new laptop. My fan is totally silent and the only real issue I have is that I worry about it wearing out mechanically. I do notice that to my hand the exhaust on the left hand side feels hot. I think the fan is definitely needed.

On my N3000 had had a 1.8 ghz processor and the fan was intermitent.

I do have a couple of suggestions. There is a finger print manager specificially for the webbrowser. Delete it and make sure updates do not replace it.

Also uninstall lenovo backup. It run backups atomatically and eat up disk space. Uninstalling both of those are the first thing I would do.

 

Before you downgrade anything, wipe the PC and try a clean install of the essentials. That will remove a ton of the background processes, which means your CPU spends more time idle, and save power/lowers heat. 4% may not seem like much for CPU usage, however there is a lot going on while its juggling ~80 processes you could have running on the system right now.

You can use the Power Manager to adjust your CPU settings as well. On AC power, its probably on Maximum all the time, however I think you will have a setting for Adaptive in which case the CPU will downclock itself with a low load on the system, and speed up again when needed.

Also, turn off Indexing, or check to make sure it even finished Indexing...

 

Oh and see if you have a setting for something caller Powermizer or something along those lines in the video driver. It will dynamically adjust the performance of the GPU to save power and lower heat. If you do not see an option for it, you can use the latest Nvidia drivers with a .INF tweak to enable it.

 

Fist thank you for the advices. I'll try them. Then
This guy also had constant fan noise with a smaller chip (2.2GB) and running XP,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=167308

so I'm not convinced that its just the chip. Second I actually dont feel any hot exhaust from the fan, now then no hevy things running, its rather cold I think. But my right hand feels heat fron the lap top when writing.

 

Goodness,

That's where the disk is. I've never felt any heat from my machine except from the left exhaust port,

 

Maybe the 200GB 7200rpm is the problem?

 

I dont think 4% cpu usage is much compared to 44% RAM usage. I didn't get a Vista cd/dvd, so I'm not sure hot to make a clean installation. I have tried some tweaks, including the one you mentioned. But it did't help.

 

RAM is not exactly generating a lot of heat. My main point about that 4% is that it is a fairly bad estimate of the ammount of heat that gets generated.

 

Data in ram just sits there. If you were running a program that was constantly iterating through memory, it may dissipate more heat. Almost all of that memory is quite static when your machine is idling.

 

ok. sorry ocellaris, good point. But how do I get a good estimate? do I have to buy some thermometers or something?

 

You can check temps using PC Wizard 2008 among others. Its a free download.

Couple useful links :

1. For tweaking Vista: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532
Recommended even if you're not doing a clean install.

2. If you contemplating a clean install, check this guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783
edit: note-another option of a clean install, is just plain reinstalling using Rescue and recovery's hidden partition. There's an option in R&R that lets you pick and choose the bloatware you want to include/omit from the installation.

3. Then if you really really want more control over the fan, there is a freeware utility called Thinkpad Fan Control. Only recommended if you've tried everything and know exactly what you want out of this utility. There's threads here about it if you search for it.

 

"Maybe the 200GB 7200rpm is the problem?"

This is what I have and my system runs cool.

 

Thanks for the advice. I used the PC Wizard ad got the following
Hardware Monitoring :
Voltage CPU : 1.00 V
Processor Fan : 0 rpm
Chassis Fan : 0 rpm
Power/Aux Fan : 0 rpm
: 0 rpm
: 0 rpm
Processor Temperature (Core 1) : 44 °C
Processor Temperature (Core 2) : 42 °C
Battery : 10.93 V
ACPI Thermal Zone : 52 °C
:
Video Monitoring : nVidia Driver
GPU Temperature : 55 °C
GPU Fan : 100%
:
Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
Hard Disk Temperature HITACHI HTS722020K9SA00 FDE : 38 °C



Thus it seems that the GPU fan which is the problem. should it be on 100% all the time? Even with a large chip(2,6GHz)?
I'm not sure if I want to use the Fan controll program since then things might get to hot and then breake. But mayby I can just adjust it some. Tha temperatures didn't look that hot?

 

44 degrees C = 111.2 Fahrenheit. That's pretty hot.

 

The temps look normal. I wouldn't put too much stock on the 100% GPU fan reading. Mine says 100% at min fan speed and when it's totally off too.
Even with the fan on, is it that loud? Even with the fan on, at those temps it shouldn't be running at max rpm. I know that on my T61p, the fan can be a bit overaggressive ( fan on bios control before I installed tpfc )ie. it'll keep running till the cpu gets down into the low 40s. But the fan is running on low and hardly noticeable. I use tpfc and with my settings the fan is less aggressive but either way it was never loud at those temps..

What are your temps when the system is on full load? Do the fans noticeably ramp up and get louder? I'm not sure if you may have a defective fan or not, or if your ears are just sensitive. Hard to tell from my vantage point.

 

44C is quite normal for normal desktop usage. Mine is about that too and goes up to 70C when I do something like (gasp!) games.

 

I just got it so I haven't done any hevy loads, but I played 6 videos on youtube at noes and i couldn't notice any change in tha fan noice, but the temprature increased:
Hardware Monitoring :
Voltage CPU : 1.20 V
Processor Fan : 0 rpm
Chassis Fan : 0 rpm
Power/Aux Fan : 0 rpm
: 0 rpm
: 0 rpm
Processor Temperature (Core 1) : 72 °C
Processor Temperature (Core 2) : 71 °C
ACPI Thermal Zone : 59 °C
:
Video Monitoring : nVidia Driver
GPU Temperature : 73 °C
GPU Fan : 100%
:
Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
Hard Disk Temperature HITACHI HTS722020K9SA00 FDE : 40 °C


If its my ears that are sensitie I don't think, but maybe I had to great expectations. but in idle it makes more noice than my 2.5y old HP Ze2000 lap top. And I don't think I'm the only one with this problem
http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=25949

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=2143011

they don't have t61p, but...