Thinkpad T61's fan is almost constantly on.

Hello, recently I purchased a second hand t61 which I really love. I have one question though. My fan is almost constantly on (80% of the time) even though the CPU temp hardly go past 45 degrees celsius. I set the power settings in BIOS to Balanced when on AC. I set the Optimize fan control to Balanced, and CPU to adaptive. Is it normal behaviour for T61?

 

Not normal, on my T61 (with integrated graphics) the fan doesn't run most of the time.

Does your T61 have the nvidia GPU? I don't remember if Lenovo did this, but when the news of the defective nvidia chips came out some of the computer companies released a BIOS "fix" which basically cranked up the fan and ran it all the time to try to keep the GPU from overheating.

 

No, it has x3100 integrated graphics...The interesting thing is that the laptop doesn't get warm, but the fan is running most of the time...Can you post a screenshot of your idling temperatures on Everest? P.S I'm Forbidden (didn't realise I have two accounts here)

 

I don't have Everest but I can post a shot of HWMonitor when I get home tonight. Your temps look a bit high but ok though, I posted my idle temps a few days ago here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/649180-t61-cpu-temperature.html

Have you opened up the computer and cleaned out the heatsink fins?

Edit: Here's a shot of HWMonitor. This is after the computer was running about half an hour websurfing with Firefox. I guess your temps are OK, but I don't know why your fan is running so high, mine is running at a very low speed -- I can't hear it, but I can feel a little bit of heat at the vent.

 

Here are my temps:

 

Your temps look ok, except maybe for the battery at 50C. I have my CPU undervolted with RMClock but my CPU temps are higher than yours so I really have no idea about your fan.

I've never used it, but there is a program called TPFanControl that you can use to set your fan speeds if its really bothering you.

 

I'm puzzled too. It seems it's not the CPU to blame, because at the time fans starts spinning, the CPU is about 38-40 degrees. I think the Mini PCI is the reason, because it seems the fan starts when the temperasture reaches 44 deg.

 

I knew wifi cards get warm in use, but I didn't even know (until now) that they had temperature sensors. I don't know what the solution would be, but you might want to post this over at the Thinkpad forums (forum.thinkpads.com) and see what the people there suggest.

 

I heard back in the day that a lot notebooks with the bad nvidia chips were given a bios that made the fans run a lot to reduce the temps. They tried to make it so the video chips didn't die before the 1 year warranty(their fix lol). HP or dell users weren't happy as this made battery life suffer. So it's possible lenovo had a t61 bios (regardless of intel or nvidia video) with fans on a lot

 

It seems a plausible theory. My BIOS version is 7LETB7WW (2.17 ) 04/25/2008. Any users with fan on triggered by Mini PCI temp above 43 degrees?

 

This configuration for TPFanControl by troubadix should work:

Code:

// General

BluetoothEDR=1
Cycle=5			// Seconds
FanBeep=0 0		// Frequency/Duration (Milliseconds)
IconColorFan=1		// Fan=On > Icon=Green
IconCycle=1		// Seconds
IconLevels=45 50 55	// Icon=Yellow/Orange/Red
Lev64Norm=1		// Level 64 Normal Or Floor
Log2csv=0
Log2File=0
ManFanSpeed=1		// Default Manual Fan Speed
ManModeExit=40		// Temperature To Switch To Smart Mode
MaxReadErrors=10	// Exit Program (Return To BIOS Mode)
NoBallons=1
NoExtSensor=0
ProcessPriority=2	// 0-5
ShowAll=0		// Include Inactive Sensors
ShowBiasedTemps=1	// Display Adjusted Sensor Readings
ShowTempIcon=1
SlimDialog=0
StartMinimized=1
StayOnTop=0

// Mode
// "Active=0" Read-Only Mode
// "Active=1" BIOS Mode
// "Active=2" Smart Mode
// "Active=3" Manual Mode
Active=2

// Alternate Sensor Names
//SensorName1=cpu
//SensorName2=aps
//SensorName3=pcm
//SensorName4=gpu
//SensorName5=bat
//SensorName6=x7d
//SensorName7=bat
//SensorName8=x7f
//SensorName9=bus
//SensorName10=pci
//SensorName11=pwr
//SensorName12=xc3

// Sensor Reading Adjustments (Negative)
//SensorOffset1=0
//SensorOffset2=0
//SensorOffset3=0
//SensorOffset4=0
SensorOffset5=10
//SensorOffset6=0
//SensorOffset7=0
//SensorOffset8=0
//SensorOffset9=0
//SensorOffset10=0
//SensorOffset11=0
//SensorOffset12=0

// Exclude Sensors (Use Sensor Offsets Instead If Possible)
IgnoreSensors=

// Temperature And Fan Levels
// Lowest Level Temperature > 79 Sets Fahrenheit Mode
// Normal Fan Levels = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7}
// Fan Level  64 = Disengaged Mode
// Fan Level 128 = BIOS Mode

MenuLabelSM1=Smart Mode 40-55/
Level=40 0
Level=45 1
Level=50 3
Level=55 128

MenuLabelSM2=Smart Mode 45-60/
Level2=45 0
Level2=50 1
Level2=55 3
Level2=60 128