W500: sudden heat from left corner (pic included)

Hello,
i noticed something not sure if its related or not, few weeks back i moved my 160GB disk to ultra bay (cdrom place) and placed y 64GB SSD disk in its place (both of them are on the right side of the chassis as you know

these days after few hours of laptop usage i feel annoying head below my left hand (see picture attached) also on the bottom of the laptop when i left it over on the left side there is unbearable heat on the left side

would this be because two disks are attached to the system or what?

i did not try to take the 160GB disk and place the CDROM to be frankly honest but what this has todo with it especially that i dont mount the 160GB disk all the time (im using ubuntu linux not windows)

any hints/advises?

thanks

 

Use HDtune or something to check your HDD temps.

 

Of course its the HDD. CD/DVD is usually not active whereas HDD is and there is no ventelation. With 2 drives the heat builds up. Its like moving another oven into th kitchen and locking the windows while you roast two pot roasts all day so what do you expect?

 

there is not much components under that area... apart from your card slots.... do you use any expansion cards? if your right hand side is cool, then i doubt it is the hdd activity that causing the heat.

Do you still have warranty left? It shouldn't be doing that obviously, there could be some sort of short circuit going on.

 

Both HDDs are under there. Nothing but poor thrermal design IMO.

 

no, both HDDs would be on the right side, not the left.   what lead_org said is correct.   there isn't much under the left side except the card slots.

see for yourself: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-71037.html

the only thing near that area that can (under normal circumstances) get warm is the WWAN card if one is installed.   it would be located under the bottom left corner of the keyboard though, not the palmrest.

 

my bad. then there is an issue under the palm rest. should remove to see what is the cause?

 

this is whats confusing me, the right side (where the disks are) is normal cold but the left side is burning hot form middle to the palm rest

and no i dont have any PCMCIA card i only have the usb mouse connected

i just checked again the heat source it seems coming from the center middle/left side all the way to the corner so i think the heat is form the center and heats the palm rest

could be my CPU fan is not working? any tools to check the fans from windows or linux?

thanks

 

try the TPFancontrol to check fan speed.

 

not sure what sort of software is available for the linux.

But the dump way of doing it, is by removing the palmrest and keyboard and switch on the laptop (you should not detach the keyboard cable to the motherboard, otherwise you won't able to switch it on or off).... and see whether the fan spins....

There is possibility that the Ram modules maybe overheating, but usually this sort of thing is quite rare.......

If you leave the laptop in the bios mode, does it get as hot?

Also go into your rescue and recovery console if you still have it, and do a hardware diagnostics on every component of the laptop.

 

I have the same problem if

1. When I use the integrated graphics card. It sounds strange, it should be using the discrete graphics create more heat, but the actual situation is different. I disabled my integrated graphics card, it consumes more power but lack of power.

2. When I use Express Card in the slot. I have a USB card, if I inserted the USB card, even I don't plug in anything in the USB port, it creates heat.

3. Running Linux. Linux doesn't have good power management as Windows, maybe the CPU running full speed on Linux, after long time running Linux, I can feel the same place hot.

Last I don't think it's because of the poor heat design. I always have a battery in my bay, and I don't feel any heat at that place.

 

i turned the laptop and this is exactly where the heat is coming from (the circled area in the attached image)

i only use display port at office to connect my monitor but even at home when im connecting usb mouse the heat is there

maybe i need to switch cards from BOIS and see how it goes


but the heat is unbelievable my arm started to hurt me when i go to bed i cant even lay down on my left side from the pain and now i start to place small notepad so i can work!

 

I hope you are not exagerating. But if not, those are the key words to use when calling. Add "possibility of long term injury and home or office on fire", "manufacturing design defect," "fitness for a particular purpose" and "consumer saftey concerns" and I'm sure you will get a replacement or refund. lol

But the catch is you are using non spec parts, so maybe you are causing the problem. Have your tried reverting it back to its out of the box state or using Lenovo approved parts ie ordered from them and then seeing if its hot?

 

if the laptop is causing health problem, then i think it is time to stop using the machine until it is fully fixed for your own sake.

 

thing is i can't take it to lenovo workshop because it need 5-8hrs working to get this heat

currently im covering the area with notepad till my external keyboard arrive

any heat measurement tools on linux or windows that shows the heat per internal device(s) ?

 

Did it ever occur to you that you are running non aprroved hardware? Sure they ship with SSDs but is your model sold by Lenovo?

 

nothing that fancy, the best you can get is the temperature of the various components, i.e. Everest or TPfancontrol.

But given the fact that your machine is designed to run within a certain thermal temperature zone, if it gets that hot that you can't touch it, then it is faulty.

Also, my W500 never gets that hot, the highest GPU temperature that i ever recorded was around 79 degrees, but it is just very warm on the bottom but not in a way that you described.

 

Is it possible that the heatpipe does not have proper contact to some component any more (due to mechanical stress or bad thermal goo or poor assembly)?

 

there is a chance that the fluids within the heatpipe actually have escaped...

 

This is just ridiculous. If it is so hot that it is burning your skin, just stop working on it.

How about applying some common sense and just returning it to Lenovo for diagnostics and repair? If it takes 5-8 hours before the issue arrives, then so be it. I am sure their techs have methods of provoking the same issue with test software.

But seriously, you make it sound like it is a life or death situation where you are being crippled by your laptop. Instead of fixing it, you are looking at work arounds with a notepad and external keyboard. If the laptop really gets that hot, it is obviously not a good idea to just continue working on it using an external keyboard. It needs fixing.