W510 heats up on standby - HOT

Just got the W510, looks great and feels great! This is an upgrade from my T60p.

Specs: Core i7, 2GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX 880M, HD+

Ok, so this morning I turned on the notebook (plugged in) and everything was great. I left it on and went to some appointments for 4-5 hours.

When I came back the notebook was on standby (As expected the settings were set for it to go on standby after 30 min of idle). However the left back corner of the notebook was pretty hot, actually much hotter than it is when the computer is turned on (Core temps maxed at 90deg). I woke the notebook from standby and the fan ramped up and the temperature immediately began to drop. (monitored via CoreTemp program http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/)

Any idea why this happened? Are there some system adjustments that I need to make? Anyone else experiencing this?



Thanks.

 

When a computer goes on standby, it usually turns the fan off because the processor is set to a low power mode (idle C state IIRC). Because the fans are off, heat is building up.
Your system still generates heat and consumes power when in standby (duh). I had it happen on my EEE PC as well, it would get a little on the warm side when idle, but the fans would turn off and it would cool down as soon as I woke it up. Normal occurance I think.

 

Because all the power-hungry components are off on standby, it really should not feel hot. My T500 feels no different on standby than it does when it is off. Are you completely sure that your laptop went into and stayed in standby (look for the green crescent moon).

 

Almost sounds like it didn't actually go into a low power state. If it's reproducable I'd contact Lenovo.

 

sounds like there is a glitch in the bios....

 

That is what I'm thinking.

Update: Today I came to the computer to find that it was equally HOT again, not warm, HOT. Thing is the computer was OFF but plugged in. I also noticed a noise from the computer when its off but plugged in, sometimes with just battery also. I can tell if its a fan spinning, stuck, or something else, but there is definitely a noise. I'm thinking there might be something wrong with the power handling.

I've adjusted some Bios settings, turning Auto CPU power management off. No improvement.

Just checked the Lenovo site and Bios support for W510 isn't up yet. Darn. Will keep researching and updating everyone. If anyone else has the same problem please chime in.

 

Try leaving your turned-off W510 plugged in, but with the battery removed, and see if the same thing occurs.

 

If laptop heats up it means it draws power - simple consequence of abiding by the law of energy conservation. It cannot heat up by drawing whatever energy it uses to do so, from nowhere. In layman terms it means, that your laptop does not "stand by" properly, and instead occupies itself with stuff it shouldn't.

How do I know I am right?

Well, energy input >= energy output. A Thinkpad can dissipate anything up to 20 watt on average without spinning the fan - simply passive heat transfer, virtue of its optimal case design and material choice. You can check it yourself, when you do moderate to low loads a fan on a Thinkpad usually does not spin. Even then no area feels hot.

If you experience a lot of heat, it means it probably draws a lot more than 20 watt when on standby. Given the fact that any properly designed and properly performing laptop computer draws LESS THAN 1 WATT when on standby, and as yours draws several factors above 20 times that amount, it means something definitely is wrong.

You can do the following.

1. Check how much MWh your battery reports - you can do so by using Lenovo's power management utilities, all the stuff you need is there. Click buttons around until you find battery information window.

2. Note the amount reported.

3. Put the computer to sleep

4. Wait some time, note that amount of time period as well. The longer, the more accurate your later measurements will be. One hour is a minimum, but if it heats up so badly you are afraid it will go up in flames - well, half an hour then.

5. Wake it up and check the MWh battery reading again.

6. Subtract the old reading from the new, that will give you how much juice (in MWh units) the laptop has drawn from the battery. Divide that amount by amount of hours the computer spent in standby mode. The result is average amount of watts it used while in standby. Anything less than two watts is an acceptable value.

If all of the above is too much work for you, then do step 1 to 3 only. Instead of waking up the laptop, just wait until the battery is empty - if things are as bad as I think they are, in about one hour or less, the battery will become empty and your computer will do a critical cold shutdown. The idea here is - if it draws more power when on standby then when you are using it - something is wrong.

Note that a laptop that draws 2 watts while on standby will last approximately one day (24h) on standby. Many think this is great, but for those of us that never shut their laptops off, it is not that great.

 

Ok, Just got off the phone with Lenovo Tech. The W510 is heading back to Lenovo for repair or replacement. The Tech agreed that this was not normal and that wen the notebook is off that no head or noise should be generated.

Next issue is that system type 4318 does not yet show up in the Lenovo database, nor has the warranty info been entered into the system. Will have to wait til Monday/Tuesday to call back and complete the process.

 

No on-site support? That's my first consideration because I have to work off the machine when no gaming

 

It should not get hot because the only component that needs to actually be powered is RAM since RAM is volatile memory and since that's where all your computer's current status information is stored and pulled out of when it's powered on again.

 

I may well be wrong but I suspect the problem is linked to the 'always on' USB port as that would constantly draw power even with the notebook switched off.

 

Hi mikey,

which type of operation system do you use?

Edit: typos

 

Hope your thinkpad gets repaired.

While on standby mode, there should be minimal power draw, maybe like 1-2 watts, actually touching the ac adapter while on standby it should be cool to the touch.

 

OS: Windows 7

 

Let us know what was a result of all this.

R

 

Got the notebook back today from EasyServ (Lenovo's inhouse fix-it shop). It was noted that they replaced a fan.

Result: Not fixed, and the heating up while off condition is still occurring. It sounds like there is a short circuit of some kind happening. There is a high pitched whine, and when left plugged in and OFF for 30 min there is noticeable heat gain.

Needless to say I'm disappointed by the issue not being fixed, the duration that the repair center had the computer 11 business days (I've had it in my possession for only 4 days), and the overall experience thus far.

I've been a big proponent of Lenovo and the quality of their products and service, but I fear the tides are changing.

HP in my future?

 

It could be that there are still things to be ironned out. I always wait a bit to after a new product launch.

 

A great example of why I will only spend money on an "on site" warranty going forwards. When the person fixing your laptop is an unknown number of miles away and your only communication with them is through an unqualified employee that you talked to over the phone and might also be in another country, it makes a good outcome incredibly difficult. Especially in new and not straight forward situations.

 

You don't think this is related to the picture and thread linked on this page here?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=454394&page=22

Issue with the audio chip surging and causing a short perhaps?