t400 overheating?

I have my t400 on my dock connected to a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers. when playing world of warcraft, on the lowest video settings, my computer turns off after about an hour. i have switchable graphics selected in the bios and the latest updated drivers from system update.

no idea if this is overheating or what. any suggestions to remedy this problem?

 

hmm. Try to download throttlestop and monitor for temps first.
What CPU do you have? and when was the last time the fan\hsf assembly was removed, cleaned and re-pasted?

 

t9400. never. have had computer for 3 years, totally ridic that i would have to do such a thing, although I have done so on desktops.

 

That's not unexpected if you haven't cleaned vents in 3 years (although I haven't on my T500 and temperatures are just fine even on load). Easiest way to check if temperatures are the issue is to try using HWMonitor or CoreTemp.

 

here is the data from running idle and using chrome


when I play the game tonight I will get data from that and post

 

Those temps look really normal for general web use (unless your ambient is something ridiculously low). I doubt you are overheating, but do show the load data.

 

Also, don't just run an app like orthos and monitor the temp. You really want to monitor your temps when youre playing demanding 3dgames because your HSF actually cools both CPU and GPU along with the north-bridge. Running orthos is not nearly as demanding as running counter-strike source when it comes to stressing laptop thermals. Obviously this does not apply to desktops as the GPU and CPU have separate coolers.

A lot of dirt and dust can accumulate over 1095days (3years) along with dried out thermal paste.

 

here is a shot when playing wow

 

time to give your T400 heatsink a repaste of the thermal paste, clean out the vent/fan.

 

any stores sell the paste or do I have to purchase online? if I do find in store is there a specific paste I need or is it universal and how much should I spend for it?

I put thermal paste on my desktop back in the day but have never had to do it on laptop. thanks.

 

Lots of brands. Very minimal difference in my experience when choosing between well established brands. Personally, Ive had good results with artic silver. Lots of people prefer IC7

 

I condensed aired out the machine and put on new thermal paste. Same problem, after about an hour of gaming the machine turns off.

 

Do you have any software monitoring the temps?

ThinkPad Fan Control might be your friend in more ways than one...

 

artic silver 3 or paste like that, you can buy it in almost any stores or online (i.e. ebay).

 

thinkpad fan control was very confusing, i have no idea what i am doing in the program at all

 

Hello OP. Do you have Lenovo Power Manger installed on your T400? I do not see the battery icon on your taskbar is the reason I ask. Would not having Lenovo Power Manager installed have something to do with OPs overheating? If the OP has switchable graphics enabled in BIOS but does not have the software to regulate the feature how would that affect the OPs operating environment and temps? How would the OS know when to run either the ATI or Intel graphics? Just a question I had thought of when I installed W8 in my T400 and could not get the graphics to work correctly. In that case my Lenovo Power Manager was not showing the 'switchable graphics' option when I right-clicked on the battery icon. The result also made it seem as if it was running hot and with with noticeably more fan activity than I had with W7. I eventually figured out how to install the switchable graphics with some trial-and-error. I noticed there was a difference with less fan activity and less heat produced. I have not gamed yet on W8 (school pretty much kills any time for me to do ...pretty much anything lol).

The couple of times I did have time to game in W7 64-bit (Mirrors Edge and Elder Scrolls 4) install I had switched to "High Performance" (via the right-click on battery icon) and my T400 performed well as far as stability goes. I did not experience any shutdowns or other undesirable effects from heat. My T400 has a T9400 CPU and also runs on a dock. I would say that it would not hurt to do a reapplication of the heat compound to the CPU if you cannot find a fix. If you choose this route make sure you clean the surface of the CPU and the area it contacts with on the fan chassis frame (forgot what it is called ) and apply a very thin layer to the CPU. I usually use AS5 (arctic silver 5) and apply a rice grain sized to the CPU and spread it evenly with a clean plastic card (a credit card rigid type of card). This should be just enough to seal the tiny microscopic surface imperfections increasing the contact area for more effective heat dissipation. I have also noticed that sometimes the factory applications of heat compound are liberally applied. Too much heat compound will negate the efficacy of heat dissipation IIRC. If you need help in disassembly there is the HMM HERE that is always good to have in case you need to work on your ThinkPad. There are also service videos on the Lenovo website that will give you visual aid as far as removing certain components of your T400. Good luck

 

Install, let it run at default settings until you are about to do something CPU/GPU intensive, then switch the fan to "manual".

 

never thought that maybe it was a software issue. how do I know if a certain program is using the integrated vs the dedicated graphics card?

i applied the compound exactly as you said btw.

 

this is the problem I get when I run the tpfan exe

 

Have you tried un-installing and re-installing it? Downloading a different version?

 

reinstalled the switchable graphics app just in case and reenabled the power management software. here is a screen shot of data when playing wow after the changes.

 

I don't game, but those temps are pretty high...not that far from shutdown point at all.

 

i found a new version of tp fan control that is running properly. im gonna try using it tomorrow and see how it does. yeah feels like this machine does run pretty hot, not sure why.

 

reapplied thermal paste to the cpu, south, and gpu the other day and still get very similar readings. will try running tpfancontrol whenever playing but really dont like the idea that these problems are still occuring.

 

Have you tried using different methods of applying paste? You can perhaps get a laptop cooler, a good cooler like one made by zalman dropped by temps down to 8C. Perhaps you may have damaged the heat pipes or mating surface?

 

IIRC the temp sensors for the CPU reside within the CPU themselves. If you have a spare and compatible CPU perhaps you might try switching out with one of your T400 with the overheating issue to rule out inaccuracies from the CPU itself. Is your BIOS up to date? Do you run an external screen and the ThinkPad LCD at the same time? Is your power adapter a 65-watt or 90-watt adapter?

 

hey turq.

no replacement cpu. idk i close to the screen i guess i can make sure that only the lcd is running?

for power 65, its the one that came with the dock. would running a larger supply help?

 

What are on each of your screens while you game? What is your CPU usage at when you go about your normal routine of gaming? Do you multitask? What is the ambient temps in the room usually? One more thing can you go into "Device Manager" and get me a screenshot of what appears?

EDIT:

You should be using the 90-watt adapter especially since you have the switchable graphics and are also gaming. Those two variables increase power consumption so naturally they will require more power. I cannot for certain say whether that would affect your operating temps but I am pretty sure that ideally the 90-watt adapter is used for switchable graphics-capable T400 while the 65-watt is fine for Intel Integrated graphics-only models.

 

no multitasking. the lcd is nothing, i have it set on external only. it is indeed a 90w, i thought it was 65 but I was wrong.

device manager is clean as in no alerts.

the room is room temp, idk 65 maybe since its fall here.

in the first post i put browsing temps.

temps with tpfancontrol seem to be cooler and no resets yet in a small sample size. running tpfancontrol on auto btw.

1. how do I know it is running on the amd and not the intel chip, the game that is?
2. could it be possible that the heatsink/fan needs to be replaced?
3. what temps are high in the second pic I posted that shows temperatures while gaming? is it the cpu AND the video card or just one?

 

Hola Keith

If you have set your switchable graphics to "performance" then you should have discrete graphics only. There should be a different icon for graphics in your taskbar to indicate which graphics mode is active. I am fairly certain the graphics do not switch in real time on their own. I believe they are either in only Intel or ATI mode until you manually make the switch.

The temps in that second pic seem to be somewhat high. I am not sure what a normal temp for running WOW would be. I have played Mirrors Edge, Oblivion, and Portal 2 on my T400 and I have not had a shutdown even when it was spring time with no air conditioning. If buying a replacement heat sink and fan is not a problem for you then that would narrow things down.