M860TU Heat Issues

Hey guys. I've been browsing notebookreview.com for a while now for a lot of tips on my M860TU, but I'm at a loss this time around.

I've got a T9400 processor and it seems to overheat all over the place. If I set it in the windows power options to use passive cooling and only use 90% of it's max power it can manage but it's still a pain. If I set it to 100% it'll get fairly high before it clocks itself down with passive cooling. Anything in between works for a little while but the heat jumps around quite a bit. I was just wondering what avenues I could look into to fix the heat issues and get my processor running up to par.

I've tried undervolting, but Orthos always seems to push temps pretty high when I test after only a few minutes. I've also tried Arctic Silver paste a few times now, but no success. I do have a pretty solid cooling mat as well.

Is my processor just old and/or defective that could cause it to overheat under any kind of load? Could it be a problem with the Heat Rail and it's just not doing it's job?

The Video card seems to stay within reasonable temperatures when it's being used too. It's just the processor that gets really high.

I'll probably replace parts if I have to, but I figured I'd see if there's anything else I'm missing before I jump the gun. Or if replacing anything would even help at all.

Thanks for any help that may come my way.

 

When is the last time you blew the dust out of your machine?

When did you apply the AS5 last? what method did you use for applying?

Why did you go with passive cooling? Active should be better if I'm not mistaken.

What are you getting for CPU temps?

How do your laptop fans seem to be for wear?

Sorry for the 20 questions, but I do like to get more details.

 

Dusting is always a good idea, especially if the laptop is used in your bedroom. Of all rooms in a home, the bedroom has tons of dust coming from clothes and the bed itself. I clean my laptop once every 2 months and find noticable difference every time.

Clean it up and check temps again

 

For sure, I appreciate the reply.

I blow the dust out of the machine pretty regularly, it travels with me quite a bit from home to work, and there's always a can of air at the office.

I applied the AS5 roughly a month ago. I guess I put just a small dot in the middle of the processor and spread it into a thin even layer with what looks like a tiny plastic putty knife. I also had some "preperation" solvents I had picked up at our local computer store to remove any previous paste on the heat rail and chips.

My processor when it's toned down will push close to 85-90 degrees celsius. On 99-100% it's a little higher but the passive cooling clocks the processor down.

If I have my laptop is on Active Cooling (Where it adjusts the Fan Speed before it clocks down the processor) then my temperatures will easily start to creep up to 100 degrees Celsius. The passive cooling although I can feel my performance gradually get worse but it will settle at a playable state for games or a semi-consistent state if I'm using anything processor intensive.

I checked my fan, it seems like it's okay. I spun the fan by hand to see if it was grinding, and when I blew it out with air duster recently it seems to spin well in both instances.

 

Have you checked the heatsink and heatpipes for damage? If you accidentally crimp the heatpipes, they can be significantly less effective in moving heat from the die out to the fans. Also check to make sure the heatsink itself is firmly placed against the CPU. Next time you go to change the paste, look at the old paste to see whether there are any spots that don't look like they were in contact.

 

I'm really starting to think the heatsink/heatpipes are the suspect. When I lifted the whole pipe it looked like the CPU still had a fairly even spread of paste, but it does look like like the heatsink area is a little scratched. Is there anything I can do to try and restore my current heatsink or do I need to get a whole new one? The pipes themselves look a little faded, but they didn't seem crimped or damaged.

 

You could sand the heatsinks a bit.. Use increasingly higher grit, I think I went up to at least 1200 grit when I did mine. Then rub paste into the mating area to fill in the micro gaps and wipe it clean.. Please don't sand your CPU lol..

It doesn't make sense that passive (no fan) cooling is more effective than active (w/ fan) cooling unless your fan/exhaust is malfunctioning some how. It looks like a large piece of the bottom cover should come off. Have you tried running the laptop with that removed?

Perhaps you could take a pic of the cooling system for some of us to reference (I've never seen pics other than one on a review)..Is there any room to place some like ram heatsinks along the cooling pipe? If you're using a cooling pad (which one), the ram heat sinks may help dissipate heat better as long as there's air moving past them..

 

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/904/photoudu.jpg

I took a picture of what it looks like opened up. I sanded the heat sinks with some 1000 grit sandpaper and did my best to get rid of any unfortunate scuffs, etc on the heatsink.

I've also taken the bottom off and left my laptop exposed like in the picture. It really seems like the heat pipes are my issue. As my laptop was running the the temperatures got high, I felt the pipe starting from the CPU down the pipe to the block where it all meets. Only the processor was really really hot. It's like the pipe's not making any contact with the processor's heatsink.

Is there anything I could potentially do to further inspect, repair or mod my heat pipes? Or, worst case scenario where I could get a new heat pipe? This things old, I know, and my searches for a replacement so far have turned up very slim.

 

You said you were pre-spreading the AS5? I thought just putting a bit in the center and letting the heatsinks spread the AS5 was the most effective way to apply thermal paste..

The fan control software could have a glitch of something. BIOS re-flash would fix that.. Did you ever find out if you had the latest BIOS?

Found a few random cooling threads too:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/411143-m860tu-improved-cooling.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/544359-clevo-m860tu-cooling-question-noob.html

 

What type of surface are you using the computer on. The air intake fans are on the bottom so make sure you are on a flat level surface as to not block those fans. Never use it on carpet or on you bed etc. A desk or flat surface should be used and with a with notebook cooler if you have one.
The heat transfer pipes could be the cause but if its wasnt having these heat issues when you first got it i would rule them out.

 

Thermal paste application changes based on the manufacturer and surface being used on. AS5 instructions tend to favor the surface spread method while some of the thicker pastes like IC Diamond recommend the pea method like you've described.

 

Guess it depends on the type of processor you have too

Arctic Silver, Inc. - Intel® Application Methods

I used the vertical line on my T9400 and on my gf's i5 (even though that page shows I should've spread it).. I wonder how much difference it makes temp wise assuming you get an even application w/ a suitable thickness with either method..? Can't imagine itd be very much