[ltp] Re: tpfand configuration for an X200s

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

On Wed, 03 Dec 2008, Christoph Bier wrote:
>> If your fan is noisy, get it fixed.  If it needs to run because the
>> thinkpad is getting too hot, forcing it to slow down is the WRONG
>> answer.
>
> Basically (without your experience) I totally agree with you and I'm  
> happy that things are really that easy.

The problem is that the right answer might be "fix the design to do
better passive cooling", and THAT translates to "Lenovo did a bad
job", and is a major pain (when you can do something about it at
all...)

In the end, anything you do that doesn't end up increasing the
effectiveness of the entire thinkpad "system" into dumping heat to the
environment, will just slow down the moment the fan will turn on and
stay on (which might be enough to get it to stop bothering you, if
you're lucky).

And, of course, you can bitch to Lenovo to get an EC update that is
not as happy at triggering the fan ON.  But keep in mind that thermal
control is a tricky thing, what you see in those sensors is NOT the
real temperature of the innards of every temperature-critical
component in the laptop.

>> As I said, it is not supposed to be too noisy.   Check with other X200
>> users, tell us the RPM in your fan when it is being noisy.  And after
>> you have some idea whether it is normal or not, call Lenovo and
>> complain that the thing is broken [if it is too noisy].
>
> It isn't noisy. But I'm quite sure that the fan isn't supposed to run  
> all of the time, even if it's not used for one hour. Frequency scaling  
> is activated and working, I followed powertop's recommendations and the  
> sensors show temperatures that rarely rise above 40°C.

Then, complain a lot to Lenovo to get an EC firmware fix that changes
those thresholds...

> Would it be helpful to check against the fan's behaviour under Vista?

Yes, but you HAVE to also keep track of the thermal sensors, so you
will need to install something in vista that discloses them.

I *really* doubt Vista is doing any fan control. But Lenovo's vista
drivers might well be doing something that keeps the thinkpad
internals cooler.

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh