Turns out there is a program to manipulate the speed of the fan: tpfancontrol

With this, you can tune your fan speed and follow the temparature readings at the right.

Using this program permanently is probably a bad idea to do since Lenovo will probably void any guarantee on your computer. To spare you from the inconvenience of testing I did a brief test run of the program:

* The two most interesting temperatures are CPU (apparently combined for the two cores), and GPU (the graphical processor).

* Setting the speed to max had no effect on the GPU — it is apparently not close to the fan.

* Setting the speed down for some moments to 2 or 1 had no effect on the GPU either. And the CPU stayed at 48 degrees C.

Graphical processor not cooled by fan

So probably the worst thing for my poor windows machine is that no matter how fast the fan goes, it will never be able to cool the Ati GPU in the laptop.

This also may explain why I previously have had problems where the graphics card is probably involved:
* The computer has problems setting the right screen size for my new 22″ Dell E228wfp monitor even though it has exactly the same screen dimensions as the built in laptop screen (1680×1050).

* Installing Ubuntu 7.10 crashes when starting up the install program: It tries to start the graphical user interface, but fails to. The error below was when attempting to install the final release candidate, and some similar thing happened when I tried installing the final 7.10 release (desktop).

As I see it, there are two possibilities: Either this machine has been delivered with a bad quality graphics card. I have no previous experience with ATI, but having big problems connecting a standard screen with the same screen-size should be easy.

The other possibility is that the graphics card has been damaged by the high temperature when the laptop is running.

Either way, it’s obviously some kind of construction error that GPU is placed so that the fan is not able to cool it.

UPDATE (8 hours later): Maybe there is something with that ATI graphics processor. From this model comparison on the Lenovo site, you can see that they change to NVIDIA GPUs going from T60p to T61p

It also says that
Maybe there is something with that ATI graphics processor. From this model comparison on the Lenovo site, you can see that they change to NVIDIA GPUs going from T60p to T61p

It also says that

The new ThinkPad T61 is the most secure, strongest, coolest and quietest T Series ever

(which doesnt surprise me: With a red hot ATI chip that makes the fan go at fastest speed constantly, there is definitely room for improvement)
Source: Lenovo ThinkPad T Series homepage

Previous info

• New Laptop With Better Defaults (May 2007) — there is a section about “fan always running”
• Lenovo Problem: No Wireless Reconnect After Standby (July 2007)
• Lenovo Power Supply Almost Caught Fire (October 2007)
• TPfancontrol on SourceForge (found via this forum “Lenovo T60 fan constantly running”)

Technorati Tags: lenovo, thinkpad, t60p, t60, ati, fan, cpu, temperature

Saturday evening I put the power plug in the laptop to recharge. I came back to the room (our home office) 10 minutes later and saw the computer not charging. I noticed a high frequent sound and traced it to the power supply, which was incredibly hot, and smelled bad. I immediately unplugged it.

I have no exact temperature for the power supply, it felt like holding on a hot cup of coffe. Also the cord itself felt softer than usual because of the hot temperature. I have marked on the cord a mark, where the weight of the power supply pressed a mark into the cord.

I am convinced that if I had not seen what happened, the power supply would have set the entire room on fire.

For some strange reason, the power supply is working again the day after.

Technical details from the power supply and PC

• Lenovo AC Adapter 90W 20V rev H
• Serial number: 11S92P1107Z1ZD2L73W8P6
• P/N 92P1108
• PA-1900-08I
• (used for my Lenovo Thinkpad T60p widescreen type “8742-CTO”, S/N “L3-A8843 07/04″, Product id “8742Y18″)

Question for Lenovo:

How can you convince me that it’s safe to use the power supply and put it back in the wood shelf in my home office?

Is this periodical error something that could potentionally happen to the other power supply I use?

Thanks in advance for taking time to answer my questions professionally and seriously.

/Jesper Rønn-Jensen

We need to get a smoke alarm in our home office. From saturday on, all electronics is turned off at home when sleeping. This includes the wireless internet connection, printer, and also the telephone which is connected to the same power plug.

To everybody with a similar power supply: Unplug the power supply when unattended!

Related info:

• Lenovo Problem: No Wireless Reconnect After Standby (Jul 25)
• New Laptop With Better Defaults (May 17)

Technorati Tags: lenovo, laptop, burning, fire, danger, hazard

I wrote about issues with my Lenovo T60p laptop recently, and have made a guide to eliminate one of the most annoying problems I ever had with a PC:

After standby, the computer was unable to reconnect to the wireless network. As this is a corporate computer, several of my colleagues experienced the same problem.

Bad thing is that it’s very hard to report this to Lenovo, and I must express my surprise they can ship and sell a laptop where it by default can’t connect to wireless after standby.

Having said that, here is a simple guide on how to switch off “Deep Smart Power Down” for the Intel Pro/1000 PL network card, and “Power Save Mode” for the Atheros wireless card.

I decided make this guide publically available along with links to where I found the information. Thereby I hope that others with this problem can spend less time searching for the solution, and hopefully it will also make Lenovo pay attention to the other stuff I mentioned in the previous post, where I think better solutions could have been chosen.

Guide: lenovo-wireless-problems-after-standby.pdf

More info:

• Justaddwater: New Laptop With Better Defaults (May 17 2007)
• Mr. Hyams: ThinkPadT60wifi.pdf (815Kb PDF)
• Notebook Review Forum: T60 wireless problems

Technorati Tags: hardware, windows xp, wireless, intel, lenovo, t60p, t60

• Much brighter and better screen
• Lovely keyboard which is a pleasure to use
• Funky gestures for the Touchpad
• CPU fan always running

Lovely Keyboard … but…

In general, the keyboard is really a pleasure to use. The keys have perfect weight and just right feedback. It makes a tiny clicking sound but not too clicky like the old Dell. In general the keys are good positioned and not too close (although there is an inch of unused space on each side of the keyboard. This space had been better used if it were used to put more space between essential groups of characters. (some of the buttons I hit Here are some of the buttons I hit in error occationally (which indicates that keys are too tight in that area):

1. I hit Fn when I want to hit CTRL
2. I turn on keyboard light when I want to page back between tabs in Firefox (variant of #1)
3. I hit F3 when I want to hit F2 (to rename a file)
4. I hit F1 when I want to hit Esc
5. I hit the windows button when I want to hit CTRL
6. I hit the “page back” button when I want to hit arrow left

These are sorted from my memory of, which buttons I mistakenly press most often. Some of these errors can be solved with a keyboard customization program that is preinstalled with the computer. Screenshot below shows that I was able to adjust sensitivity of F1, back and forward buttons (all of which I use very rarely).

Big mistake: Fn and CTRL buttons have swapped place

I really feared that and my fears turned out to be true. IBM/Lenovo laptops have swapped positioning of the Fn and left CTRL button. This is really annoying. And I’m not the only one saying this. Mostly because I’m used to hitting CTRL a lot. I have a dedicated goal to use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible to increase productivity. But also for another reason.

This is simply less productive. No keyboard shortcuts with the Fn button involves pressing more than one key, but CTRL keyboard shortcuts often involve the Shift key as well. The principle of bringing closely related items together is simply broken here: CTRL and Shift should be close together — as close as possible .

In general, the keys at the edge of the keyboard are the easiest to locate. Therefore, a high productivity keyboard should have keys that are used often at the edge/corners and putting Fn at the lower left is a disaster for keypresses like CTRL + Shift + Arrow keys to select text in word chunks. Try that followed by CTRL + X for cutting the text to clipboard. I just can’t get used to it.

Lenovo really should change this, in order for keyboard shortcuts to be as productive as possible. The danger is that if they change, probably some of their loyal customers that have burnt their fingers so many times that any change will be a challenge. But it has to be done, or my hand might grow in a strange angle…

If you don’t believe me, try this with your left hand: Pressing Shift with your 4th finger while the little finger presses CTRL so that the little finger is twisted under and to the right of the index finger. Now, with your hand twisted to the left, try hitting T (as I do with CTRL+Shift+T for opening the file menu in my favorite editor). This is barely possible withing the physical limits of ordinary people. Concert Pianists have a vague chance of getting it right, but it’s still a challenge with your and mind eyes focused on getting actual work done.

Here are some of the keyboard shortcuts I’m used to but are difficult (or non-productive) to use on my Lenovo keyboard:

1. CTRL + Shift + Arrow keys (selecting text in chunks of words)
2. CTRL + Shift + Esc (open task manager)
3. CTRL + Shift + F (find in files in some editors)
4. CTRL + Shift + T (intelligent file open in my favorite editor)

Because of the awkward placement of CTRL, I’m learning to use the right CTRL when pressing PgUp or PgDn — I use that a lot in Firefox. (For some reason, CTRL + Shift + S and CTRL + Shift + P works out OK because its some of the keys where I can use a more natural hand position to hit the keys).

I remember hearing Tog Tognazzini once speaking about Fitt’s law and their work at Apple on sizes of targets like the Windows Start button. He noted that in the first Windows versions, there was a tiny 1 pixel border all the way around the button, which meant that you could only hit it if you precisely moved the cursor to the placement. In recent versions of Windows (and on a Mac), you can simply slash your mouse out to the edge, and the cursor will just stay there at the most left pixel. With these edge pixels activated it’s much easier to hit. I think a similar thing proves true on my keyboard: Esc, left CTRL and arrow keys are easy to locate and hit because they’re in the corners. (of course, they would be even easier to hit if they were at the default positions of my fingers, but that’s a different story…)

(Is there a textual reference to any written explanation of Tog’s story? I was not able to find it. Please update me and drop a comment below.)

Funky gestures for the touchpad

This is a nice one, that I really missed on the old Dell: Scrolling and advanced use of the touchpad. Recently, when Thomas Watson showed me his new Mac, I was impressed with the way to scroll. (Two fingers on the touchpad on a Mac scrolls). This is almost as good: Just move your finger along the right or lower edge of the screen will scroll. I’m really happy with this setting.

The best thing about it: It works this way out of the box. Settings are nothing. Having good default settings are everything!

Problems with hibernation and standby

Microsoft hotfix to solve it: Hotfix 909095 (“The computer occasionally does not hibernate and you receive an “Insufficient System Resources Exist to Complete the API” error message”).

Running ThinkVantage System Updater told me to update a few essential programs: BIOS, graphics card driver, and add a program to manage keyboard shortcuts

Solved issue: Fan always running (updated!)

Fan is always running. Even at low CPU usage (usually 2-7%), the CPU fan is always running. This is very annoying. Especially when running on batteries, as I presume it drains the battery faster. Here is a screenshot during typical usage:

Is this hot? Is this high CPU usage? What if CPU usage goes to 100%? It should really handle the fan control better. So I guess the question is: How do I turn the fan off or lower the CPU frequency in order to silence the fan? My big driver here is off course saving battery.

Update: Fan speed is caused by graphics processor (GPU) running hot. This is apparently a design issue because GPU is not cooled by the fan: See “Lenovo Thinkpad Silent Fan” (November 2007)

Non solved issue: Swap Fn and CTRL buttons

Is there software to swap these buttons around? Putting Fn bottom left and CTRL to the right of it puts my hand in awkward position when I use some of my usual shortcuts. This is simply less productive. No keyboard shortcuts with the Fn button involves pressing more than one key, but CTRL keyboard shortcuts often involve the Shift key as well. The principle of bringing closely related items together is simply broken here: CTRL and Shift should be close together.

In general, the keys at the edge of the keyboard are the easiest to locate. Therefore, a high productivity keyboard should have keys that are used often at the edge/corners and putting Fn at the lower left is a disaster for most keypresses that involve the CTRL and Shift keys.

Lenovo really should change this, in order for keyboard shortcuts to be as productive as possible. The danger is that if they change, probably some of their loyal customers that have burnt their fingers so many times that any change will be a challenge. But it has to be done, or my hand might grow in a strange angle…

Other minor issues

Another funny thing: Occasionally, the wireless network stops working. It’s suddenly not possible to connect even though, sometimes networks are visible. Only cure is to restart computer.

In summary, still with these usability issues that affect my productivity or battery consumption, the new laptop is much better configured out of the box than the old one. However, some settings should not be changed, and I urge Lenovo to swap around Fn and CTRL for the next release… If they dare.

Update 2007-05-15: I got my first dreaded “blue screen of death” this morning.. Have absolutely no clue what happened.

Technorati Tags: hardware, laptop, usability, lenovo, thinkpad, t60p, dell, d600