[Ti] 667 overheating?

[Jesse Proudman]

On Nov 15, 2003, at 1:17 PM, Kynan Shook wrote:

> Wow, I actually have never seen a PowerBook come in for repair to the 
> AASP that I work for that is overheating...  But it sounds like that 
> might be exactly what's happening to you, possibly.
>
> Now, if I recall correctly (I don't have the service manual in front 
> of me, and I can't get it right now either), the 667 only has one fan; 
> If you have the "Gigabit Ethernet" model (eg the 550/667 model), I 
> know there is only one fan.  If you have the DVI model (aka 667/800), 
> I believe that was where they put a fan on the 800, but just an empty 
> bracket on the 667 since it didn't need the extra cooling.

I've got gigabit model and yes, it only has one fan.  I've had the fan 
running full bore when this has happened and the fan running but not on 
full.  It's never happened when the fan has been off.

> Anyway, you might just want to make sure that your fan is working 
> properly.  You should be able to hear it come on; those fans aren't 
> quiet in any way.  Otherwise, just pop your keyboard up; the fan is 
> right in the middle of the computer at the very back, under the F6 or 
> F7 keys (or somewhere in that vicinity).  There's also a little 2-wire 
> connector at the right side of the fan, plugged into the logic board.  
> The plug itself has 3 holes in it, but there are probably only 2 wires 
> that actually go to the fan.  You should make sure the fan is working, 
> and that the cable is plugged in and not damaged.

It's definatly working correctly because I can hear it.

> Is it possible that somebody did some repair to the computer involving 
> removing the logic board, and they didn't put it back in correctly?  
> If the processor isn't touching the heatsink, and if there's no 
> thermal compound on the processor, it could overheat pretty quickly.

Nope, no repair lately....  The last reapir, they did replace the logic 
board, but it's been months since then... Do you think just over time 
the heat sink has peeled away?

> To prevent it, there are lots of things you can do.  Running on 
> battery power usually makes the computer run cooler.  Charging the 
> battery produces lots of extra heat, and being plugged in without 
> charging is somewhere in the middle.  Try running in reduced processor 
> speed; the setting is in the Energy Saver control panel.  Don't use 
> disks in the optical drive, if possible.  Try and get the power 
> consumption as low as possible; dimming the display might help, I'm 
> not sure; otherwise, leave peripherals unplugged and such.

To test this, I place the laptop on a desk, running battery and it 
still happened... Only once, and it never crashed, but it still 
happened.  I will test it for the remainder of the day on the desk.

> Also, you might try putting something hard underneath the computer.  
> If there is airflow, it will help cool the computer.  Make sure that 
> the vents aren't blocked.  If the computer still gets very hot, or if 
> you suspect that it wasn't put back together properly sometime, you 
> should take it in for repair, because repeated excessive heat can 
> permanently damage electronics.

Lovely.  Another 2 weeks to be without the only tool I need for my job.

> Unfortunately, you can't monitor the temperature with this computer; 
> the temperature sensor in the chips Motorola was making at the time 
> didn't work properly.  Many other computers can use something called 
> Temperature Monitor (search VersionTracker) or ThermographX 
> (http://www.kezer.net/thermographx.html) to see the temperature of the 
> computer.  What might help though, is Activity Monitor.  Personally, I 
> leave Activity Monitor running all the time, with the CPU display in 
> the dock; if something starts monopolizing the CPU, I can see, and 
> then use it to quit or force quit the rogue process, if necessary.  
> Some applications are just CPU hogs under normal operation (often, 
> these are also written by Microsoft...  ;-), but most applications are 
> pretty good about sharing.  Anyway, CPU usage is very directly tied to 
> heat production.  The difference between leaving my computer running 
> idle and having an application using up all the computing power can 
> easily reach 30 degrees F, plus a running fan due to the extra heat.  
> I also like keeping Activity Monitor around because more heat means 
> more power is being used; if I'm on battery, I can tell if some 
> program is eating through my battery faster than it should be.

I thought there was somthing wrong with these chips and the heat 
sensor.  It's definately not CPU usage that makes it happen.  For 
example, the last time it happened I was just downloading and sorting 
images for a client.

Thanks for your suggestions.

-- 
            Jesse Williams-Proudman
Blue Box Development :: Custom Web Solutions
      +1.206.778.8777 :: jesse at blueboxdev.com