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T410 Thermal Sensing Error

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Started ‎03-01-2011 by

Modified ‎03-01-2011 by

T410 Thermal Sensing Error

Question

My T410 suddenly displayed a "Thermal Sensing Error" message when booting up the machine, then it shut down.

The day before I encounter this error I had :

- updated to the latest BIOS in the afternoon

- used a couple of hours at night

Any suggestions to solve this? Need to carry-in for support's inspection?

Answer

This error could occur for multiple reasons:

1) Malfunctioning fan - although "fan error" message is more often displayed, especially if fan fails to spin on boot.

2) Poor heatsink to CPU contact - over time, thermal paste can dry up. If the system is out of warranty, you can try removing the fan & heatsink, clean away the dried thermal paste from CPU and heatsink, and apply artic silver and to the top of the CPU (a dab the size of a BB). re-install the CPU.

3) Malfunctioning sensor in the system board - seek service.

After checking fan is spinning momentarily at power on, try running Lenovo ThinkVantage Toolbox diagnostics on the system board - run memory, systemboard and GPU tests.

Comments

by on

I've seen half a dozen of these units (Under 1 year old, many times under 6 months) overheating.

I can run the Lenovo toolbox, start the stress test and the CPU temp rises to above 100 degrees shutting off the system.

In each of these cases I have found the thermal "grease" on the underside of the CPU fan has not melted onto the processor. There is a bit of an indentation in the grease but it has not melted at all.

Adding a drop of (In the simplest of terms) more gooey CPU grease to the dies then replacing the CPU fan will drop the temperatures 20 - 25 degrees.

This process takes me approx. 30 minutes including all the time taking out all the screws and carefully pry'ing up the keyboard bezel / palmrest (Often times the hardest part, the videos make it look way easier than it is). If you've never taken apart your T410 ebfore it's only natural the process should take you longer.

If you are seeing a FAN ERROR there is more than likely an issue with your CPU fan and it should get replaced.

This has been the solution for 10+ new units with this problem and I do not beleive I've had any repeat failures.