Warranty concerns

[LinYu]

My T510 is under warranty and I would like to find out whether opening the back cover for cleaning might interfere with the warranty terms in any way.

The reason for my question is, I purchased my machine about 18 months ago and I have been noticing that the air coming off the vents from the fan seems to be getting hotter as time elapses. It used to be just a little warmer that room temperature, at the beginning and currently I can feel it it hot, not just warm.

I had already to have a thermal module replaced on my T61p two years ago, and the symptoms started along this same path  --  an ever increasing air temperature coming off the vent, so I wonder if I should:

1 -- be concerned with what's now happening with my T510?

2 -- consider opening the back cover to inspect for any signs of dust accumulation that should be cleaned?

3 -- bring my machine to a service depot for inspection?  Or

4 -- Just ignore it for now and wait until it becomes worse or some other issue arises?

And should I decide to open it, does that in itself possibly cause a warranty problem?

Thanks

[richk]

I suggest installing TPFancontrol to check temperatures first. "Feels a little warmer" isn't a good reason. The fan is under the keyboard. You need to remove the battery, keyboard, palmrest/keyboard bezel and speaker in order to access the fan to do a cleaning. Unless you are sure you can do the work in a way that will look like nobody opened it, I suggest not doing it.

[LinYu]

richk,

Thank you for your reply. 

I did not say that it started feeling a little warmer, though. I did say it used to be just slightly warmer than room temperature and now, even while the computer remains practically idle, it becomes HOT at times.

Of course, I can install TPFancontrol, as you suggest, but it does not seem to me that I will derive much benefit from it at this stage. The air coming off my machine is quite hot, but not at 100 degrees Celsius, for sure.

Out of curiosity, I just came across one other thread where many people have been reporting fan issues (with a different TP model, to be sure). But in the last couple of days, someone reports something that may be just a coincidence, or it may be not... To witness: It appears that a recent Windows update named  "Lenovo - Display - ThinkPad Display 1600x900" may have something to do with it.  Then again, it may not. More people will have to report their own experience before one can make something out of it.

I, for one, did get this update installed on 5/12/2012... I'm pretty sure it was around that time that I became aware of the issue I reported above. 

What is your own take about it?

[richk]

The fan will not come on unless the air is hot. A CPU running at 45C is considered cool, and that is not room temperature for any room I would like to be in. At that temperature, the fan will not be running.