Advice for my T61p laptop (overheating, etc. - still in warranty)

[CarpeD1em500]

Hey guys,

I have a T61p that I got about 3 years ago.  It's performed really well over the years, but in the past six months I've had some serious issues with it crashing on me, going to sleep for random reasons (generally while watching videos), and getting EXTREMELY hot (even when it's on a flat (not carpet, just a table), surface, doing regular stuff (web / excel / word, w/e, NOT just watching 720p videos).  

I run Windows 7 and have 4gb of Ram installed, if that helps.  

I thought my warranty had expired after 2 years, so imagine my joy / surprise when I randomly looked it up on Lenovo's website today and found it doesn't expire until September!!!

Originally I was going to just buy a new laptop within the next year, but now that I'm in warranty, I'm wondering what the best course of action is for me?

Thanks in advance.  

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

have you tried cleaning the heatsink/fans/vents for dust accumulation, if after cleaning your laptop still overheats, then just send it in. 

[CarpeD1em500]

Do you mean outside the computer, or inside?

Can I open it up to do that without voiding the warranty?  Outside they appear clean and dust free...unsure of what the situation is inside.

In any event I just installed a new driver from NVIDIA for the 570M card, we'll see if that helps...

[iancdn]

I also had major overheating problems with my T60, was going to dissassemble to clean but got intimidated

by the need for thermal grease, etc.

So I took the advice of someone on this board and just used a vacuum cleaner externally on both the intake

and the exit vent, for about a minute or two.  Problem solved.

Now I monitor the temperature with Realtemp, when it seems a little warm I repeat the vacuum procedure.

Ian

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you can take off the keyboard and palmrest, just have a look around. Use a can of compressed air and blast the heatvent area (make sure you hold fan vanes in place to prevent it overspinning).

If that don't work then just send it off for warranty repair.