For example my thinkpad is now nearly 3 years old, both LiIon batteries have recently been replaced after 300 cycles or so, but more surprising was the development of an overheating problem - it was idling at 62C quickly reaching 90C during compiles and shutting down. Added to this for some time the screen would be pink after power for 10-30s and recently the back light has completely failed and now shuts down after just 2-10s.
After a narrow escape where I nearly had these problems repaired a service center at what would have been a price close to that of a new laptop, I have now solved both of these problems myself.
It turns out that both are directly related to operational hours. During much of the last year my laptop has taken the place of my desktop and has spent all it's time on AC on my desk ticking away and displaying screen savers when inactive.
The thermal problem was mostly due to dust accumulation in the fan and heat sink and the drying of the heat sink paste, after cleaning away all the filth and small insects and replacing the heat sink paste on the die the peak temperature has dropped from 90C+ to 61C.
The Screen problem is simply a worn out back light (which a screen saver does nothing to save). Now a laptop under warranty would normally get the entire LCD panel replaced if this occurs under warranty, in the states with IBM's 3yr warranty this seems to happen fairly regularly, but in NZ with the 1 yr warranty I imagine it's unseen. Outside warranty the IBM replacement cost for my LCD panel is $US800 with various outlets in the USA selling the OEM parts for as "little" as $US400.
But if you are game, as I am, you can save yourself 390 of those dollars by disassembling the LCD panel and replacing the back light itself for $US10 !
Extreme care and a little skill with a soldering iron are needed, but for me 390 bucks US inspires a lot of both!
Once again this directly related to 'on time' so from now on my computer will spend a lot more time suspended - just got to sort out those damned ACPI sleep states!
Gentoo have quite a good guide on laptop power management here: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/power-management-guide.xml
Bon chance toute le monde, ciao, chris
Christopher Sawtell wrote:
I have just acquired a 18mth. old ThinkPad.
