dell latitdude d400 heatsink

[ratdude747]

i have a dell latitude d400.

it occasionly runs hot during heavy use. i assume it is normal but i read on another thread that the thermal paste may have gone to hell. iirc it is a 2005 model.

it is a PITA to disasemble (like most laptops), so i do not want to open it unless i have a decent reason.

should i replace the thermal paste?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

They don't usually use paste, they use a pad.
.

[seanc]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

Mine used to get warm, it's only a small laptop.
If it's shutting down because it's getting too hot, then you have a problem, otherwise leave it.
Could be that you have a nice carpet of fluff in there.

[ratdude747]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

its clean... no thermal shutdowns. it runs on a pentium m donthan 1.6ghz LV (low voltage) CPU.

[seanc]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

Leave it alone then.
I only got rid of mine because the LCD was aging... and I got a MacBook instead since it could run Windows too.

[yyonline]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

Check the power management settings to make sure it's throttling down the CPU when idle.

In Vista, this is the "Balanced" power setting.

In XP, it's more complicated...and Dell's QuickSet power management program sets it incorrectly by default in some versions. In XP, open a command prompt and run:
powercfg /query
You want to see processor throttle set to adaptive for both AC and DC. If it's not set to adaptive, select the Portable/Laptop power profile in Power Options Control panel.

Processor throttle settings:
None = run at full speed
Adaptive = adjust speed according to need - This makes the most sense.
Constant = run at minimum speed
Degrade = run at minimum speed and further reduce performance via software means. Not sure why you'd ever want to use this one.

If you're using a different OS, I wouldn't be sure where to point you, but I'm sure they have similar settings somewhere.

[ratdude747]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

ok, cracked it open, light dust on the heatsink. cleaned now and re-built.

it was being run under linux... the cpu is set by default to "on demand". where i usually run it... it has xp dualbooted but i rarely use it.

maybe it will run better... running it now to find out.

[chevelle_nut]

Re: dell latitdude d400 heatsink

Check out this link http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/ I have installed this little gem on several units, including my own. He even has a Linux version - I have not tested that.