Dual-Core ThinkPad x100e Crashes Under Heavy Load

I recently purchased a Thinkpad x100e, and experienced an emergency system shutdown (the windows log said that it was a thermal event) while running a couple of virtual machines. On further investigation, it also crashed when running the Lenovo-supplied system stress test (during the second pass) as well as a Prime95 stress test. With the Lenovo system stress test, it crashed to a blank screen, while the Prime95 crash resulted in a power-off. In the second case, the machine did not power back on until after I removed the battery & power connector, and held the power button down for several seconds. In both of these cases, the core temp measured by SpeedFan was quite high, reaching over 85 degrees Celsius. The machine was resting on a firm, level surface in both cases (a ring-binder, to be precise).

I've memtest86+ and the other Lenovo-supplied system tests, and the computer passed them.

It sounds like the cooling system in the machine is not up to the task and/or the CPU isn't quite within spec. I called Lenovo support, and while the tech person on the other end agreed to send me an RMA box, he contended that the machine was not intended to be a workstation and is only intended for light use. IMO, this is bunk - regardless of the performance level of the system, the CPU should not overheat and crash when under full load. If it does, it's either a design flaw (i.e., the CPU chosen is too power hungry or the cooling system is inadequate), or a hardware failure.

My question is, what do I do about this? How do I convince Lenovo that this is a problem they need to address? If I send it in, will they decide it's working as intended and send it back to me unchanged (possibly billing me in the process)? If they do replace the motherboard, is that likely to fix the problem? In other words, is this problem common to the dual core x100e? Is there some other solution I'm overlooking? I could possibly underclock or undervolt it using RMClock, but Lenovo might void the warranty if they got wind of that...

Naturally, I don't need it for running Prime95, and running two VMs is a bit unusual. However, the temperatures get similarly high running other software such as lightweight 3D games (e.g., Torchlight), so it seems likely that I'll also encounter problems there as the summer heats up.

Thoughts?

System Specs:

CPU: AMD Turion Neo x2 1.6GHz
RAM: 2GB (1x Lenovo Stick + 1x 3rd party DDR2 800 SO-DIMM)
HDD: 250GB Fujitsu
Bluetooth
Windows 7 Pro
6-Cell battery
Otherwise same as any other x100e

 

If you're still within the return policy - return it and get a stronger machine. NEO is not meant to handle virtualisation (in reality) and stress tests.
You'll simply destroy the system by overheating.

You need at least i7-quads for those tasks.
W-series is what you need as they have the 920XM as an option + up to 16Gb of Ram (and you'll definitely need some ram in VT)

 

I'm not in the return policy, so that's not an option.

The system is more than fast enough to handle the virtualization tasks that I need it for (running lightweight linux tasks without needing to dual boot). It is the system's stability that I'm concerned about. Like I said, the fact that the system is nearly as hot when running torchlight suggests that stability problems can also under more common usage scenarios. In any case, I maintain that it is a design flaw or hardware defect if a computer is unstable running under full CPU load. It doesn't matter if it's an Atom CPU, Turion Neo, or Core i7, the cooling system should be designed to keep the temperatures in acceptable operating ranges when the CPU is fully loaded. As far as I know, no manufacturer's warranty states that the system is only guaranteed to be stable when the CPU is lightly loaded.

Mobile CPUs are designed to run at high temperatures (the Athlon Neo's thermal limit is 95 degrees celsius if notebookcheck is to be believed), so it's not clear that 85 degrees celsius is overheating in any case. If the temperature is out of spec, then it's a cooling system design flaw (or the CPU is exceeding its specified power draw), and it's a problem that Lenovo should be responsible to fix.

I do not need a quad core i7 for the tasks I'm performing on this machine. My old 2.2GHz MacBook is far more than adequate for my needs, for instance, and as I said the performance of the Turion Neo is also sufficient. 2 GB of RAM is also adequate for my VM needs (512 MB of memory allocated to the VM is quite sufficient for my uses).

So, can we get back to my questions?

 

Does TPfancontrol work on the x100? Perhaps you could just artificially keep the fan speed at max with that to keep it cooler?

 

Do you realize that while handling your tasks the system overheats and will totally die in a few months at best.
I said that "the CPU is not meant to handle VT" not because it cannot run it, but because it will raise the temps severely and slowly kill the notebook. You should monitor your temps 24/7 when stressing the system and if you notice 80C+ be careful. It only has a max of 95C as opposed to Intel's 105C and will throttle and shut off sooner. I'd say 70-75C is the max safe zone for that CPU, but double check the reviews.



<<< Read this review to see about its cooling. Not only the system suffers from overheating when @medium load, you also wish to utilize to the limits its weak processor.

BTW, your old MAC had a much more powerful CPU and better cooling
Turion NEO is close to Atom's in its performance and both should never be used anywhere beyond some light surfing and watching videos.

 

You should post some more information, like powersaving settings and temperature, fan speed, CPU load graphs, etc.