Thinkpad L 15 gen 2 advice

[Liam Proven]

On Mon, 23 May 2022 at 02:14, Phil <phillor9 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> My main concern is overheating.

Yes, I understand that.

I have asked before -- reviewing my history of this mailing list, I
can see questions from you about it going back to 2017.

You keep giving contradictory and inconsistent answers, though, or
just not giving answers at all.

As an example: in the root of this thread you said the machine has
4GB, now you say it has 8GB.

I find this extremely frustrating. Remote support is a guessing game
anyway, but when the far end give inconsistent info, it goes from
difficult to infuriating. :-(

> I had spent considerable time trying to dual boot using my current SSD
> without success. I can dual boot using an old mechanical HDD. Both
> drives are partition as gpt and I'm reluctant to go through this
> frustrating exercise again at the moment.

Entirely up to you. If you do not wish to pursue this, that is fine.

My general feeling, from over 30 years of doing tech support, is that
when a computer does one strange thing in one area and a different.
strange thing in an apparently unrelated area, that they are often
both linked.

I have asked you before for more info about the machine, and you have
*not given it to us.* That's why I am limiting myself to general info
and general recommendations.

As I said, I own 2 of these machines myself so I do have specific
knowledge about them.

What exact specific version of the system firmware is the computer running?

What cooling and performance settings do you have in place in there?

If you don't know, tell us what you are trying to do and where and we
can tell you how to find out. But *be specific*. You are not giving me
enough info. I need more. Much more.

What exact model number from the sticker on the base is it?

What CPU is it? Model and speed. What GPU is it?  Model and speed, if
any. What driver is in use? What is the GPU setting in the firmware?

The T420 supports 3 drives: an SSD in its mini-PCI slot, a hard disk
or SSD in its SATA bay, and an optical drive in the ultrabay. Which do
you have, what models are they, what sizes, in which slots?

You say it has both Windows and Ubuntu but that you have problems
dual-booting. What versions? How do you choose which to boot? Do you
swap disks?

When you say the cooling system is clean: have you removed it to clean
it? Have you replaced the thermal paste between cooler and GPU and/or
GPU if fitted?

I don't think you can adequately clean it just by removing the keyboard.

My suspicion is that there is hidden dirt or dust blocking the cooling
system, or maybe heatpipe damage. That removal and thorough cleaning
or replacement would help.

They aren't expensive.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32617873725.html
>
> Originally was set to "both" and resetting to "BIOS" didn't seem to make
> any difference.

This is insufficient info. The order matters. The info about which the
computer boots in is also important and relevant.

> I have two 4GB RAM modules installed.

2 days ago you said:

"I have the maximum amount of RAM installed"

That is 26GB for this model.

Then 1 day ago you said:

"I have increased the RAM from 3GB to 4GB"

Now you say it is 8 GB.

Do you see why this is getting me upset? I don't have a clue which to
believe. :-(

With 4GB, yes, the fans will run a lot because it will be working hard
and swapping.

With 8GB, in Windows they will run sometimes. In Linux, barely at all,
I would expect.

More info, please! As much as you can find, and Google "how to find
bios version linux" or "how to find ram speed linux" and commands like
that *first* and then copy and paste the outputs from the relevant
commands.

-- 
Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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