a strange death

[pvaneynd]

this morning I come down to find my thinkpad powered down. Searching a little in the logs shows:

Mar 26 02:35:11 sharrow kernel: ACPI: Critical trip point
Mar 26 02:35:11 sharrow kernel: Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
Mar 26 02:35:11 sharrow kernel: Critical temperature reached (95 C), shutting down.

However the fans work and at the moment the temperature is only 50 C.

So why did it get so hot?

Comments

[ptomblin-lj.livejournal.com]

The usual cause with a laptop is that it was put on something or something put on it that blocked the passive cooling vents, and you left something running that used a lot of CPU.

My old Powerbook only used to run the fans when I was doing something CPU intensive and that usually meant it was time to prop it up on something so air could get underneath.

[pvaneynd]

Indeed that would be a likely cause, however the thinkpad does not suck air from below, only from the sides. Which were clean.

At the moment in the same position the temperature is 67C. Higher then at the office, but here I have to use the wireless...