My Thinkpad has started to run hot recently. If I do anything CPU intensive then it will heat up to >80C and then turn itself off. When idling it seems to stay at about 60C when the ambient temperature is about 24C.
It used to not be like this, a couple of years ago I cracked a GPG pass-phrase by using my Thinkpad (as well as a few other machines) to run a brute-force attack lasting a few months. So a couple of years ago I could run at 100% CPU time for months on end and now I can only do that for a few minutes.
It seems that my Thinkpad may have accumulated dust in it’s fan from years of running 24*7. I run my Thinkpads 24*7 so that they can download email and large files while I’m asleep, because Linux suspend options have been lacking until recently, and because I use my laptop for a large portion of the day.
The problem I am having is similar to what I had with a previous Thinkpad. Are Thinkpads unable to handle 24*7 operation?