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#1 2012-01-28 14:01:44

oldtimeyjunk
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From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
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Heat Problems with Laptop

Before I post, I'd just like to say that there should be a General Hardware section for Non-Arch related stuff.

Right, this problem has been going on for ages. About a year ago I installed a program that monitors heat for my laptop. I always knew it got really hot when in use but I never expected the meter to read 96 celcius! When I booted up Linux some days after that, it read 108 celcius! From then on, the core temp had always reached 108 celcius... when it gets really hot it just cuts out. I've tried everything from spraying compressed air into the fan, keeping the bottom of the laptop raised of the surface, even using it without the cover attached.

It's now a year later. The CPU still seems to be running at it's maximum 1.73GHz (which gradually slows to to 1.4GHz to try to cool it down). Even PC World failed to notice the problem after I sent them the laptop to repair the damaged screen. It's definetely getting hot, but doesn't seem to be doing that much damage, but I'm starting to think the sensor has either malfunction or melted... surley my lappy cannot reach 108 celcius - that's enough to boil water and potentially scald my legs!

Just for the record, my laptop is an ADENT K200 (which is just a rebadged Uniwill L51II3 with a DIXSON motherboard) and I've hap it for about 3 years.

Please help!

-- Josh


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#2 2012-01-28 17:55:52

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

oldtimeyjunk wrote:

... surley my lappy cannot reach 108 celcius - that's enough to boil water and potentially scald my legs!

Want to bet? 
It sure can.  That temperature is what is known as the Junction Temperature.  T(j).  That is the temperature of the transistors inside the processor.

The temperature at the case is a function of the junction temperature, the thermal conductivity of the processor case, the thermal conductivity of the bond of the heat sink to the processor, the efficiency and area of the heat sink, the air flow across the heat sink, the temperature of the incoming ambient air, etc...

For starters, how is the airflow and what does the exhaust temperature feel like relative to ambient air?


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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#3 2012-01-28 21:57:13

oldtimeyjunk
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From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
Website

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:
oldtimeyjunk wrote:

... surley my lappy cannot reach 108 celcius - that's enough to boil water and potentially scald my legs!

Want to bet? 
It sure can.  That temperature is what is known as the Junction Temperature.  T(j).  That is the temperature of the transistors inside the processor.

The temperature at the case is a function of the junction temperature, the thermal conductivity of the processor case, the thermal conductivity of the bond of the heat sink to the processor, the efficiency and area of the heat sink, the air flow across the heat sink, the temperature of the incoming ambient air, etc...

For starters, how is the airflow and what does the exhaust temperature feel like relative to ambient air?

The heat coming out of the side vent and underside vent is quite warm. I've tried spraying the whole thing with compressed air, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. I've also checked the copper piping between the fan and the CPU but there seems to be no blockage. The fan kicks in pretty quick after bootup and the temperature keeps on rising till it hits 108 celcius - it also makes an almighty racket.


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#4 2012-01-28 22:19:42

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

using a tool like htop, see what processes are using the cpu.
I know nothing of the machine you describe.  Can you please post the contents of your /proc/cpuinfo file?


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#5 2012-01-28 23:15:20

oldtimeyjunk
Member
From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
Website

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:

using a tool like htop, see what processes are using the cpu.
I know nothing of the machine you describe.  Can you please post the contents of your /proc/cpuinfo file?

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 14
model name	: Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2080  @ 1.73GHz
stepping	: 12
microcode	: 0x5b
cpu MHz		: 1733.048
cache size	: 1024 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 10
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts aperfmperf pni monitor est tm2 xtpr pdcm dts
bogomips	: 3467.51
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 14
model name	: Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2080  @ 1.73GHz
stepping	: 12
microcode	: 0x5b
cpu MHz		: 1733.048
cache size	: 1024 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 10
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts aperfmperf pni monitor est tm2 xtpr pdcm dts
bogomips	: 3464.85
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:
[root@JoshPC ~]# acpi -t
Thermal 0: ok, 96.0 degrees C

Also, I'm using a really lightweight window manager - Enlightenment - which hardly uses any processing power. I've even once used Haiku on this lappy and the fan still went like crazy!

Last edited by oldtimeyjunk (2012-01-28 23:18:32)


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#6 2012-01-28 23:40:31

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

Do you have cpufrequtils installed?
What is the output of lsmod | grep freq
What is the output of find /lib/modules/ -name \*freq\* -print


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
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#7 2012-01-29 00:25:45

oldtimeyjunk
Member
From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
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Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:

Do you have cpufrequtils installed?
What is the output of lsmod | grep freq
What is the output of find /lib/modules/ -name \*freq\* -print

No I do not have "cpufrequtils" installed, but I've just installed it now.

The output of "lsmod | grep freq" is nothing.

The output of "find /lib/modules/ -name \*freq\* -print" is...

/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/acpi-cpufreq.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_stats.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_conservative.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/pcc-cpufreq.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq-nforce2.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_ondemand.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_powersave.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_userspace.ko.gz
/lib/modules/3.2.2-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/freq_table.ko.gz

Last edited by oldtimeyjunk (2012-01-29 00:26:08)


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#8 2012-01-29 01:07:13

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

Try to modprobe both  acpi_cpufreq and cpufreq_ondemand.
Then do a cpufreq-info to make sure things work and that I understand the correct module for your system wink
Then try:
sudo cpufreq-set -c 0 -g ondemand
sudo cpufreq-set -c 1 -g ondemand

Then do the cpufreq-info again and see if the CPUs throttle back to a lower speed when they are not busy.


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#9 2012-01-29 02:13:13

oldtimeyjunk
Member
From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
Website

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:

Try to modprobe both  acpi_cpufreq and cpufreq_ondemand.
Then do a cpufreq-info to make sure things work and that I understand the correct module for your system wink
Then try:
sudo cpufreq-set -c 0 -g ondemand
sudo cpufreq-set -c 1 -g ondemand

Then do the cpufreq-info again and see if the CPUs throttle back to a lower speed when they are not busy.

Yup, that's exactly what happened. It went to 800 MHz which is the lowest my system can go.

Last edited by oldtimeyjunk (2012-01-29 02:13:30)


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#10 2012-01-29 02:15:24

ewaller
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From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

And how are the CPU temperatures doing?


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#11 2012-01-29 02:19:44

oldtimeyjunk
Member
From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
Website

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:

And how are the CPU temperatures doing?

Well, I've just turned it back on. It's currently at 81 degrees celcius and the fan is blasting away. I'm currently lying on the bed with my legs up so the laptop is raised off a surface.


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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#12 2012-01-29 02:26:36

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,740

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

oldtimeyjunk wrote:

Well, I've just turned it back on. It's currently at 81 degrees celcius and the fan is blasting away

Just checking, the modules are still loaded and the governors are set to ondemand for both cores, right?


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#13 2012-01-29 02:31:43

oldtimeyjunk
Member
From: /world/europe/uk/england
Registered: 2011-04-30
Posts: 202
Website

Re: Heat Problems with Laptop

ewaller wrote:
oldtimeyjunk wrote:

Well, I've just turned it back on. It's currently at 81 degrees celcius and the fan is blasting away

Just checking, the modules are still loaded and the governors are set to ondemand for both cores, right?

Yup, I did the temperature check right after I'd set OnDemand.


"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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