Fan in HP DV6700CTO laptop running Arch 64 runs too loud

MorningWood · 2009-03-15 04:15:23

Hello there guys,
First off I'd like to say that I absolutely hate posting threads when I can avoid doing so but I have not found any real solutions for this problem after quite a bit of searching. Anyway, let's move onto the problem; It seems like the title states, that the fan on my DV6700 keeps running louder than necessary. Albeit it doesn't run constantly, when it does it's still rather annoying. Now, I don't really know if it's exactly the GPU or CPU fan but I'm leaning towards the cpu since it gets louder the heavier the work load. I am running cpufreq with ondemand, but it seems like even when I boot back into Windows, the fan/fan noise is not nearly as aggressive as on Arch. In case it actually might be the GPU fan, I am running the latest Nvidia prepriatary drivers and my rc.conf is as follows:

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="US/Eastern"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=(snd_pcsp pcspr) #deprecated
MODULES=(coretemp acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_ondemand  r8169 iwl3945 snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel soundcore usblp vboxdrv)

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="Archy"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# 
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
eth0="dhcp"
eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
INTERFACES=(!eth0)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(laptop-mode syslog-ng hal !network !netfs @crond @wicd @cups @sensors kdm3)

If anyone could help me out, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the noise in itself is rather annoying but the main thing that has been bothering me/has me worried is the affect on battery life, which is ultimately just as if not even more important.

EDIT 2: I have just ran cpufreq-info and for some reason no matter (tried changing it in kpowersave and klaptop) what, it says it's running the "performance" governor.

analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.00 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.00 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.00 GHz.

EDIT 3: Oh boy, I'm dumb. Apparently I somehow managed to remove the cpufreq daemon, after reinsterting that back in the governor is working properly. However, I don't know if the original problem has been solved. We shall see.

Last edited by MorningWood (2009-03-15 06:32:09)

R00KIE · 2009-03-15 13:45:35

You need to add cpufreq to your modules array, don't forget to edit/check /etc/conf.d/cpufreq to see if everything is the way you want it to be like setting the governor to ondemand and comment the min and max frequency or set the limits you want if supported by your cpu.

MorningWood · 2009-03-15 17:42:54

I should have mentioned that I have editted my cpufreq file as well.

#configuration for cpufreq control
# valid governors:
#  ondemand, performance, powersave,
#  conservative, userspace
governor="ondemand"

# valid suffixes: Hz, kHz (default), MHz, GHz, THz
min_freq="1GHz"
max_freq="2GHz"

R00KIE · 2009-03-15 20:18:11

You could try to comment min_freq and max_freq and let that be automatically detected, usually it works well that way.
Regarding battery life, keep in mind that graphics card power management is also an important factor, check if the drivers you are using do power management.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-15 04:15:23

Fan in HP DV6700CTO laptop running Arch 64 runs too loud

#2 2009-03-15 13:45:35

Re: Fan in HP DV6700CTO laptop running Arch 64 runs too loud

#3 2009-03-15 17:42:54

Re: Fan in HP DV6700CTO laptop running Arch 64 runs too loud

#4 2009-03-15 20:18:11

Re: Fan in HP DV6700CTO laptop running Arch 64 runs too loud

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